3 ms·

Instead of the whole image, you just visualize the main aspects as vectors?

by anthk 1y ago

pfgallagher 1y ago
Your metaphor isn't bad, actually. I just don't visualize anything. It's more like a feeling of abstract relationships. It often feels like most of my brain is in RAM; I can usually recall things almost instantly. And if I can’t, I can do the trick where you think of something else and let your mind crunch in the background until it pops up. I should clarify that I can still imagine what a room looks like and what’s in it. I just don’t see it. It’s more like I feel the layout or know where things are, almost like navigating a mental map without any visuals. Specific details like colors, patterns, etc. are much harder to recall unless I am intimately familiar with the object or whatever.
- cperciva 1y ago
  a feeling of abstract relationships This. If you ask me to imagine a triangle I'll start thinking about having three sides and three angles and the area is half of the base times the height and it's a rigid body and the angles add up to 180 degrees... but there's no visual aspect to it. Sometimes I wonder if aphantasia gave me an advantage in mathematics, because I had no trouble whatsoever with the concept of "abstract symbols".
  - saltcured 1y ago
    I think you have some abstract symbol capability that is not the opposite of imagery. I lack imagery but also am nonverbal and hit limits in math. I am terrible at rote memorization or application of formulae. I did well in math up to a point, which may have hurt me. I simply felt answers to quite a bit of algebra and some calculus, but it doesn't scale. I also got accused of cheating a couple times in primary school, when I could not explain my work when arriving at an answer very quickly.
- Refreeze5224 1y ago
  Your description matches my experience exactly, and I find it oddly comforting to know someone else has the same thing going on in their head.
  - pfgallagher 1y ago
    Yeah, people are definitely wired differently! It’s cool to see there’s a lot more research going into how minds like ours work.
theshrike79 1y ago
My brain is like a vector database, it stores the "feelings" of information, not the actual information - if that makes sense? I can make lightning fast connections in my head when something happens, like when something breaks in production, I see the symptomps and the vectors just connect from effect to the cause. Can I explain to others why and how I know where the problem is? Nope. ...Or yes, but it'll take a long time for me to follow the feeling-vectors and put them into words I can actually communicate to other people. For actual people and characters in books I also retain the shape and ...something about them, but I couldn't explain how most people in my life look like to a sketch artist. From a previous comment of mine[0] on this subject: > When I read a book, I kinda retain the "feeling" of the characters and maybe one or two visual traits. I can read thousands of pages of a character's adventures and I can maybe tell you their general body type and clothing - if they have an "uniform" they tend to wear. > I've read all 5 books (over 5000 pages) of The Stormlight Archive and I couldn't tell you what Kaladin (the main character) looks like. I have no visual recollection of his hair colour, eye colour, skin tone or body type. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45687441 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45687441

Instead of the whole image, you just visualize the main aspects as vectors?

by anthk 1y ago

Instead of the whole image, you just visualize the main aspects as vectors?

Your metaphor isn't bad, actually. I just don't visualize anything. It's more like a feeling of abstract relationships. It often feels like most of my brain is in RAM; I can usually recall things almost instantly. And if I can’t, I can do the trick where you think of something else and let your mind crunch in the background until it pops up. I should clarify that I can still imagine what a room looks like and what’s in it. I just don’t see it. It’s more like I feel the layout or know where things are, almost like navigating a mental map without any visuals. Specific details like colors, patterns, etc. are much harder to recall unless I am intimately familiar with the object or whatever.

cperciva 1y ago
a feeling of abstract relationships This. If you ask me to imagine a triangle I'll start thinking about having three sides and three angles and the area is half of the base times the height and it's a rigid body and the angles add up to 180 degrees... but there's no visual aspect to it. Sometimes I wonder if aphantasia gave me an advantage in mathematics, because I had no trouble whatsoever with the concept of "abstract symbols".
- saltcured 1y ago
  I think you have some abstract symbol capability that is not the opposite of imagery. I lack imagery but also am nonverbal and hit limits in math. I am terrible at rote memorization or application of formulae. I did well in math up to a point, which may have hurt me. I simply felt answers to quite a bit of algebra and some calculus, but it doesn't scale. I also got accused of cheating a couple times in primary school, when I could not explain my work when arriving at an answer very quickly.
Refreeze5224 1y ago
Your description matches my experience exactly, and I find it oddly comforting to know someone else has the same thing going on in their head.
- pfgallagher 1y ago
  Yeah, people are definitely wired differently! It’s cool to see there’s a lot more research going into how minds like ours work.

theshrike79 1y ago

My brain is like a vector database, it stores the "feelings" of information, not the actual information - if that makes sense? I can make lightning fast connections in my head when something happens, like when something breaks in production, I see the symptomps and the vectors just connect from effect to the cause. Can I explain to others why and how I know where the problem is? Nope. ...Or yes, but it'll take a long time for me to follow the feeling-vectors and put them into words I can actually communicate to other people. For actual people and characters in books I also retain the shape and ...something about them, but I couldn't explain how most people in my life look like to a sketch artist. From a previous comment of mine[0] on this subject: > When I read a book, I kinda retain the "feeling" of the characters and maybe one or two visual traits. I can read thousands of pages of a character's adventures and I can maybe tell you their general body type and clothing - if they have an "uniform" they tend to wear. > I've read all 5 books (over 5000 pages) of The Stormlight Archive and I couldn't tell you what Kaladin (the main character) looks like. I have no visual recollection of his hair colour, eye colour, skin tone or body type. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45687441 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45687441