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> is not an image, it's knowledge of what something looks like Is this similar to calling an .svg "not an image" if it's viewed in a text editor rather than on

> is not an image, it's knowledge of what something looks like Is this similar to calling an .svg "not an image" if it's viewed in a text editor rather than on a canvas?

trescenzi 2y ago
I don’t know if it’s true for others with aphantasia but this seems like solid description to me. I draw a square by knowing that squares are closed objects with four equal length sides that meet at 90 degree angles. I don’t think that explicitly every time, but regardless there's no visual stimuli.
hiracat 2y ago
That's an amazing description, I don't have aphantasia, but that made me understand what it could be like.
sfink 2y ago
Somewhat? But I think it might lead you slightly astray. With SVG text, there's an interpretation step to get to the image. If you ask a question about the image represented by the SVG, you'd probably do SVG --> image --> result. With my memory of what something looks like, I don't really process it into an intermediate image form, even if I'm drawing something out. For the above example, it's more like memory --> result. More similar to a regular person's image --> result than something like memory --> visual representation --> result. In all cases, some sort of processing happens on the --> lines. My knowledge of what a square looks like includes the right angles at the corners, the equal length of the sides, the alignment with one side at the bottom (not part of the mathematical definition, note), some sense I can't describe of the overall shape, the closed shape, the straight sides, etc. Some of it corresponds directly to mathematical notions, some of it is the feel, some of it is associations with how they work in practice or where they've shown up. When drawing it, I rely mostly on the straight sides, the 90° angles, and the closed shape. I'm not logically figuring out what those together imply, I just start with drawing a straight line segment and then close it off with 3 more segments at right angles to each other, and confirm that it looks right at the end. If you ask me what part would be most painful to bump into, I do something very close to visualizing the pointy corners, but I don't picture them so much as retrieve my association with their sharpness. Dunno if this makes sense or how generalizable this is to other people, I'm just kind of laying out my stream of consciousness impressions of my brain's workings.

> is not an image, it's knowledge of what something looks like Is this similar to calling an .svg "not an image" if it's viewed in a text editor rather than on a canvas?

trescenzi 2y ago

I don’t know if it’s true for others with aphantasia but this seems like solid description to me. I draw a square by knowing that squares are closed objects with four equal length sides that meet at 90 degree angles. I don’t think that explicitly every time, but regardless there's no visual stimuli.

hiracat 2y ago

That's an amazing description, I don't have aphantasia, but that made me understand what it could be like.

sfink 2y ago

Somewhat? But I think it might lead you slightly astray. With SVG text, there's an interpretation step to get to the image. If you ask a question about the image represented by the SVG, you'd probably do SVG --> image --> result. With my memory of what something looks like, I don't really process it into an intermediate image form, even if I'm drawing something out. For the above example, it's more like memory --> result. More similar to a regular person's image --> result than something like memory --> visual representation --> result. In all cases, some sort of processing happens on the --> lines. My knowledge of what a square looks like includes the right angles at the corners, the equal length of the sides, the alignment with one side at the bottom (not part of the mathematical definition, note), some sense I can't describe of the overall shape, the closed shape, the straight sides, etc. Some of it corresponds directly to mathematical notions, some of it is the feel, some of it is associations with how they work in practice or where they've shown up. When drawing it, I rely mostly on the straight sides, the 90° angles, and the closed shape. I'm not logically figuring out what those together imply, I just start with drawing a straight line segment and then close it off with 3 more segments at right angles to each other, and confirm that it looks right at the end. If you ask me what part would be most painful to bump into, I do something very close to visualizing the pointy corners, but I don't picture them so much as retrieve my association with their sharpness. Dunno if this makes sense or how generalizable this is to other people, I'm just kind of laying out my stream of consciousness impressions of my brain's workings.