3 ms·

Supposedly, most people do. There was an article on hn about "aphantasia" (the lack of mental imagery) not to long ago, but I can't seem to find it now. Google

Supposedly, most people do. There was an article on hn about "aphantasia" (the lack of mental imagery) not to long ago, but I can't seem to find it now. Google turns up quite a few hits though. I can't help but be a little sceptical of the concept though. I believe there's probably a spectrum but maybe not as wide is claimed. Based on the comment sections of basically any article on the subect, I wonder if there isn't something like imposter syndrome going on. Where the majority of people dont think they have as sharp mental imagery as the average person.

Henk0 8y ago
Aphantasia is definitely real. My inner visual world has always consisted of the view of the inside of my eyelids. Thinking for me is an almost purely verbal process, in an inner voice that I don’t percieve as sound in any way. I can navigate in my mind, and describe accurately places I’ve been, but there’s never an image, only a kind of spatial perception, combined with knowledge (of materials, colors etc.) I thought this was how everyone’s mind worked, until I met my ex, who is on the opposite end of the scale. She described her inner world as sometimes more vivid and detailed than the real world. I thought she was almost unique in this, until I started asking other people and realised that most people see images in their mind, of varying detail and vividness. Some can easily project onto their visual input and, for example, put a moustache or wings on someone. I’ve also come to learn that many people hear their own voice when they think (and many, non-schizophrenic, people hear other voices too), and can also imagine smells and tastes. My episodic memory is affected by my aphantasia, as well as my people recognition skills. I can find it hard to recognise someone if they’ve changed their hair, grown a beard or changed their appearance in some other way. I do dream though, vivid dreams, and am quite good at recalling them. But again the memory of the dreams, like other memories, is not visual. I’m quite fascinated with this subject, and have some thoughts of picking up where I left off on my psychology master to be able to study it more. It’d be interesting to see if there are correlates in big-5 personality, iq, mental health etc.)
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Henk0 8y ago

Aphantasia is definitely real. My inner visual world has always consisted of the view of the inside of my eyelids. Thinking for me is an almost purely verbal process, in an inner voice that I don’t percieve as sound in any way. I can navigate in my mind, and describe accurately places I’ve been, but there’s never an image, only a kind of spatial perception, combined with knowledge (of materials, colors etc.) I thought this was how everyone’s mind worked, until I met my ex, who is on the opposite end of the scale. She described her inner world as sometimes more vivid and detailed than the real world. I thought she was almost unique in this, until I started asking other people and realised that most people see images in their mind, of varying detail and vividness. Some can easily project onto their visual input and, for example, put a moustache or wings on someone. I’ve also come to learn that many people hear their own voice when they think (and many, non-schizophrenic, people hear other voices too), and can also imagine smells and tastes. My episodic memory is affected by my aphantasia, as well as my people recognition skills. I can find it hard to recognise someone if they’ve changed their hair, grown a beard or changed their appearance in some other way. I do dream though, vivid dreams, and am quite good at recalling them. But again the memory of the dreams, like other memories, is not visual. I’m quite fascinated with this subject, and have some thoughts of picking up where I left off on my psychology master to be able to study it more. It’d be interesting to see if there are correlates in big-5 personality, iq, mental health etc.)

deleted 8y ago
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