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My complete non-scientists guess about brain size is that large brains are used for storing detailed visual information. So that animals that have to navigate a

My complete non-scientists guess about brain size is that large brains are used for storing detailed visual information. So that animals that have to navigate and remember large territories, possible remembering the smallest details in wide open plains or tundras will have larger brains.

LordGrey 5y ago
Those of us with aphantasia[0] might disagree with that. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
- fsckboy 5y ago
  Interesting! moving further tangentially related, I wonder what the condition I have is called? I read the Assessment section of that aphantasia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia#Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia#Assessment [1] and recalled that my brain has another condition, the inability to self-assess on a numeric scale. There are lots of interesting tests online, personality assessment, etc. and I can't complete them. I get 1/4 of the way in and suddenly the scales seem completely arbitrary and I have no way of deciding where I fall. [1] just a meta footnote to say, aren't HN footnotes dumb, and isn't pasting the link right into the prose a less fussy way to make references?
  - LordGrey 5y ago
    > I get 1/4 of the way in and suddenly the scales seem completely arbitrary and I have no way of deciding where I fall. That sounds a bit like Semantic Satiation, where words (usually when repeated) suddenly stop making sense. I have no actual information about that; your description simply reminded me of it. Discovering I had aphantasia so late in life -- I'm 56 -- just reinforced the knowledge that everyone is wired differently and therefore approaches Life from different directions. I knew that, intellectually, but it was still kind of a slap in the face. [2] [2] No reason for the footnote. I'm just trying to fit in around here. Maybe if I had multiple footnotes it would make more sense....

LordGrey 5y ago

Those of us with aphantasia[0] might disagree with that. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia

fsckboy 5y ago
Interesting! moving further tangentially related, I wonder what the condition I have is called? I read the Assessment section of that aphantasia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia#Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia#Assessment [1] and recalled that my brain has another condition, the inability to self-assess on a numeric scale. There are lots of interesting tests online, personality assessment, etc. and I can't complete them. I get 1/4 of the way in and suddenly the scales seem completely arbitrary and I have no way of deciding where I fall. [1] just a meta footnote to say, aren't HN footnotes dumb, and isn't pasting the link right into the prose a less fussy way to make references?
- LordGrey 5y ago
  > I get 1/4 of the way in and suddenly the scales seem completely arbitrary and I have no way of deciding where I fall. That sounds a bit like Semantic Satiation, where words (usually when repeated) suddenly stop making sense. I have no actual information about that; your description simply reminded me of it. Discovering I had aphantasia so late in life -- I'm 56 -- just reinforced the knowledge that everyone is wired differently and therefore approaches Life from different directions. I knew that, intellectually, but it was still kind of a slap in the face. [2] [2] No reason for the footnote. I'm just trying to fit in around here. Maybe if I had multiple footnotes it would make more sense....