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I had a discussion with my friends many years ago that your comment reminded me of. I don't "visualize" things I think about automatically. I'd need to concent

I had a discussion with my friends many years ago that your comment reminded me of. I don't "visualize" things I think about automatically. I'd need to concentrate on trying to visualize pizza to see it and even then it's a vague visualization with no real defining features. When casually thinking about pizza I don't visualize anything. Some of my friends couldn't not visualize what they were thinking about. If they think of pizza, they "see" pizza in their head, and could even describe what they were visualizing in that instance in surprising (to me) detail. We found that we were pretty well split 50/50 with no obvious associations.

DanBC 10y ago
There have been a couple of articles about aphantsia on HN. I'm having trouble finding them. Here's two https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10148792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10148792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11554894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11554894
- Klathmon 10y ago
  I never knew there was a word for it! Thanks, I've got some reading to do now!
- utopcell 10y ago
  *aphantasia (from phantasia, the greek word for fantasy, literally meaning "lack of imagination") Very interesting posts, thank you for sharing.
- bemmu 10y ago
  How can I know that having / not having aphantasia is a real thing? Our bodies are otherwise so similar that it would be surprising if our brains were wildly different in operation. If people are able to "see" their thoughts in the same way as they see something with their eyes, wouldn't it be difficult to think about a cat while driving a car, because the cat would be in your visual field? Or is the "mind's eye" somewhere else, if so where do you feel it is? If I think about a cat, it's kind of a concept. If I try to think harder, I can sort of trace its tail and fur and ears, but it seems very different to actually seeing one. Just as when I imagine a taste, it's very different from actually tasting something (otherwise I would just imagine food all day without actually eating as much). The only time when these seem the same is when dreaming.
ericlewis 10y ago
I've always wondered if I had this too. I'm wondering how you describe visualize? I understand the concept and the parts and everything that pizza is but I don't necessarily visualize it. But if I was required to, I could probably draw one. Is that similar?

DanBC 10y ago

There have been a couple of articles about aphantsia on HN. I'm having trouble finding them. Here's two https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10148792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10148792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11554894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11554894

Klathmon 10y ago
I never knew there was a word for it! Thanks, I've got some reading to do now!
utopcell 10y ago
*aphantasia (from phantasia, the greek word for fantasy, literally meaning "lack of imagination") Very interesting posts, thank you for sharing.
bemmu 10y ago
How can I know that having / not having aphantasia is a real thing? Our bodies are otherwise so similar that it would be surprising if our brains were wildly different in operation. If people are able to "see" their thoughts in the same way as they see something with their eyes, wouldn't it be difficult to think about a cat while driving a car, because the cat would be in your visual field? Or is the "mind's eye" somewhere else, if so where do you feel it is? If I think about a cat, it's kind of a concept. If I try to think harder, I can sort of trace its tail and fur and ears, but it seems very different to actually seeing one. Just as when I imagine a taste, it's very different from actually tasting something (otherwise I would just imagine food all day without actually eating as much). The only time when these seem the same is when dreaming.

ericlewis 10y ago

I've always wondered if I had this too. I'm wondering how you describe visualize? I understand the concept and the parts and everything that pizza is but I don't necessarily visualize it. But if I was required to, I could probably draw one. Is that similar?