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Both my brother and I have aphantasia, though neither of our parents have it, nor 3/4 grandparents. What’s maybe most interesting, is that we both seem to have
by jumploops 29d ago
Both my brother and I have aphantasia, though neither of our parents have it, nor 3/4 grandparents.
What’s maybe most interesting, is that we both seem to have “spatial” perception.
To try and be a bit more specific, when I think about “things” I can organize them in my mind in relation to other “things.”
The most clear example is a path I’ve walked through a building, where the halls, rooms, and corridors are all connected. I easily know exactly where I am, not because I remember the literal steps I took, but because I have a spatial construction in my mind.
I cannot visualize the space, there’s no inherent right side up or preferred perspective. I can model the space with my hands, and create it physically, but am terrible at trying to transform it to 2d.
This doesn’t just work for physical “things” but works for purely abstract concepts like software, stories, and songs.
I’ve always rationalized aphantasia as something where my brain put “skill points” in one area rather than another, but maybe the neuroplasticity is long gone.
- mercutio2 29d agoI have a strong sense of the geometry of things, which helps a lot with navigating in buildings. So when people describe a flattened dodecahedron wrapping into its regular form, I have no trouble conceptualizing (I was going to say visualizing, but it's frankly not at all visual; I got nothing, when it comes to visualizing anything but what's in front of my eyes). But if you ask me to think about alternating solid colors on the dodecahedron, I can't do it. Clearly there are many different variations on the theme, not just one modal experience! But it's nice to know we're not alone.
- theshrike79 28d agoThis is exactly how my brain works too, everything is related to everything. A specific set of words can trigger a memory of a song for example. There's a lot of "I know it when I see it" kind of things, I need to find one link in the path to the relevant thing to get there.