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When I close my eyes and visualize I see two things simultaneously, first is the blackness of having the eyes closed, but then I also can see vivid imagery bein

by xwdv 5y ago

When I close my eyes and visualize I see two things simultaneously, first is the blackness of having the eyes closed, but then I also can see vivid imagery being animated, only it seems like it’s running elsewhere, like in another session, or another channel, it’s not being rendered out to my primary visual buffer, but it is rendering somewhere. Is anyone able to make the imaginary imagery appear in the primary context, right before their very eyes, replacing whatever the current input may be?

JshWright 5y ago
For what it's worth, I can't do what you're describing as your experience (let alone replacing other imagery).
- xwdv 5y ago
  Are you aphantasic?
  - JshWright 5y ago
    Yep
- godDLL 5y ago
  Start with motion. Focus on a point. Move that focus around. Get to two points. Spread them apart, move them closer together. Advance to tracing letters. One after the other, into a word. Movement is key. Try reading that backwards. And so on. Myself, it took about six months from nothing to colored triangle.
godDLL 5y ago
Yes. This is "your mind's eye". This is how I went from not being aware "picture yourself on a beach" was more than a figure of speech to being able to decompose mechanisms and take measurements all in my mind. This is exactly how you do it. Your eyes have nothing to do with it. Your brain fakes your eyes seeing stuff for you, and it can fake other things for you if you ask it.
- dorkwood 5y ago
  So can you, for example, picture a black square which takes up the entirety of your vision? So your eyes are open, but you perceive nothing in front of you?
  - godDLL 5y ago
    Not quite like that, but yes, sure. I can decide not to process what comes in my eye, as long as it's not a tiger or something. Then I don't see it. If it's a familiar face or a threat, then it's harder to phase out, almost impossible. It's useful to have something better to fidget with than a black square. But I can do black square. Also your actual vision is like a spot, not like a square.
dexwell 5y ago
This is the best description of how I experience my mind's eye that I've read so far. I never have trouble imagining things as they do clearly 'render'—I can picture scenes, shapes, faces, motion, the styling of text I remember, basically anything—but it doesn't result in true visual output where I can see things as if I have my eyes open. If the latter is something that people can truly do, then I guess I do have some form of aphantasia.

by xwdv 5y ago

JshWright 5y ago

For what it's worth, I can't do what you're describing as your experience (let alone replacing other imagery).

xwdv 5y ago
Are you aphantasic?
- JshWright 5y ago
  Yep
godDLL 5y ago
Start with motion. Focus on a point. Move that focus around. Get to two points. Spread them apart, move them closer together. Advance to tracing letters. One after the other, into a word. Movement is key. Try reading that backwards. And so on. Myself, it took about six months from nothing to colored triangle.

godDLL 5y ago

Yes. This is "your mind's eye". This is how I went from not being aware "picture yourself on a beach" was more than a figure of speech to being able to decompose mechanisms and take measurements all in my mind. This is exactly how you do it. Your eyes have nothing to do with it. Your brain fakes your eyes seeing stuff for you, and it can fake other things for you if you ask it.

dorkwood 5y ago
So can you, for example, picture a black square which takes up the entirety of your vision? So your eyes are open, but you perceive nothing in front of you?
- godDLL 5y ago
  Not quite like that, but yes, sure. I can decide not to process what comes in my eye, as long as it's not a tiger or something. Then I don't see it. If it's a familiar face or a threat, then it's harder to phase out, almost impossible. It's useful to have something better to fidget with than a black square. But I can do black square. Also your actual vision is like a spot, not like a square.

dexwell 5y ago

This is the best description of how I experience my mind's eye that I've read so far. I never have trouble imagining things as they do clearly 'render'—I can picture scenes, shapes, faces, motion, the styling of text I remember, basically anything—but it doesn't result in true visual output where I can see things as if I have my eyes open. If the latter is something that people can truly do, then I guess I do have some form of aphantasia.