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> I have aphantasia (when I'm awake) and visual imagery in my dreams that is sharper and more detailed than real life. I'm not being snarky, but... how do you

> I have aphantasia (when I'm awake) and visual imagery in my dreams that is sharper and more detailed than real life. I'm not being snarky, but... how do you know? I mean, if you can't visualize when you are awake, how do you even know what you see/saw when you were dreaming?

mikelevins 5y ago
I'm guessing they can remember having seen things in the dream in the same way that they can remember having seen things in waking life, but cannot voluntarily conjure arbitrary images while awake. I think the range of abilities and experiences around visualization, perceptual memory, and so forth, suggests that seeing and remembering are pretty complicated collections of multiple simultaneous processes that are a little differently expressed in different people, and that are not necessarily perfectly coordinated. More generally, I think we tend to think of ourselves as singular, but we have pretty good reasons to think that a person isn't actually a singular thing, but is instead a collection of many processes that are only more or less coordinated and cooperating.
- 314 5y ago
  Yes, this is a good summary. I think the condition varies in presentation and severity - occasionally I will see a brief flash of an image before it disappears, but this ferls more like falling asleep for a split second than gaining the ability to visualize.
confidantlake 5y ago
Why would you need to be visualize when you were awake to remember what you saw when you were dreaming? As someone who has Aphantasia but does see when they dream this question in really puzzling.
314 5y ago
I don't really understand your question - do you experience dreaming in a different way? I can remember what I saw in a dream, but I cannot visualize it. This is the same as waking memories - I can remember what I saw but I cannot see it again. The only exception would be the hypnogogic state when I have visual imagery but I'm not entirely present to process it.

mikelevins 5y ago

I'm guessing they can remember having seen things in the dream in the same way that they can remember having seen things in waking life, but cannot voluntarily conjure arbitrary images while awake. I think the range of abilities and experiences around visualization, perceptual memory, and so forth, suggests that seeing and remembering are pretty complicated collections of multiple simultaneous processes that are a little differently expressed in different people, and that are not necessarily perfectly coordinated. More generally, I think we tend to think of ourselves as singular, but we have pretty good reasons to think that a person isn't actually a singular thing, but is instead a collection of many processes that are only more or less coordinated and cooperating.

314 5y ago
Yes, this is a good summary. I think the condition varies in presentation and severity - occasionally I will see a brief flash of an image before it disappears, but this ferls more like falling asleep for a split second than gaining the ability to visualize.

confidantlake 5y ago

Why would you need to be visualize when you were awake to remember what you saw when you were dreaming? As someone who has Aphantasia but does see when they dream this question in really puzzling.

314 5y ago

I don't really understand your question - do you experience dreaming in a different way? I can remember what I saw in a dream, but I cannot visualize it. This is the same as waking memories - I can remember what I saw but I cannot see it again. The only exception would be the hypnogogic state when I have visual imagery but I'm not entirely present to process it.