3 ms·

I hope this doesn’t sound insensitive, but I find that condition fascinating (if “condition” is even the right word - seems more like just a different mode of t

• NateEag 6y ago
  Not insensitive at all. I only realised mental images exist for anyone a few years ago, so I don't think of it as a disability, really (though obviously some things are way easier if you can visualize, like mental math). I am not purely aphantasiac - I do on rare occasions get very blurry, ephemeral flashes of imagery. It's like seeing an impressionist watercolor on a ragged piece of flash paper that ignites the instant I look at it. Pluses of the condition: - disturbing images are gone the instant I look away. - I cannot get lost in a daydream. This roots me in reality and the moment in a way I think few people are. - probably contributes to my native ability to speedread (if you can't visualize you do not spend any time doing it, and I think that makes me faster) - I'm not limited to visual modes of thought. Someone has speculated in the past that maybe aphantasiacs are better at abstract concepts and thoughts since we are not tied to the idea of visualizing as part of understanding. Minuses: - probably contributes to my poor memory - makes it hard to understand most peoples' experience of life - makes certain thinking and reasoning tasks massively harder than they are for neurotypicals - makes empathy harder, IMO. I cannot "put myself in your shoes" the way many people can.