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I have very weak visualization. One way of describing it would be that I can close my eyes and tell you where everything is in my house, or map my way downtown.
by graeme 8y ago
I have very weak visualization. One way of describing it would be that I can close my eyes and tell you where everything is in my house, or map my way downtown. But I don't see anything, I just know the spatial placement of everything and how to move through it.
But if I try to see the stuff, it's as though there is a brief flash, and I see an outline for a second or so, and then it isn't there. But I know what's there.
I don't think I was ever strong on this front, but I think my ability has been declining gradually. I'm 33 now. I remember arriving in a new country at age 23, and I could recall everything that happened when I arrived: my drive in, arrival at my new house, standing in the rain.
I can still recall much of this, but I have a memory of seeing it and having great visual recall of this. But, how accurate is a memory of a memory? I didn't take any notes, so it's hard to say for sure what I could in fact recall.
One odd point: I used to get the most vivid images while lying in bed with my eyes closed, falling off to sleep. The most fantastic scenes would flow from one image to the next. I think it actually helped me sleep. These were also notable in that I couldn't visualize that way during the day.
One day I had to take antibiotics for an MRSA infection. I recall the images that night were dark and foreboding. I haven't had colourful images since then.
Sometimes at night I get glimpses of them. It's as though the images are happening in the background, and I can catch them but without colour. And I can't always see them, so I can't follow, and the images stop.
Haven't found anything in the literature about antibiotics causing this though, so I'm not too sure, it may have been coincidence and instead just gradual decline that crossed a threshold around then.
Has anyone had gradual decline of mental images, loss of pre-sleep visions, or had either of these precipitated by antibiotics?
I think these images were called Hypnagogia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia
- russelldc 8y agoSorry I'm not sure of the relation to antibiotics, but Hypnagogia is something even aphantasics experience. It's typically more involuntary than not, so it's grouped with dreams rather than visual imagery/thinking.
- graeme 8y agoOh, that's interesting. Do you mean they experience visual hypnagogia? Because I'd say at the time I lost it, those visual experiences were the only ones I had, so it did seem distinct from any non-hypnagogic visualizations. Also, I remember as a kid if I played video games I would see images of them when I closed my eyes. I don't think that happens now. Maybe those brain pathways got pruned....
- zigzaggy 8y agoI have had a loss of visualization over time. I can recall having vivid images in my mind’s eye when I was younger. I think my loss of imagery happened after I went blind for a couple of years. But the temporary blindness was due to retinal detachments, which were the result of a head injury. So I suppose the injury may be partially to blame? I’m not sure though. I’m pretty convinced that blindness changed my brain in a very dramatic way. I learned to move around in the dark, orient myself with sound, and learn to understand spacial relationships in a totally new way. Now, it’s almost as if my brain used vision, but doesn’t really need it anymore. And that includes seeing things in my mind’s eye, which I can hardly do at all anymore.
- chr1 8y ago> One way of describing it would be that I can close my eyes and tell you where everything is in my house, or map my way downtown. I can do this, (also for simple 3d shapes needed to solve school geometry problems) without closing eyes, because i seem to do that independently from visualisation. But sometimes i see very vivid images just by closing eyes, after having some intense new visual experience - as a child when i was playing checkers the whole day i would see the game board - after the first time being in a forest i could see forest any time i would close my eyes for several days -after seeing the "What Dreams May Come" movie i could see images in the painting style (and it was the only case when i could control the images). - after playing a new computer game the whole day i can see images from that But the intensity of the effect have declined over time, presumably because it is harder and harder to find new visual experiences. > I recall the images that night were dark and foreboding could this be related to fever? I remember as a child i was seeing really chaotic images when having 40 temperature. I wonder if there is aphantasia for sound too. Several times i was able to listen music as if played by a real orchester, but simply noticing it, was making the music stop leaving only an outline.