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I keep reading about people with aphantasia in threads like these, and I never hear from who don’t have it explain what do they see and how vivid it is. Does e

by sph 22d ago

I keep reading about people with aphantasia in threads like these, and I never hear from who don’t have it explain what do they see and how vivid it is. Does everyone have aphantasia? Is it like ADHD where finding a person that doesn’t claim to have it is pretty much impossible?

applfanboysbgon 22d ago
On an article about left-handedness, would you expect the comments to be full of people talking about how they're right-handed?
- b800h 22d ago
  You can't deny it's a bit popular right now. "Aphantasia is the new AuDHD". Doesn't mean it's not real, but I'm sure we'll see it creep into "I have aphantasia because I'm unable to crisply visualise a fully detailed lifelike scene from memory with my eyes closed".
- sph 22d ago
  Where are the articles about non-aphantasic people? And those from neurotypical people with rock-solid focus for that matter.
  - applfanboysbgon 22d ago
    "Where are the articles about right-handed people?" Not being written, you'd wager, because normalcy isn't interesting.
Semaphor 22d ago
I don’t have ADHD¹, there. But anyway, while I have aphantasia, almost everyone I talk to reports being able to see images, most being able to manipulate them. From my incredibly small sample size of ~20, my sister was the only one with possibly mild aphantasia, 1 guy online and a girl I know possibly have hyperphantasia (very realistic images coming into their mind’s eye unbidden), and everyone else were confused about me not being able to imagine/see anything. ¹: Though I do (likely) have auditory processing disorder which wikipedia called ADHD for the ears, so maybe it fits.
bondarchuk 22d ago
I would like to know especially what is the perceived difference between normal imagination and hallucination. The way people with mental visualization explain it it sounds basically exactly what I always imagined hallucinations to be like. And e.g. closed-eye visuals on psychedelics. Why is it so special to have closed-eye visuals when most people have closed-eye visuals anyway?
- jjk166 22d ago
  The difference is when you imagine things normally you are aware that you are imagining them and you have full control over them. I can picture an elephant in the room with me, I can change its size or color, I can give it a top hat, and critically I can make it go away at will. If you're hallucinating, it's just there, however it happens to be, and while you might be able to reason that it's more likely a hallucination than reality, that doesn't make it feel any less real, nor give you control over it.
  - bondarchuk 21d ago
    Interesting, thanks for the reply. So the difference is more in the feeling of ownership and control than the actual intensity of "seeing"..

by sph 22d ago

applfanboysbgon 22d ago

On an article about left-handedness, would you expect the comments to be full of people talking about how they're right-handed?

b800h 22d ago
You can't deny it's a bit popular right now. "Aphantasia is the new AuDHD". Doesn't mean it's not real, but I'm sure we'll see it creep into "I have aphantasia because I'm unable to crisply visualise a fully detailed lifelike scene from memory with my eyes closed".
sph 22d ago
Where are the articles about non-aphantasic people? And those from neurotypical people with rock-solid focus for that matter.
- applfanboysbgon 22d ago
  "Where are the articles about right-handed people?" Not being written, you'd wager, because normalcy isn't interesting.

Semaphor 22d ago

I don’t have ADHD¹, there. But anyway, while I have aphantasia, almost everyone I talk to reports being able to see images, most being able to manipulate them. From my incredibly small sample size of ~20, my sister was the only one with possibly mild aphantasia, 1 guy online and a girl I know possibly have hyperphantasia (very realistic images coming into their mind’s eye unbidden), and everyone else were confused about me not being able to imagine/see anything. ¹: Though I do (likely) have auditory processing disorder which wikipedia called ADHD for the ears, so maybe it fits.

bondarchuk 22d ago

I would like to know especially what is the perceived difference between normal imagination and hallucination. The way people with mental visualization explain it it sounds basically exactly what I always imagined hallucinations to be like. And e.g. closed-eye visuals on psychedelics. Why is it so special to have closed-eye visuals when most people have closed-eye visuals anyway?

jjk166 22d ago
The difference is when you imagine things normally you are aware that you are imagining them and you have full control over them. I can picture an elephant in the room with me, I can change its size or color, I can give it a top hat, and critically I can make it go away at will. If you're hallucinating, it's just there, however it happens to be, and while you might be able to reason that it's more likely a hallucination than reality, that doesn't make it feel any less real, nor give you control over it.
- bondarchuk 21d ago
  Interesting, thanks for the reply. So the difference is more in the feeling of ownership and control than the actual intensity of "seeing"..