5 ms·
Aphantasia has non-visual forms as well. Think about the smell of freshly cut grass, or gasoline, or a pumpkin pie. Can you smell these in your 'mind's nose?'
by 0_____0 5y ago
Aphantasia has non-visual forms as well.
Think about the smell of freshly cut grass, or gasoline, or a pumpkin pie. Can you smell these in your 'mind's nose?' Majority of folks can. I found out that I can't imagine smells about a year ago and it's been throwing me for a loop ever since.
On the plus side I've made some interesting observations about the nature of smell... there are tactile aspects to smell that I can imagine... the "nose feel" of a beer, the feeling of smelling a pot of steaming soup. But the purely olfactory component is missing for me.
- gamerDude 5y agoAnd I have audio aphantasia. I can't remember the sound of anyone's voice and can't recall music. Never had a song stuck in my head. But I can remember the words and content just no tones/sounds/etc.
- 0_____0 5y agodo you have high-fidelity recall of other senses? i've wondered since i have no olfactory, but high audio and spatial recall
- gamerDude 5y agoI do seem to have a high quality memory in general for other things. So, maybe that counts? But I haven't really done a comparison with others for higher ability to recall different senses. I think its hard to judge due to language barriers in describing our own personal experiences compared to others.
- Rastonbury 5y agoDo you like listening to music?
- gamerDude 5y agoI listen to music, but only as background. It has caused some odd dating issues in the past because I don't care about concerts nor can I recall "our song". But I am also comfortable in silence and I generally won't notice if the background music stops.
- drcongo 5y agoPeople can imagine smells?! I had no idea!
- bobsmooth 5y agoWhen I'm deciding where to go for lunch I remember the tastes and smells of my favourite places and decide based on what I'm feeling like that day.
- mod 5y agoI own a bar which has a relatively small food menu, and interestingly I always need to see a physical menu, despite knowing it pretty intimately. I imagine the tastes, and maybe the smells (though I hadn't thought of that before) and decide what I want to eat. Customers will sometimes comment that it's strange I need to get a menu, but the staff seems to agree with the method.
- bobsmooth 5y agoI think the ability to recall sensory input is bounded by your memory. A menu helps you remember what you already know.
- totetsu 5y agoMe neither. I realised very young, well before I even knew visual aphantasia existed. I get where the people lacking visual are coming from. It's hard to even imagine imagining a smell.. where in one's head does the minds nose feel like it is? What's to stop people just imagining nice smells all day..
- Kinrany 5y agoTried smelling coffee and tea just now. I can recognize them perfectly, but I can't remember what coffee smells like after smelling tea. Repeating the process doesn't seem to help either.