5 ms·

Wow. I had no idea that was a thing. I thought that’s just something they do in movies. But I don’t have a mind’s eye either (aphantasia). So I guess that’s on

Wow. I had no idea that was a thing. I thought that’s just something they do in movies. But I don’t have a mind’s eye either (aphantasia). So I guess that’s on brand for me. That doesn’t mean I can’t “talk to myself” in a way or think about stuff. I just have no auditory sensation whatsoever. It’s just abstract/immaterial reasoning. I’d wager if I did an FMRI the audio part would not light up but the speech part would.

dr_dshiv 3y ago
You don’t have visual dreams? If I say “pink elephant,” you don’t one? Or better yet, if i say “Dumbo,” you don’t see the ears? You don’t hear songs in your head? If I write “I’ll be back” you don’t hear it now in a thick German accent? Inconceivable! (As they say)
- pxc 3y ago
  For me, the aural examples you gave are much more vivid than the visual ones. Some people have one of those forms of imagination but not the other at all!
  - dr_dshiv 3y ago
    I guess i just doubt the complete absence. Maybe people have different expectations of what imaginations would be. When I “see” a pink elephant, it is extremely fragmentary. If it were output directly, it’d be a mess. Also, not all at the same time. It might also be that there are differences in the amount of attention given to different kinds of imagination. But the way the brain is structured, everything is firing all the time… or at least, that’s why it is so hard for me to conceive
- generic92034 3y ago
  > If I write “I’ll be back” you don’t hear it now in a thick German accent? Now you have made me curious. Where would the thick German accent be, when pronouncing those words? I can imagine other sentences (anything with "th", for example) where you would hear a German accent. But with "I'll be back"?
  - chmod775 3y ago
    It's a Terminator quote: https://youtu.be/tYc2jQaM8gM?t=34 https://youtu.be/tYc2jQaM8gM?t=34 Maybe "in Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice" would've been more accurate, since I can't detect anything particularly German in the way it's said either.
    - maxfurman 3y ago
      Arnold is Austrian anyway
    - generic92034 3y ago
      I was aware of the origin of the quote, but I was really wondering how one would pronounce it with a thick, German accent.
- Filligree 3y ago
  Not OP, but I'm in the same position, so let me answer. - I do get visual dreams. That's the only time I have a visual imagination; that, or if I'm on the verge of sleeping. - If you say "pink elephant", I've got the concepts of elephant, pink and so on in my head. I can 'see' the geometry in a way, but it's totally abstract. Think of it like a pink elephant in a game where the renderer is off, and you won't go far wrong; all the information is there, and I can use it, I just don't see anything. Not as a hallucination, and not 'off to the side' either. - I absolutely do hear songs in my head. Aphantasia usually only refers to visual imagination. - If I want to hear it in a German accent, I do. By default, while I read something there's no auditory element at all. If I'm reading a book, I'll usually narrate the spoken sentences to myself and not do so for the other text; it's a matter of choice. Narrating it slows down my reading a lot, to the speed of fast speech.
  - mrtranscendence 3y ago
    > By default, while I read something there's no auditory element at all. I wouldn't characterize how I read -- which as far as I know is normal, but who can tell! -- as narrating to myself. Rather, it involves the sensation of somehow pronouncing words without necessarily hearing them. I can do this much faster than I could narrate the text explicitly. I can also read without either narrating or pronouncing, but I find that it cuts down comprehension noticeably.
- GoblinSlayer 3y ago
  Maybe imagination is poorly understood. I'm confident in my imagination when it comes to technology, but I fail the aphantasia test, because it tests free form artistry and I admittedly lack that one. Maybe it's division between STEM brain and arts brain.
  - mrtranscendence 3y ago
    I've gone back and forth on aphantasia. It's true that I generally don't see images in my mind; even when thinking about things that are visual I'll tend to mentally describe them in English. But if I really try I can definitely see things in my mind, after a fashion, although it's very ... blurry, for lack of a better word. I'm also terrible with faces. I can see someone I've known for years with a different haircut and I'll completely fail to recognize them. If everyone suddenly went bald I'd be helpless to recognize anybody. Edit: Like, I'm right now trying to conjure up the face of my girlfriend of 23 years (who is on a business trip right now). I just can't do it. It's kind of trippy.

dr_dshiv 3y ago

You don’t have visual dreams? If I say “pink elephant,” you don’t one? Or better yet, if i say “Dumbo,” you don’t see the ears? You don’t hear songs in your head? If I write “I’ll be back” you don’t hear it now in a thick German accent? Inconceivable! (As they say)

pxc 3y ago
For me, the aural examples you gave are much more vivid than the visual ones. Some people have one of those forms of imagination but not the other at all!
- dr_dshiv 3y ago
  I guess i just doubt the complete absence. Maybe people have different expectations of what imaginations would be. When I “see” a pink elephant, it is extremely fragmentary. If it were output directly, it’d be a mess. Also, not all at the same time. It might also be that there are differences in the amount of attention given to different kinds of imagination. But the way the brain is structured, everything is firing all the time… or at least, that’s why it is so hard for me to conceive
generic92034 3y ago
> If I write “I’ll be back” you don’t hear it now in a thick German accent? Now you have made me curious. Where would the thick German accent be, when pronouncing those words? I can imagine other sentences (anything with "th", for example) where you would hear a German accent. But with "I'll be back"?
- chmod775 3y ago
  It's a Terminator quote: https://youtu.be/tYc2jQaM8gM?t=34 https://youtu.be/tYc2jQaM8gM?t=34 Maybe "in Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice" would've been more accurate, since I can't detect anything particularly German in the way it's said either.
  - maxfurman 3y ago
    Arnold is Austrian anyway
  - generic92034 3y ago
    I was aware of the origin of the quote, but I was really wondering how one would pronounce it with a thick, German accent.
Filligree 3y ago
Not OP, but I'm in the same position, so let me answer. - I do get visual dreams. That's the only time I have a visual imagination; that, or if I'm on the verge of sleeping. - If you say "pink elephant", I've got the concepts of elephant, pink and so on in my head. I can 'see' the geometry in a way, but it's totally abstract. Think of it like a pink elephant in a game where the renderer is off, and you won't go far wrong; all the information is there, and I can use it, I just don't see anything. Not as a hallucination, and not 'off to the side' either. - I absolutely do hear songs in my head. Aphantasia usually only refers to visual imagination. - If I want to hear it in a German accent, I do. By default, while I read something there's no auditory element at all. If I'm reading a book, I'll usually narrate the spoken sentences to myself and not do so for the other text; it's a matter of choice. Narrating it slows down my reading a lot, to the speed of fast speech.
- mrtranscendence 3y ago
  > By default, while I read something there's no auditory element at all. I wouldn't characterize how I read -- which as far as I know is normal, but who can tell! -- as narrating to myself. Rather, it involves the sensation of somehow pronouncing words without necessarily hearing them. I can do this much faster than I could narrate the text explicitly. I can also read without either narrating or pronouncing, but I find that it cuts down comprehension noticeably.
GoblinSlayer 3y ago
Maybe imagination is poorly understood. I'm confident in my imagination when it comes to technology, but I fail the aphantasia test, because it tests free form artistry and I admittedly lack that one. Maybe it's division between STEM brain and arts brain.
- mrtranscendence 3y ago
  I've gone back and forth on aphantasia. It's true that I generally don't see images in my mind; even when thinking about things that are visual I'll tend to mentally describe them in English. But if I really try I can definitely see things in my mind, after a fashion, although it's very ... blurry, for lack of a better word. I'm also terrible with faces. I can see someone I've known for years with a different haircut and I'll completely fail to recognize them. If everyone suddenly went bald I'd be helpless to recognize anybody. Edit: Like, I'm right now trying to conjure up the face of my girlfriend of 23 years (who is on a business trip right now). I just can't do it. It's kind of trippy.