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I suspect I have it. When I 'visualise' things, there's no visual component to it. Instead, I'm remembering an abstract list of features that the visualisation
by NamTaf 8y ago
I suspect I have it. When I 'visualise' things, there's no visual component to it. Instead, I'm remembering an abstract list of features that the visualisation has. For example, with a sphere, I know that it's round, probably smooth, with a surface equidistant from its centre at all points. I don't 'see' a sphere in any way though.
With a beach, I know that there's probably sunshine, there's some water, some sand, it's probably hot, maybe some wind, some waves, some seagulls. But I don't see any part of this, so if you ask me for specific details they just don't exist and I couldn't tell you whether, for example, the beach in my mind is short or long.
When it comes to faces, I can't picture them and find myself often forgetting/not recognising people with whom I'm only tangentially familiar. I couldn't describe a person's face to you at all, but if you asked 'do they have a big or small nose', I might be able to recall that (usually not though). I'm more likely to be able to recall distinct features - skin colour, hair colour, etc., than I am features where there's a sliding scale (nose size, etc.) This even applies to people close to me such as my own immediate family, partner, etc.
- russelldc 8y agoI suspect you do, as well. Your realizations are very similar to mine when I first found out. > I couldn't describe a person's face to you at all, but if you asked 'do they have a big or small nose' The day I told my wife about this, she had me try to describe a woman who'd just sold us food a few minutes prior. I've seen this woman many times, but the only thing I could really conjure is that she was old. I don't have face blindness, no problem recognizing people, unless, like you mentioned, I very barely know them. > This even applies to people close to me such as my own immediate family, partner, etc. After that, my wife had me try to look at her face, then look to a piece of paper and immediately draw. Of course, artistic ability and aphantasia are totally different things, but it really cemented how little visual information gets retained. As soon as I looked away, all I knew was factual information like "curly hair", "mole next to nose".