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How to know if you have aphantasia or hyperphantasia | Measuring your mind's eye
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- čas přidán 18. 08. 2024
- Click here for resources!
Resources:
The Aphantasia Network: aphantasia.com/
VVIQ: aphantasia.com...
SUIS: kosslynlab.fas...
OSIQ: Blajenkova, O., Kozhevnikov, M., & Motes, M. A. (2006). ”Object-spatial imagery: New self-report imagery questionnaire”. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20(2), 239-263.
Binocular Rivalry: aphantasia.com...
The Mind's Eye blog: sites.exeter.ac...
Mind's Eye, survey: exetercles.eu....
Matthew MacKisack on visual artists: junkyardofthem...
Time stamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:52 - Definitions
04:55 - Measuring visualization
05:21 - VVIQ
08:04 - SUIS
10:03 - OSIQ
12:09 - Binocular Rivalry
13:58 - Concluding points and resources
I legitimately can't tell if I'm visualizing or just thinking about the details of something. I *feel* like I can see it but I don't believe I can. Nothing is lost in my version of imagination though.
@Cynphir Which I get. But it feels like something in the middle. Hmm
Yessss this is so relatable. Am I just recalling a memory of the color red, or am I *seeing* the color red? I legit can't tell, which makes me think that I'm just recalling it? such a mindfuck
Same! If imagine a fish, I can recall so many details, I can "see" the way it opens its mouth, the texture of its scales, the fins, the way it moves. When I imagine stories its basically like a movie in my brain. I "see" it in my mind's eye very clearly, but I can actually, physically see it at the backs of my eyelids. So I can never tell which one I have, there are never any distinctions about these two different ways of "seeing" in those videos.
@@angelikabinczycka yup
@@angelikabinczycka same
Bro I was such Dragon Ball Z fan back when I was a kid and I would make up episodes in my head, voice acting included.
I made episodes, too!
same!! i even introduced my own characters and storylines!!!
SAME!!!! & sometimes I like to insert myself into these shows 😂
Same but with How to train your dragon
Same, but with Yu-Gi-Oh. I would listen to music and be able to match up scenes from the series to the music. I was able to make award winning anime music videos this way.
I've had two traumatic brain injuries since then. I can hardly visualize things now. It's been both emotionally painful and nearly impossible to adapt too.
I’m definitely in the hyperphantasia camp. Reading takes me ages because I visualise every detail and get lost in the worlds I build. It is also through visualisation that I problem solve at work, I’m a programmer and build up a mental map of the code. I enjoy painting and can usually visualise any change I want to make even though I can’t always execute it 😅 as I child I often played without toys, just building up an imaginary world that I imposed in the real world. Whenever I’m relaxed, I’m pain or particularly stressed the imagery comes washing over me whether I want it or not. I’m really grateful for this ability since it gives me much enjoyment and helps me in everyday tasks
Yeeeessss same here I am very glad I can though it can also lead to getting sidetracked and distracted from important things cause I don’t choose when or what is going to appear in my head
Same its a gift and a curse
i do as well get distracted in my own imagination most of the time. i like to create my own characters and stories and often get lost in the world of my character as if i am there. my imagination is the reason why i love to read books. i am not sure if i have hyperphantasia or not, but i relate to you.
@@JustAcrylicArts holy shit I do that too, I thought being able to create images in your mind was pretty normal untill I learnt about this stuff (not sure if I have hyperphantaisa or not
@@shouryajain8847 hahah same! i thought everyone could imagine things before i learned about aphantasia haha
I've never felt more disconnected from my own mind. I have no idea if I see images or not.
This seems like one of those things where if you have to ask you probably don't, though I'm not sure.
I can only see shadows if try hard enough
Well it's funny, I feel like I can see things, but its not "seeing" as I normally would. Its a very different way of "seeing". I think a would way to prove it is to think of random words and see if they bring in random pictures to your mind
Same. When my eyes are closed, I just see black. But I can also imagine being at a concert sitting behind rows of people. Like it’s way back there somewhere but I don’t see it you know?
@@shely_D7vil That is a good way to describe it. I feel like I am seeing but it's definitely different from actual "seeing with my eyes". Most of it feels like my brain just knows what I am supposed to see and it cuts to the chase and tells me that I am seeing it even if there's no actual picture in front of me.
Anyone else imagine sounds and sensations?
Me all the time, I write, draw and paint a lot and this habit help me to visualize what emotions, sensations and colors I want to express/use. I'm also really influenced by music and noises when I create. For example if I listen to a joyous and deep music like Vivaldi, "Spring" Dansa Pastorale I will draw colorful scenes from nature with warm tones and a lot of movement in my lines. Are you also influenced a lot by what you hear or imagine when creating something ?
Yes, sounds, smells, taste, touch - just not vision. I can "listen" to my favorite songs, change the instruments, lyrics, stereo mix. I can savor the taste of a pint of Guinness which is great since I went teetotal 21 years ago :)
Absolutely.
I play music in my mind with full orchestration, does that count?
Yes, those are the two sensations I can produce best within my mind. I cannot do the other main senses
My imagination is as vivid and detailed as a movie so I have always daydreamed, coming up with stories for my original characters. I didn't realize this was not a common ability.
I do the same!
I honestly think it is a (very?) common ability, that would be too weird if people could not imagine things as they already saw in real life
@@MrEysox but it isn't that common there are plenty of people in these comments saying they can't visualize like that. Like I can imagine textures and shadow and fine details but the actual shape and form get distorted, like real life cartoons or caricatures. Imagine like those hyper realistic scenes in ren & stimpy or spongebob.
It's not common? How strange.
Same! I actually have a disorder called maladaptive daydreaming disorder where I constantly daydream and I live in my head. When you look at me in public you can tell that I am living in my own world because I look at the ground a lot, laugh at nothing, or make certain facial expressions that don’t make any sense. It’s sucks but I still love daydreaming! It helps me cope with life.
After figuring out about my lack of visualization being outside the norm, I was floored that people see actual images. I found out that people actually picture characters when they read, and it impacts their experience if they watch a movie adaptation and it’s not what they imagined.
Oh I can picture pretty much what I want and when I read I don't picture only characters but also scenes like a video of what I'm reading anyway I was wondering If you have lack of visualization can you picture things that you did yesterday or a few years ago? Like for example your first day at a job or your first day at school? Things like that?
@@lg20a1 Nope. I can think of it but I don’t see it as a picture in my mind.
Not just picture characters but see the whole incidence. The experience and the emotions are exhausting but that's what makes it addictive too. The rush of emotions and the adrenaline rush sometimes is not cool but at the same time habit forming. That's why I read more books with grey shaded character bcz it has more thrill. I get so angry reading books sometimes bcz of the character and then remind myself to calm down
I was telling my coworker about aphantasia and she realized that she actually has it, while I have hyperphantasia. It was a really crazy conversation where we were trying to explain to each other what visualizing/conceptualizing certain ideas was like for the both of us. I tried so hard to get her to visualize an apple on the desk, telling her the color, shape, the shadow it cast and everything. And she tried to convince me I couldn’t actually “see” an apple, I’m just thinking about the blurred concept of an apple but it’s not something she can picture in her head. We both found it difficult to understand how the other person functions, when it’s entirely ingrained into our subconscious perception. Wild how easy it is to take stuff like that for granted.
I'm 69 and just discovered, ten days ago, that I have aphantasia. I was astounded. How could I not know this about myself? As a child, I loved to draw and was an art major through 2 years of college. In college, I realized I was not anywhere near as good as a lot of the other art students. I am now a writer because I can "draw" much better "pictures" with words. I can make you see a man driven to the depths of despair, I can make you see a woman struggling with a relationship. If I write about a house, I know what it looks like, where the rooms are, what you can see from the windows--all without being able to see them in my mind's eye. How? I know what things look like and where they'd be placed. I know a dining room would have a table and chairs, maybe a sideboard. I know what they look like because I've seen them in real life or pictures. As for reading, I have always loved reading. My favorite book was written by a woman who, I learned later, has aphantasia. Her book, like mine, has less description and more about the characters and their inner thoughts and feelings. I wish there were better words to describe how I recall a visual image. One thing I have a lot of trouble with is remembering who someone is purely by having them described to me, especially if I haven't seen them often. And yes, I dream in pictures.
I can relate, sister. I surely can.
Well good. Luck in your life!
Nice
@@LilBuwu I was gonna say that 😂
That's awesome! I love the "pictures" words evoke in a story and how descriptive they can be.
I can't see things when I close my eyes but I can imagine them extremely vividly with my eyes open. Like daydreaming, but it's how I visualize anything.
Interesting! I have only heard of this - 'projection' as Francis Galton calls it - in relation to also being able to see 'in your mind'. I don't know if you would count as having aphantasia or not then. I think it's quite unique. Thank you for sharing!
That’s weird, I visualize things extremely vividly with my eyes open and closed
Prophantasia I think it's the term, it's the capacity to project an image, not imagine it, project it in the real world (with the eyes open)
I've been reading a lot of comments on various youtube videos on this subject and it seems that many people can actually visualize better with their eyes open. I know I always have
I am the same, when my eyes are shut its just pitch black but when open i can see what i am imagining on top of what i am looking at, also I don't have any problems visualizing when dreaming, then the images are very clear.
I’ve definitely improved my ability to visualize things since I’ve started meditating regularly. When I started out, my inner vision was very blurry, mostly just silhouettes of things. But now I’ve gotten to the point where it’s like an impressionistic painting.
This is reassuring. I have a feeling the mind’s eye can be trained and I’ve just let mine become weak. Im a visual artist and have vivid dreams, but when people ask me to picture something when I’m awake I feel like I cant!
I’m going to start meditating more I think 😅
Cool. Meditating is the only time I can picture anything in my head and even then it is something I have already seen and only that one particular thing.
But what to do if you start from a black screen? Like me
Oh yeah, this explains a lot about my problems drawing.
I went to an art line in high school and I have gotten a lot of compliments on my drawing(only from people who don't know what they are talking about of course), but I always noticed I am lacking. I can never draw anything unless I see it, or I know some "recipe" on how to draw it. And when I see it I can pretty much only try to copy how it looks, it's hard for me to be creative with it. It has always frustrated me. It particularly irritated me how I constantly have to look up and down on the thing I am trying to draw. At art school, some people just took a brief look and then they could be looking at their drawing for over 30 seconds. I can barely do a couple of seconds before I need another look, to see what it is I am drawing.
I never really considered the possibility of other people being able to see more vividly in their minds than me, and that's why some can draw just from their fantasy. But that makes a lot of sense.
I can draw because I know what things are supposed to look like somehow. But I cannot actually see things in my mind. I think there is something way far back in my mind but it’s like very far into my mind and so don’t see like a clear right there picture like other people do.
Honestly speaking, the great artists known as the Renaissance masters spent the vast majority of their drawing time actually drawing from life, training themselves to “hold” an image in their minds for the split-second in which they look down at their easel and draw lines. Darting your eyes back and forth quickly from the model to the canvas will create such an “afterimage” that appears on the canvas itself. After so much experience with this process, the mind begins to hold such imagery for much longer and become part of imaginative memory. Great artists can create entire compositions from memory, but they never stop drawing from models - even if as a warm-up or just to keep their skills honed. Notice I said “models” and not “photographs”.
No one can draw complex forms from their imagination unless they are really talented and been doing it for years. Every beginner have to look the thing they are drawing more than the drawing itself in order to draw it realistic. Because the image in our mind really simplified versions of the things in reality. If you ask somebody whose never draw before to draw an eye from imagination he'll probably draw a circle and draw a little circle inside of it. But in reality eye is much more complex and in order to draw it realistically you have to forgot the eye in your mind and look at a real eye and understand the real form of the eye. In order to do that you have to look at the eye more than your drawing. You will only look at your drawing to draw the lines and compare it to the real eye. If you look at your drawing more than you will draw simplified version that is on your mind not the real one. Some drawers can do it without looking because they've draw that thing many times before with looking and now they know how to draw it.
@@xqkcq6284 The thing is I have drawn a lot in my life, I went to art school, had lots of friends who liked drawing. I am pointing out the different struggle I had compared to them.
They're not better at drawing without reference than me because they did it more and learned how to do it. They're naturally talented, and I was not.
But also where I felt I did better than them when we had a reference. And I did that from the start, I remember when I started drawing landscapes and how surprised I was at how easy it was for me compared to the class.
Talents do exists, we humans are not all the same prototype. We have different abilities. And this mind's eye thing, just really explains why I had such struggle with drawing without reference all my life. But it might also explain why I found it easier than my friends and classmates to draw from reference.
I can perfectly imagine things yet I cannot draw it at all even if I perfectly remember an image and try to recreate it or draw my own stuff
I just now realized that i can like, visualize something without closing my eyes. its like blinking between "images" but i can acutally see both of them at the same time.
Yeah, i can imagine images better when my eyes are open. I'm glad other people also experience that as well
I do that to. It usually doesn't occur to me to close my eyes. But sometimes if I'm doing it I lose track of what my actual eyes are seeing.
@@spacedoohicky yeah it feels like a special kind of spacing out
@@timediamond3921 I think that's daydreaming pretty much. Maybe a more immersive form, but still daydreaming.
@@spacedoohicky it's funny how the brain can do something like that, focus on its own self made images rather than reality
I thought everyone had a photo shop like thing in their mind that lets you make any image or “video” in you mind that you want and play back memories and stuff like that. I didn’t realize people don’t have sound and all that.
So cool
Me too!
You're very, very fortunate. I have no mental images. The best I can do in my mind is gray smudges. Recalling the faces of my family members? No.
@@tyanite1 damn. Kinda cool how we all experience live so differently
Ditto
I have other stuff going on, but I don’t think this. It just looked interesting, but over the past 20 years I’ve had so many cases of ‘doesn’t everyone do that?’ Moments. As a child I thought everyone was in pain all the time because I was and I was told it was growing pains or other rubbish. Teaching pe with little ones used to amaze me, why can’t they even touch their toes when I’m an adult and can put my palms flat, I thought local anaesthetic was supposed to just take the edge off the pain. Turns out it doesn’t always work with Eds.
I am an artist who can not visualize pictures in my head. I’ve worked on developing this my whole life. After 40 years I have been able to cultivate some progress, but if I get anxious it knocks it right out of my head. I always associated it with my adhd. Thanks for covering this 🔆
Try reading novels and draw the scenes that u like the most as u read them; this will help I out greatly.
You
As an artist I tend to have to 'build up' a scene- and then I step back, but if I'm focusing on details there tends to be a lack of background
Sameee.. but I suck at being creative😅
I can't see anything at all, but I can imagine the essence of an image or object, almost like the feeling of it or something I have no idea how to accurately describe it.
I truly understood this, Ryan!
me too! does that mean we have aphantasia?
@@valeriepalmer1017 I think so, or of it's on a spectrum we're just significantly closer to aphantasia than hyperphantasia.
maybe you conceptualise things. For me, who have realised half year ago I have sort of aphantasia, I couldn’t describe how I am thinking until someone suggested that their have concepts in their mind and that fits so well.
For 99% of time I’m not able to visualise if I wanna to, but I can still remember how people look like, not bc of viewing their image but having a concept of them in my mind.
So if I need to describe the outward experience of someone to an artist I still fail miserably but if read I save those “facts” we learn about the characters in my head and therefore knowing how they look like.
I have a similar experience
idk if it's related but I hear music when it's silent around me, including music that I haven't heard before. people are confused why I'm vibing in silence lol
Same here! The radio is on in Brain County and we're playing bangers 24/7/365/infinity lmao
same, sometimes i "play" my favorite songs in my head without actually listening to them/playing them, just hearing them in my head
When I meditate, I find that songs interrupt the silence more often than random thoughts!
Same but only when I am in that little gap between wake and sleep. It's weird af and the music is really good but the moment I wake up, I can't remember it.
I also hear music non stop. 24 hrs a day. It’s the sound track to my dreams then when awake I’m creating music all day and hear it as if it were on a loudspeaker. I thought this was completely normal until very recently , people sort of didn’t really believe me and I was astounded that not everybody did this. I’m also hyperphantasic, also blown away that not everyone is creating fully immersive video of everything and all thought in their mind. I also project my imagery onto the real world. I think it’s called “prophasia” (?) I couldn’t imagine living without any of this. I can’t imagine how it would even be possible to
sometimes I can visualize my memories in a third pov, like I can see myself doing the things I did even the whole place I was in
same! I have a lot of memories in third person.
"are you looking at the moon?"
"Head in the clouds again?"
I've heard this so many times I lost count.. I had to learn throughout the years how to focus on reality because i used to spend most of the time in my own imagination (daydreaming?), biggest problem was at school/university where I constantly got into deep thinking as soon as I heard something interesting.
At the same time though, this is what allows me to play the piano and imagine whole concerts from scratch.
Nowadays I still struggle to focus on a conversation without getting "distracted" but being aware of this is very helpful 😁
Something really clicked when you mentioned "motion" in mental images. I remember when I was a kid, my older cousin who had recently got his license, took me for a ride. Before we left the driveway, I, in my typical bizarre fashion of starting a conversation by giving an unsolicited peak into how my brain works, said something like, "Isn't it weird how you can picture things, but you can't make them move like a video". With a laugh, he responded, "What do you mean? I can picture myself cruising down the road in a black jaguar (or whatever sports car it was)."
I've realized that I do see movement in my mental images, but it's only in very short clips, like a one-second-long gif. And with any image in my mind, I feel like I can see a lot of detail, but I can't retain it for more than a second, so I have to sort of re-conjure it up every time I want to explore a new detail.
Anyways, this is very fascinating stuff. Thanks for sharing!
My imagery doesn't really move, I can get an overall impression of a trajectory but it's nonlinear. I've noticed that my inner perception seem to obey the rules of quantum physics more than that of Newtonian. for instance, there seems to be a complementary between position and momentum: I can recall the position of an object at a given moment of time, or it's overall movement as a generalization, but not both at the same time. There's a theory called quantum cognition which says that the human brain mimics certain features of quantum phenomena. This seems to be true in my case. It's very easy for me to understand the idea that time and space are an illusion, and movement is relative.
I can see full blown perfect videos with full detail, but I really want prophantasia so I can actually see it in my visual field
Where do you fit on the scale? your description is very similar to how I would describe mine. Why don'
t they last?
@@spaceanarchist1107 It may have something to to with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. The more you know about something's position, the less you know about it's momentum. Our mind's eye utilizes memories that are just snapshots in time. We either remember that instant, or a vague approximation of it's motion.
When I think of something in motion, I get more of a technical overlay with a probability cloud representing it's path through time. 4D objects, blurred in the direction they are moving. but it's not really "moving".
@@peterbelanger4094 very interesting! I've been thinking about how mental imagery relates to quantum theories of mind. What is your own level of imagery? Is it better or worse than average?
I think I have aphantasia. I always thought "counting sheep" or "picture yourself on a beach" were just figures of speech. I didn't realize that you should actually SEE those things.
Since discovering aphantasia I have taken to describing it in terms of coding (usually HTML bc it is the only code I can wrap my head around). My brain is able to create memories by writing code. It can reread that code to remember but it doesn't have what is necessary to actually run the code to be able to actually see it.
Ooh this is a nice way to describe it!
This is a incredible way to describe it!
Wow... That's very well described. I have very vivid images of memories, with colors, texture, sounds and sensations. My dreams are also very realistic. Daydreams too. I have ADHD, though... I'm usually spacing out... 😕. But I thought everybody was like that. The only thing I couldn't imagine was how people imagine things without seeing and feeling. I couldn't grasp that. But thanks! Now I know!
Same, I always thought counting sheep was a metaphor from counting down from x numbers
I'm exactly the same. I explain that i have the info stored in code or in a really neat filing system in my mind and i just read it as info, not as imagery, when prompted. And as most people I thought that was the only way that existed until i started discussing it with friends and then one of those friends sent me the article about the person who had the ability to see in their mind and then lost it!
The book A Mind's Eye is a great read. It's what finally gave me a word for my lack of imagery. As an artist/dancer/dj I blow my own mind (heheh) with how I'm able to create while drawing a blank. As the Joker says "I just do things!"
I have aphantasia. This is the first time I've heard the term spatial imagery which is extremely helpful. I always tried to explain it as "feeling it's presence in an area of my mind". As for reading, when it comes to fiction novels, I struggle staying engrossed in the book where I can't picture it. As for non-fiction, and just books that retain a lot of information, they keep my attention longer because it allows me to look at something in my mind in a different light and understanding. I can spatially deconstruct something in other words.
I'm definitely a hyperphantasia kind of person. I visualize everything. I frequently have a whole separate "scene" in my head other than the one I'm living. It's useful for boredom and for writing stories because I can work on scenes while at work. I didnt realize just how much my mind drifts to other places and things until I started working with a horse who would bite me if I wasnt mentally present!
As a preteen, I used to picture myself in my favorite shows or stories and basically visualize them and act out interactions in my bedroom to the point that I would kind of stop seeing my room. I forgot about that until now.
I noticed this with Thats so Raven as a kid. The acting was so formulaic that my mind always rendered a whole different episode that could have taken place if one line of dialogue had changed
I used to watch the olympics and I could see myself tumbling on mats and doing all kinds of flips..
I have never been in a gymnastics class and could barely do a cartwheel growing up. I could always imagine myself doing the things I saw on TV; ballet, skydiving, gymnastics, etc.
Same here!
@@joeybloey3631 lol okay joey you can be one of us too
I can literally plan chapters of books that I'm writing, in detail, while doing every-day tasks. I did this for years while working with the public. I can hold a whole conversation with someone while my brain is worldbuilding, or living out a totally different reality. I never thought it was weird until now.
Huh. I knew my imagination is above average but it seems what I believed to be average is already hyperphantasia. I thought being able to imagine a single object in photo-realistic detail is the average.
When the VVIQ asked me to imagine a store I go to from across the street... I was seeing the building with all its surroundings, the street, neighboring buildings and trees, the insides, inside detail like every shelf and their contents, people moving and talking inside and cars driving by outside, all in the same time while flying around in this image like a drone.
Huh, I don't fly around like a drone unless I want to
wow I can imagine say, a ladybird crawling across the chair in front of me fluidly like that but to imagine all that every time as your default is impressive! Like if I close my eyes and AIM to see my local shop with all that detail, I can but its not what id do as a default response to "imagine your local shop". normally then I just see a static image of the storefront and the surrounding area is a bit blurred or vague?
Yep, I'm the same but I also have synesthesia so smells and sounds also come into it. I just thought everyone was the same
@@nirgunawish you still get bored because you know it isn't real 😭 but at least you can imagine yourself into a different country, that's entertaining for a bit
Ngl as an artist with aphantasia I'm jealous
I'm a few years late stumbling into your video. I found it very interesting. Thank you! My personal experience is that I have a very visual memory. When I read books they are like movies in my head. When I'm solving problems for work, the code is typing out as I think about it. I find 2 things fascinating. 1. If i try to "zoom" in on any of these brilliant and detailed images or movies they lose details. 2. I have 3 kids and they all think I'm crazy bc they don't have the same experience. Just thought I'd share my experience. I hope you are doing well and enjoying much success.
I was taking organic chemistry, and when we were studying the 3d shapes of the molecule, I was able to visualize the exact shape in my head. The colors were not that noticeable, bit I could rotate it. I told this to some of my classmates, and they were amazed because they couldn't visualize anything. Others also told me that they could visualize something too. So that's when I realized that there are different levels of visualization in the mind.
I've always found this fascinating. I can only visualize things with my eyes open. I can still see reality in front of me, but it goes out of focus. Trying to visualize anything with my eyes closed is impossible.
Same :D
💯
That’s actually the best description for what actually happens in my head that I’ve ever read. But to add to it I also actively narrate it as I see it but I don’t do that when I’m just regularly thinking.
I can visualize stuff perfectly with my eyes open but I find it harder with them closed
Yeahhh I think that’s the same for me.
When I read, I see and live amongst the characters. For me it it's something like VR but more. There's feeling, emotion, color, smell, taste... I read fantasy almost exclusively growing up because it was like literally going to another world. I'll forget about my body and the physical world for spaces of time, "surfacing" to adjust or what have you.
I recently found out about hyperphantasia and it seems like a category that describes my experience. In general I can visualize basically anything I want? Like fractals and x-rays and the depths of space, memories floating like planets. Skies like mandalas and microscopic structures towering like cliff walls.
I was interested to find that I can't seem to recall the instruments when trying to replay a song in my head. I can hear the words and the rising and falling vocal tone, but any instruments are sparse to non-existent. It's more like a feeling than instruments. Like a spacial sensation.
Thanks for all the information!
My imagery works like yours! It's so real. But I'm not really into fantasy haha, maybe it's too intense for me for these reasons.
Same and I also read a lot of fantasy books and play fantasy, RPG's, horror games. I'm an artist and writer, but writing wins if I had to choose. Love looking at artwork though, and it tends to help formulize a scene in my mind if I'm having trouble visualizing what I exactly want. My characters also speak in their voices in my mind; I tend to narrate in their voice, how they would respond to whatever is going on. This helps me get in their mindset/form their dialogue. If I'm really in the zen zone, I'll picture fantasy worlds in hyperrealistic ways, down to the dew coating my skin, or how cool the wind is, how hard it's blowing my hair back; the stirring of sand across a crystal stairway.
I also can dream within minutes of falling asleep. And it always confused me when experts claim REM happens only after 90 minutes. I'm like, uh no...I can do it almost instantly. It's crazy.
I'm the exact opposite, I love to read and have since I was a child but there is absolutely nothing visual to go with it. The other side of that coin is I have no problem wrapping my head around things I understand conceptually and talking about it with people over the years I'm pretty sure it's because I don't need to "see" things in my head to understand them. Videos related to aphantasia have recently been popping up in my recommend recently and my biggest take away from the comments is how large a variation there is when it comes to "the mind's eye" across the population.
So I'm also an avid fantasy reader, and totally love being immersed in a new world, but I don't have vivid imagery. While I do feel like I'm somewhere completely different when I'm reading, details are fuzzy and mostly I just feel like I'm in my thoughts. My thoughts feel clear, and it does feel like I'm elsewhere, just not at all vivid.
When I read, it's a movie in my brain. I don't see words on a page.
Wow very interesting, I've always had a hyperactive imagination and would make up scenes in my head based of video games (Still do tbh) but its so interesting hearing you describe things as a place in your mind. Great video!
This video is so interesting. Thank you for explaining this so well. I wish I had friends like you in real life to discuss things like this. I definitely have Hyperphantasia or at least a few levels below it. Maybe that's the reason for my overthinking. I imagine scenarios that have never happened but could happen so vividly that I think it leads to anxiety. Yes, I have social anxiety. Even my dreams are so real. I can't remember much of them but when I get life threatening dreams I wake up suddenly during my sleep hours. If I have a crush on someone, and this is the weirdest thing, I can totally undress them & see all of them. Same thing with my relatives who have passed away. I can imagine them doing things in my head. Smiling, walking, lying down, running, singing, etc etc. Maybe Hyperphantasia is a boon & a curse at the same time, in a manner. As a creative person it really helps with visualizing whatever/whenever I am creating but at the same time it really gets me down some days as I can vividly see my relatives who are here no more, which leads to some next level grieving. I don't know why but I felt like putting all of these out in this comment since this video really hit close to home. Maybe that's also the reason for past trauma from domestic violence to last longer in my head. I can always imagine the shitty situations over & over again, so vividly. Yes, therapy is expensive so maybe this is the avenue where I let it all out. I wish you were still making more videos of this kind. Even when making music, I imagine scenarios that the music would fit in. Soundtracks to visual imageries. Anyway, I think I'm done with my rant. Love your aesthetics. Hope you're doing good. Have a great day! :)
I can remember after my mother died for several years I would have dreams as if she was just away somewhere, and now she had returned. Then when I would wake up it would be like she died all over again. But now those dreams are more like short comforting visit. Now that many years have passed.
@@Robert08010 Same thing happened to me when partner died. Brings tears to my eyes now for you, for me, remembering that the joy of their return, and the total despair upon realizing that it was and never would be.
When I was learning violin all during my childhood I had a unique visual plane for every song I learned
This sounds SO cool
That's how I am with guitar! Wow I thought i was unique lol
@@RandyH524 can you describe what you mean?
what do you mean by "unique visual plane"
Interesting. Some people say they "see" music in colours. Now what is that called?
I just feel where things are... its a spacial feeling not visualisation. Can design a whole house and feel where the walls, roof, the tactile feeling of a material. The taste, temperature and smell. But never visualise it.
Same. It IS very spacial.
I used to get the same thing during school when it came to spelling. I could never visually recite a word from my head, I would always have to write things out for it to make sense
i used to have “regular” hyperfantasia and was a big daydreamer, always had a song stuck in my head. however after kinda getting into psychedelics a few years ago, i can visualize whole abstract “short films” without closing my eyes and recall entire *albums* to listen to in my head. i stg my brain turned into a big tv with a great sound system. i’m sure it mixes with my adhd sometimes, which can get overwhelming to have inside my brain at all times
My husband has aphantasia! We were together for like 6 years before the topic came up at all. So hard to imagine going through life without mental images. He can't even picture people's faces in his mind, he relies on context to recognize people. He's described it as if he was on a business trip and I came to surprise him, he literally would not recognize me in front of him because I would be out of context.
that might be face blindness
Although I don't have this disorder, I do find my memory of people is connected to context and often will mis-identify a person when seen out of their usual context.
I think that’s something different.
Mine is situational. If I’m trying to sleep I visualize murderers under my bed and feel actual fear. When I need to be creative I can’t think of anything.
Why is this so relatable
@@butasimpleidiotwizard so true. I also have the most creative and anxiety inducing nightmares and dreams, but if i try to think of something interesting to draw it's like im looking at a black sheet of paper in my brain.
@@whatif3271 can you remember your dreams? If so maybe it's a brain to hand unconnection.
Yes🤥
@@double2mo382 well for me i can but after 5 seconds after waking up i forget it . I write it down to remember it. I also woke up crying in my sleep and it was apparently a dream where a pokemon stole my prize.
i would see sheet music during choir concerts for parts that were particularly difficult for me, like it was right in front of me and i could see each part. very useful tbh
me too! this is how I "memorized" things for marching band. Stare at it long enough for the first couple rehearsals and then I can just recall the difficult measures and mentally read them.
@@afreaknamedallie1707 YES exactly my dot sheet was just in my brain after a few rehearsals
In school I used to get in trouble for cheating, the issue is that I was cheating with pictures I had in my mind and had to recite the whole thing to the teacher to prove I actually memorized it
Sometimes I don't even remember the words, but i I can see and re-readad it in my mind
Yeah same! I do this with a lot of stuff sometimes I can intensely visualize a paper I read so that I can remember the words or something. I’ve done it with music I need to memorize too. I have a garbage memory but my visualization makes up for it
That sounds like photographic memory.
Oh, your thesis is so interesting to me! I realized I was aphantasic in 2018. I'm a novelist (and also an avid reader) so talking with other writers and learning how so many of them write by describing essentially a movie of their ideas, their plots and characters, that plays in their mind's eye was absolutely fascinating.
How wonderful that you're looking into this!
As a writer with aphantasia, too, I'd be interested in knowing your writing process. My stories are mostly based on what the characters think, feel and do, which come naturally to me. On the other hand, description is something I've had to work on and I usually refine it in the second draft.
I've done the binocular test and can easily switch out colors. I know I have far leaning hyperphantasia. I can literally compile images and sound with my eyes open or even engaged in activities and conversing. My dreams are always very vivid and I can recall most and in detail. I still remember some dreams I had before school. I always thought this was pretty normal until I heard about aphantasia and several people being unable to produce images or even dreaming in black and white or not at all. This was so bizarre to me. I couldn't imagine not having the ability I do to see through my minds eye in such a vivid and unique way.
I remember being little and getting separated from my mother and then panicking because I couldn’t picture what she looked like in my mind. After that I made a point of remembering her outfit. I think aphanthasia is related to face blindness but is not the same thing (although I do have difficulty recognizing people but not in tv or movies 🤷🏻♀️) Also, I can’t remember most details from my childhood (teacher’s names, friends names etc). I think one way I have found to compensate is to remember previous images, so for example, I know what a dolphin looks like and I know what an Apple looks like so I can think of a dolphin with an apple on its nose by photoshopping them in my mind but it’s not an image I can easily describe and it’s easier to do with my eyes open than my eyes closed. It’s more like a phantom/ negative image/doodle. And it’s very hard to hold the image. I’ve always felt like a fraud because although people think of me as creative and I am very creative at solving problems, I could never generate an art piece on my own 😓
I also have a wispiness to my imagined images and I sometimes wonder if I’d be a better artist if I could visualize more vividly. It does kinda feel like I’m doing photoshop to create new images too or like I am forming them with clay to get more and more detail in certain areas when I concentrate.
I also notice that it takes me longer to process seeing a familiar face than it seems to take other people (people usually recognize me before I recognize them, lol). I usually recognize people better if I don’t just see them but I can also hear them speak.
Your description sounds similar enough that I don’t feel so strange :-)
Not at all. I have great visualization, but am still face blind. I see faces the way you see trees. You can differentiate species and recognize specific features like a knot or fork, but if a familiar individual tree was suddenly transplanted to a different location you wouldn't recognize it without being told that it's a familiar tree, and maybe not even then.
I can imagine several iterations of a familiar tree and they all seem equally plausible, just like I can imagine a generic face and moosh the features around, and it never triggers recognition as a familiar person.
I was in university when I first realized that other people could actually *see* things in their minds. I was shocked!
She almost literally said "if you want to know more in depth, look for other sources besides me; but if you only want to know yourself better...
look for other sources besides me"
You can tell she's a real academic.
As someone who has aphantasia, I think the best way to explain it is to say the imagination is like a room. We just have a room with the lights turned off. I can “imagine” something in that room and know where everything is and what it *would* look like, but I just can’t see it.
Sidenote: I know this may remind people of the expression “the lights are on, but no one’s home” But you have to remember in this description its the opposite, ok, we’re not dead on the inside.
@Porter P. Excellent analogy, that really helps. I guess I’m hyperphantasiac so I was having a hard time understanding how aphasics experience their memories but your description allowed me to “picture” it and that makes perfect sense to me. I once worked in a darkroom and I learned to move around without visualizing the room, even though I could, it didn’t help as much as feeling how far and in which direction I was moving, and where the edges of things were in relation to each other. I have no idea if that makes sense or if I really understand the phenomena, but it is fascinating. I’m also surprised to hear people saying they don’t hear or verbalize their thoughts - I often have several levels of thought going on simultaneously and its all verbal. Is there a similarity to the non-visual thinking?
I’ve been reading and looking at videos about aphantasia for about one month now and I still cannot believe that people CAN imagine colors and image in their head! I see absolutely nothing: complete blackness! Now I feel so sad to learn I am not « normal » and I understand better why I couldn’t get really into visualization for relaxation, studying or creativity. I remember arguing with my teacher when I was about 7-8 yrs she asked to imagine a chair in our head and visualize it with attention before drawing it: I couldn’t see nothing but she couldn’t believe me and at some point I felt ashamed of not seeing while every other student could describe perfectly what they seen. It feels really weird to know that it is actually aphantasia and I never learned about this before! Now I can imagine the power of such visualization for people who can see/image while reading, relaxing, meditating, studying, remembering loved one... and everything... I feel like I’m blind and just learn it... It makes me sad like I have to go through grief for myself 😢
I discovered the same last month. I was devastated!! I am still trying to come to terms with it. I am extremely artistic and creative but I have to get inspiration from actually seeing things. I’ve always said “I’m very visual, I have to actually SEE it” and now I know why.
And yes, I too have always been frustrated with visualization exercises and trying self hypnosis for relaxation. I close my eyes and though I know what something looks like and can tell you from memory ....I try to grasp the picture I’m supposed to “see” but it’s as if my brain is searching for it and it’s in the back of my head and I just can’t find it. It’s there, I know it is, but I can’t see it. So then my mind wanders and I start thinking about other things 🤦🏻♀️
I am a pro at relaxing my body (I’ve had 9 babies naturally) but I have to focus on my breath and triggering muscles to relax, visualization has no part of it at all.
I'm still in denial that I have aphantasia even though I've come across it a long time ago. How can you see actual pictures?! It doesn't make sense... Your eyes aren't picking up light so why would you mind think they are? I can imagine objects, but I can't SEE them. I could even describe them to you.
Whenever I try to replicate something from my mind, it just doesn't work. I think it's because I can't see it. I know what it's supposed to look like, but I can't compare it which makes it incredibly difficult for me to actually do what I want
I see alot of stuff in my mind. I've can literally replay videos in my mind. Whenever I need something but don't remember where it is I'll literally scan through the house in my mind. Also if I hold up a finger pretend that I'm writing in the air I can actually see the letters. When I had to do tests in school and I didn't remember something I would just look through my notebook in my mind. I also have extremely realistic dreams so sometimes it hard for me to tell whether I'm asleep or not. I can't believe that it's all black up there for some people
Just when I was envying those who have aphantasia because I am almost always having regrets coming to my mind easily, I see this post.
Look, it’s not all rosy on this supposedly normal imagery side. I go through a lot of regret coming to my mind because I easily recall the images.
I rethink of scenes where I win the argument in the end, or how I could have said things better. And this is very draining, tbh. See the good side of your situation cos it’s never all-rosy elsewhere.
I don’t think it’s so rare. I have read that thousands of people are this way.
This freaked me out a little. When it asked to think of specific features of someone close, I realized I couldn't imagine the shape of my twins face.
Hi I am a speech-language pathologist in and work with elementary students who have oral language (and usually concomminent reading comprehension) deficits. There are programs like Visualize And Verbalize which teach students to visualize what they read, then say what they "see" and understand from passages. I don't know much about the program or evidence based data for the program, but clearly for students who have a hard time visualizing reading/oral language comprehension is more difficult. Not surprisingly being able to visualize to express oneself should also be more challenging. So glad you are studying this topic!
I can't tell the difference between my head and reality. My dreams are all extremely lucid.
Textures, voices, smells, time, physical ability, habits, taste. Rarer ones are blinking and breathing, and extremely fine details like the sight peach fuzz at every angle on every part of the body.
I create people all the time in my head. I even fly or dive into black holes, experience death.
When I listen to music, I can alter my surroundings in my mind's eye and almost project them onto the landscape.
The bass, vocals, what colour they are, what they feel like, sound like, smell like.
I read the title and had never heard either of these words before, then Jo was like "I'll give a brief definition" and I was like "Oh ok thanks"
im so lost. I thought that the whoole visualisation thing was a metaphor. I have synesthsia, very vivid dreams - but i "see" nothing behind my eyes...
I don't "see" anything behind my eyes either. I don't think that's what anyone does. But I can recall what the McDonald's sign looks like. And I can imagine myself sitting on the beach. But I don't think people are seeing literal movies behind their eyes like they're on drugs. I can remember what something looks like the same why I remember what apple pie tastes like, but I don't literally taste apple pie in my mouth when I recall that memory. Are people just getting confused on terms? Because this is either a failure of memory or a failure of imagination, or something.
Synthesesia is a crossing of paths and output from 2 senses that should be otherwise unrelated. Not "vivid dreams".
What type of synesthesia do you have? I have spatial sequence. I have no idea how everyone else manages without it.
@@DAWNSIE1961 Chromesthesia and LGS. It's been suspected mentioned I have kinaesthetic syn - but it's never been diagnosed. So I just have what my old psych referred to as "broad synesthesia". I truly don't understand how syn isn't a thing we all have in one form of another... it seems so... human and logical but I suppose that's brains for ya
@@GlennDavey thank you this was very helpful.
I am only now finding out that this existed after talking to my 14 yo daughter about why she is not interested in reading books. I was explaining to her how reading a book basic creates a movie in your head that's why the author describes everything in detail, from the clothes a character is wearing to what the room looks like where the scene is taking place. She looked at me like I was speaking another language. I couldn't believe she did not have this ability and it blew her mind that I could see 'pictures' in my head. Teachers are always asking her for more details when writing and now it makes sense..she can't 'see' them. I am now trying to research if this is effecting her learning ability and what I can do for her so thankyou for this video.
OMG! Thank you so much for this video. As a teacher, this is essential to everything that I do. I am going to shift my teaching to be sensitive to this issue for students. It could make a huge difference for students who may not like reading or struggle to "create a character" --not necessarily as a deficit but just as different.
Personally I never had any issue in school and would probably have just been even more confused if my teacher started trying to convey this to me as a kid. I think teachers now kind of overestimate how much special care kids really need.
@@FucklifedeadshitI was opposite….. I became a straight A student because of a teacher telling me tricks for my brain to work around my ADHD and dyslexia mind. My mind has this weird short term memory that’s like a gold fish. Long term is insane tho. I can remember things that most people can’t.
I might have Hyperphantasia. Sometimes, I daydream/visualise so well my other senses join in- I can experience the smell and feel of freshly baked bread. It's like VR in my head- I can also often experience the world around what I am visualising as well- like if I imagine a person they'll often be in a place like a shop or in nature. I also have certain feelings in my body that relate to music. I took the VVIQ and with the sunset I could smell the predawn air. It's funny to try and imagine people who are the opposite of me though. Although I get overwhelmed easily and my birth father is believed to have schizophrenia too, so I wonder if that is related.
Damn... i envy you. I hate the constant chatter in my head. Seeing images sound amazing
The mind has capabilities beyond the imagination of the indoctrinated masses
@@Buddy420 I kind of have that too. Lots of earwigs, a strong internal voice and again, all my senses engage with me when I imagine. Sometimes a particularly powerful dream or daydream can take me a while to recover from haha. Hearing funny clips/music in my head happens all the time, although I'm not schizophrenic (or at least I'm not experiencing positive symptoms) so if you are yeah that sounds tough 😔
@@user-oy4vu3ck3u Every single day, I have a different song stuck in my head the moment I wake up. Is that normal?
@@10_Percent_For_The_Big_Guy I have that, too. I also have dreams that are just me hearing a song that I know.
I just went and took those easily available tests.
So, first off, I had heard of aphantasia but assumed it was rare and most people experienced it thinking like me. Like the rarity of synesthesia or chromosthesia, not a wide spectrum.
Honestly the mind blowing thing to me here was that there are people in the middle. Of course it is a spectrum but I hadn't considered the idea.
No surprise then that the very basic tests told me I likely had hyperphantasia since I always automatically assumed that was default.
My partner has chromosthesia with colors representing chords and keys on the piano and I am going to have him take those tests when he gets off work.
As you can imagine I am more of a visual artist and he is more of a musician but we have overlapping talents and skills.
So I will report back if anyone is fascinated that this is a thing.
Also, I really enjoyed the video and hit subscribe!
Um hi where do i take the test
@@crimsonmatter I'd like to know too
Synesthesia is also a wide spectrum! It's not usually picked up by psychology etc., but everyone experiences certain sensations and ideas synesthetically in various ways, no ones experience of reality is the same
I'm a tabletop gamer who LOVES running games and also an avid reader. I always had players asking me to describe things more because they were having a hard time picturing it. My response was always, "But I want you to imagine it in your own way!" Then I started dating my current partner. He has aphantasia and I hadn't heard of it before. That's when I realized that my lack of explanations might have been causing stress for people with this condition.
Then I learned you can actually have the opposite - hyperphantasia and I realized that I am experiencing thins around me in a VERY different way then most people. Much like you mention at the end, when I read I get whole worlds playing out in my head and some writing styles visualize in different artistic styles. Sometimes I even imagine characters as different appearances or genders than the author describes which makes things confusing when I talk to people about my experience of the content later.
ANYWAY, I'm rambling. Thanks for the video!
Thank you so much for this! Aphantasia can be frustrating for me, and it is cool to learn more about it 🤓
Thank you for this interesting video I’m 57 and I literally found out that aphantasia was a thing last night by randomly watching a CZcams video. I’ve never been able to picture things in my mind. I always thought that references to doing so were somewhat metaphoric and, like you, have always been frustrated during visualisation based exercises, like meditation and hypnotherapy. I have always found it really hard to follow a recipe or map directions, without constant reference back to the map or recipe. I also find it hard to remember people and their names. I don’t know if this is related.
Thank you for sharing! Adam Zeman et al. did a questionnaire in 2020 that suggests that people with aphantasia generally have poor memory, so it seems that it is sadly very related
Thank you kindly Johanna, this has been so enlightening for me. I'm going to delve into the research and I look forward to hearing more of yours :-)
And, something else that may or may not be of interest in your research is that I am almost completely unable to recall a tune in my mind. That’s not to say that tunes don’t spontaneously pop into my head from time to time but I have no ability to make it happen. I’ve always thought this was a special ability that helps define a musician, only available to the lucky few. It appears that I might be wrong!
I am just floored. I am almost 60 and have known that I don't see images in my mind's eye and wondered if there was something wrong with me but had never heard of a Fantasia until something came across my CZcams feed and led me to this video. Thank you so much! I do have that sense of motion you describe and while I don't see images I can conjure up the feeling that I am seeing an image called for.
exact same here. I honestly thought everyone was like that! I never knew people can actually see pictures in their minds! my mind has been blown completely.
I’ve always known I was a visual thinker, but never realized I had hyperphantasia, but now so many things make sense. I believe this is the main reason I’m a vegetarian, I see the packaged/prepared meat and I get vivid images of the animal it came from in my head and I can’t just will myself to not picture it. I remember things by recreating the image in my head, if I can’t picture it, I need to at least picture the setting the conversation was in, the shapes of the words, or something similar to recall it. Amazing.
Such a fascinating topic. Thank you for the video!! Even though the video is 3 years old, I‘d like to comment. My husband and I are polar opposites vis a vis Aphantasia. When we first met (20+ years ago) I noticed that he had problems with visualization. I asked him once if he saw pictures in his head; he had no idea what I was talking about. I don‘t know if I am hyperphantasic (if that is the adjective???) but I can see pictures in my head. Visualizing how something will look before it has been built/created is relatively easy for me and impossible for him. I used to draw the distinction between us by saying that he thinks „abstractly“ rather than visually. If you ask him what color our house is, he will be able to answer simply because he KNOWS what color it is; whereas, if someone asks me, a visual of our house pops up in my mind immediately.
I am curious though about hyperphantasia, too. I can sometimes reply entire film scenes in my head or take a walk-through in our garden purely in my mind‘s eye. But, the images don‘t stay particularly long and sometimes even take on a life of their own. Is there a scale somewhere out there, a kind of hyperphantasia spectrum?
Anyway, great explanations!!! Thanks!
I think I "visualize" touch more than images, like in the "picture an apple" experiments I think more about how heavy the apple feels in my hand, how smooth the skin is, and how it would feel to squeeze it or cut into it.
Same, I experience more the sensations and the concept of the object, i can smell it, taste it, touch it, hear it if I want to(like the sound the object hitting the floor, being cut, split, broken,etc)but I can’t really see it.
Same, this extends towards people too. Most I can 'visualize' is flashes of color I've established as well how something physically feels and the emotional reaction it evokes.
For me if someone says visualize an apple I literally see a picture of an apple In my head lmao
That's so interesting. I struggle with mental images but if I think about the action and feeling of doing something I can "see" it more clearly
That's interesting. When I think of an apple, I can imagine that I am rotating it, moving it around and even taking a bite but if I try to focus on the apple itself... it's hard to see a red vivid apple.
This was really interesting. I know I don't have aphantasia, but a lot of the struggles people that do have it are describing are pretty relatable. I can sort of create an image, but it's more like the _concept_ of an image or an oversimplified first draft always in shadow. It's much easier for me to recall things I have already seen with my eyes than imagine new things. I can sort of visualize my sister, but don't ask me to put her in an outfit I've never seen her wear before. And if I try to focus on an image, my mind scrambles to grab a couple details before it disappears. Like a slideshow that's too fast.
I can't create a landscape in my head with any kind of detail but I can draw a mountain I hike often from fuzzy snippets of recall fairly well even if it does take me forever and a lot of effort. I can't tell if a line or mark I make will be wrong before I do it, but once it's on the paper and I can physically see it I can.
I now have a theory that the reason I'm so obsessed with color is because that's one of the easiest things for me to "see". I can't imagine pink paint on a wall in my house very well but I can imagine a precise shade of pink with almost realistic clarity. The one thing I'm good at visualizing is what ratios of paint I need to mix to get a certain color lol.
really interesting, not quite what i experience myself but i relate to some.
My visualisation is really bad and can be compared to rough 2D sketches if i concentrate well, all in shade of grey and pretty dark.
Yet i am doing art and creating a lot, even writing, enjoy color a lot. And suspect that my brain take my knowledge and experience of colors, color theory and such to fill the blank of what my visualisation can't . Like slaping a idea on a shape. The idea of red, i know how it feels i've seen red things, i know how it contrast with other colors, so i decide it's red and put that idea on instead of actualy seeing it in my mind.
( hypothesis of course but that's the best way i can explain it )
for me it's kinda like that, just with no color, not even black and white. with just lines, or brush strokes and the like.
Wow it's interesting to see how it's different for everyone
Mostly the same for me. For some reason when I read a book, I'll at least partly imagine it taking place somewhere I'm familiar with, like the local library or my old school. It's annoying that my brain does that but I guess I can't picture an original place very well.
I'm spun out right now. So much is clicking like it all makes sense now.
After years of drug abuse my memory has started to deteriorate and life has become quite tortuous. I can't even grasp a full thought and now im realising that im not visualising like everyone else, im actually feeling determined. Im going to rewire my mind through determination and try and gain back some memory. I can only think on thoughts which last for a fraction of a moment. Trying to connect and keep everything in a sequence in my mind is almost impossible. For now that it!!
I’m aphantasiac, and I have an advanced degree in English literature. When I read I am interested in the world or context rather than the characters or their relationships. Specifically, I prefer high concept science fiction, dystopic fiction, or sometimes magic realism. I attribute these preferences to my cognition. My theory is that our interest in other people who we do not know is supported in large part by seeing them. As I can’t picture the characters in a book, I feel less interested/connected to them.
On the other hand, an interesting world/challenge/problem/language in a novel engages me through other ways of knowing - the more extraordinary and skillfully crafted those elements are, the more I am engaged and transported by the story.
Good luck with your thesis! I am fascinated with this subject, and I applaud your choice to pursue it.
I'm so happy to hear someone else talk about spatiality and aphantasia! I'm pretty sure I'm in a similar boat and it is very weird to try and explain how I have this sense of "this object would take up this space" or "I can imagine motioning around the contours of an object" without being able to really *see* it. I have experienced short flashes of being able to visualize (usually right around falling asleep, which is maybe related to being able to have imagery in my dreams?) though I can't control what I'm seeing. It's a jumble of short flashes that may or may not be related to what I'm thinking about. The few times I've had longer moments of imagery, it was gameplay footage from something I had just spent a lot of time playing (e.g. Tetris, Zelda: BOTW).
Also, I knew about the VVIQ, but not any of the other surveys, so I'm excited to give them a try! Thank you for sharing the resources!
I have exactly what you describe . Only time I really see stuff is in dreams or about to fall asleep . Had very vivid dreams of playing age of empires (lol) after an all day gaming session .
I have awful intrustive thoughts and my extremely realistic imagination doesn't help, I envy people who see less in their mind's eye sometimes
Omg me too! I'll start randomly crying when just a second before I was happy and smiling, bc of these vivid intrusive thoughts. Brightside is that ppl like us could be amazing authors. I'd guess that most great writers have this ability.
me too, it’s a blessing and a curse
I can relate :( Sometimes it feels like I have a helmet with a build in screen on my head and I can't take it off.
I've had it for a while but finally recovered now, don't react and you can build a mental muscle in your mind to choose when to think and what you want to think. I replaced each horrific visualisation with an opposite affirmation of love 10x, meditation helped alot now I have alot of power with my mind. I'm so glad I got through it. God bless youse through this spiritual battle, in the dark and light you will find yourself, try not to personify the thoughts or they can break you down. Also don't try not to do anything but don't try to do anything don't avoid a thought or you are running away then it will chase. Mad deja vu rn. Good luck 🙏🏼🧿💚
Same here, it used to affect me deeply but now I just shrug and think "that's fucked up, think this instead" and focus on something else. It is really hard when you can practically smell the blood and feel pain by the mental image.
I am a lifelong artist and I definitely do NOT see any images in my head. I find this useful in my work.
I'm really glad you clarified that aphantasia doesn't relate to dreams or spacial measuring. I only recently learned the term, but now know I'm rather low in visualization. But people have a hard time understanding because my relative spacial measuring is so good and I have very vivid dreams.
this channel is gonna grow so fast in the next two weeks
Very interesting. Like many, I had never heard of aphantasia, yet as a Designer, I became very aware, and rather dumb-founded that so many of my clients could not picture what I was recommending to them. The world inside of me has always been more vivid and real than “reality. It is nice to have a word now to describe it - hyperphantasia.
There is so much more involved than whether or not your clients can see what you're suggesting in their minds. My husband and I are remodeling our kitchen for the second time. (We last did it in 2001.) I have aphantasia, my husband does not. My husband is the one having a hard time because he can only "see" our kitchen the way it is, not the way it could be. He also has poor spatial awareness.
On the other hand, I have very good spatial awareness and can conceptualize well based on my experience and what I have seen in the past. I have a good sense of color and can coordinate things well. I have compensated for my blind mind's eye with a word based conceptualization. If you can describe things well, I can understand and will know whether or not I'm going to like your suggestions. The words are everything.
@@Sandikal That’s very interesting. I am mainly thinking about placing art work.
Showing them paintings in person at an art gallery, and describing their home, and where they might go, and why. I am able to do this quite vividly. Many of my clients are “right there” with me. No problem. Others give me a blank stare. So, I must bring out a huge number of paintings to their home to visualize them in the actual setting, before eliminating any of them. Some of the painting are 6 feet long or more. So this is a real inconvenience! For other things, like a kitchen, I would show a drawing or schematic. Being able to have a good sense of spacial relationships is really an asset for “getting” how things fit. Thank you for pointing out your abilities. This clearly more complex than I thought.
I recently found out that my best friend is really bad at visualizing things (not to the point of being completely unable to conjure up images, but to the point that images are hazy and not at all detailed), while my girlfriend has hyperphantasia (she’s so good at visualizing things that she projects them into reality to the point where, from a purely visual standpoint, they are indistinguishable from reality). I myself lie somewhere in the middle, as I am able to visualize things I’ve already seen to a photographic point but don’t use visualization as often, for example when I am reading, because it is impossible for me to imagine the characters, so I only occasionally picture the places or objects, as I am able to do that. It is so incredibly interesting to hear about different people’s ways of experiencing the world and the way they think... we all live in this reality but our internal worlds are different from each other in more ways than we could ever imagine. Thanks for this video, it was indeed “a nerdy kind of fun” to watch ;) I enjoyed it very much.
I believe my 85 y/o mother is aphantasic. I'm writing a novel and read it out loud to her. I asked her if she could "see" what I had written and she said she never visualizes anything, that there are no pictures in her mind's eye.
For me, I do legal transcription - depositions, 911 calls, on-scene body-worn camera files, etc. - and I find especially for complicated audios I need to picture what is going on in order to be able to transcribe what I'm hearing. I need to "see" in order to be able to hear accurately.
And totally off-topic, I had the strongest sense of deja vu while writing and then rereading this comment. I've seen these words typed before but I know I haven't since this is the first video of yours I've ever watched.
I have aphantasia...I learned about it on another channel. I always thought "imagine ___" or "visualize ___" were just metaphors for a long time too. I realized in my 20s that NOT seeing images was unusual, but I didn't know the name until 2 years ago. My kids think it's sad that I can't see things in my head. My husband does not understand it and thinks that I have to just *try harder*....yea, like I haven't tried that already!😒
I had the exact same experience of the sudden realisation that 'oh, you guys aren't talking in metaphor?'. I think it's so fun how we alter language meaning to fit with our experiences like that! Thank you for sharing. Maybe we should all just try harder haha
So right now if you're not looking at your husband you have no damn idea what he looks like and can't recall his face to your mind? You can't recall what' it's like to see the McDonalds sign on the street?
@@GlennDavey I "know" what they look like, I just can't SEE it in my head. I have an idea of the thing or person or place, but I can not see it all in my head. There's just black space. It's hard to explain how I can *know* it but not *see* it.
Wow. This has been quite a morning for me. I am a very creative person with aphantasia, but I apparently am not typical, in that, from other videos, I've seen that people like me tend to lack some connections in our brains that lock things into our long term memory, making it easier to "let go" of things. I am the opposite. I am a hoarder. My whole life I've had to keep things out and around me, forming piles of things so that I can have them in my life. If I "put things away", I forget they exist within a relatively short amount of time. So, this also causes me to save weird things... like the shoes my sister was wearing when she committed suicide. I'm terrified I'll forget the important things, so I keep them... ALL, and preferably within line of sight. It's a very chaotic way to live, and over time, the piles around me define my everyday life, kind of frozen in time. Is there help for people like me?
This is very common in people with ADHD :)
I second the above comment about checking out ADHD-some studies have investigated links between aphantasia and ADHD (& with autism and other neurodivergent conditions). Many ppl I’ve met with ADHD (including me and certain family members) do this same thing where we hoard items and spread them out in our line of sight or else we forget. This is why my clothes always ended up in piles in my room until I had my closet doors removed, got clear plastic bins and drawers, and labeled everything. My dresser is a mess but I can see everything and know where it is-if it goes in an opaque drawer I forget it exists.
Idk if my other family members have aphantasia bc I haven’t asked about it yet. But for me, if I don’t have a picture or journal entry or physical item from an event, it’s basically gone from my memory forever. If I’ve taken pictures or written down my thoughts, I can vividly insert myself back into my mindset at the time, and recall how I felt. If I’m lucky I can recall the motion of walking through a place.
But I can’t recall any visual details outside the pictures. Example- I can sort of describe the living room from my childhood house because I have many pictures of it, but no pictures of the bedrooms so I have zero idea what they looked like.
First of all, i am sorry you had to go through that:/ And yes, there is help.
I would recommend looking into Marie Kondo and her method. That, coupled with therapy. Processing the trauma of losing your sister.
Living with less stuff physically and mentally frees up so much energy and truly changes you life for the better. I believe you can do it!
❤️
How interesting! I never thought of hoarding in this way. Thank you for your insight!
I have Aphantasia and I have very vivid, colorful, realistic dreams. It's a strange contrast. Before I learned the word aphantasia I always got frustrated when instructed to relax by picturing something calming, like "imagine you're on a beach" or "imagine you're in your happy place". I can remember very specific details of my favorite place, but there's no visual happening in my brain. Thanks for the interesting video!
I don’t know if I have hyperphantasia, but I definitely see things vividly in my head. There is a little grey ranch-style house with an oval cut glass window on the front door that we used to see from the school bus every day when I was in elementary school. I see that little house in my head all the time. I am 32 now. I was driving through the area a couple of days ago, and decided to check it out. It looked exactly the way that I remembered from over 2 decades ago, but oddly enough, the paved streets were much smaller than I remembered. I laughed and told myself, “That’s probably because the last time you were here, you had a much tinier body.”
As an author, attorney, and speed reader, I had no idea there was a word for my inability to visualize until I read today's NYT article and saw your video. Thank you for making this video. My learning journey begins!
I discovered I have aphantasia 5 years ago at the age of 50. I thought that was "the normal" but utterly astounded to learn that people really do see real images. I also discovered the very same week that I can see in perfect 3D with just one eye. Note, I can do all the mental gymnastics associated with "imagine what this scene is like from the top" etc - but I don't "see" anything. e.g., "imagine a rotating red cube coming towards you". I can - but I don't see anything. I get all the other aspects - just not the visual.
Yes, this! I know where everything is, the sense of space, the sense of size - but somehow that's not an "image".
Recently I've talked to a friend with a textbook aphantasia, and she said she used to have trouble in school whenever you needed to deal with geometrical 3d shapes, she just couldn't do it. I also can't "imagine" them visually, I just KNOW what they are in space. This is so weird...
Same with me.
I'm with ya, John. My experience is almost entirely the same. My frustration in explaining aphantasia is that people with the ability to visualize, and that's most people, do not believe me. I'll have to divulge that I'm quite insulted by the disbelief. To not believe a person is to dishonor him, her or them.
SAME. I remember when I was in brazilian jiu jitsu, and i could imagine a gyroscope with the person in the middle doing the move, but it was like an idea of the picture that i was seeing while my eyes were open?? Its different af
"Imagine a red cube coming toward you. "
So if you cant see it how do you know its red ? And how do you know its moving at all let alone toward you if you cant see anyrhing???????
I have vivid dreams, but in my waking life, I can't "see" or "hear" anything in my mind. I wish I did have a mind's eye, because I would like to go there and kill time while waiting in long lines or at the doctor's office.
Personally, I have vivid and realistic visualization. I’ve never learned the street names in my home town because I can visually navigate where to go and how to get there, even without leaving. I have vivid and lucid dreams as well that I didn’t know wasn’t common until I was in my late teens. I think things like this have played a huge part in why I’m an artist. I visualize something and want to bring it to life.
Idk of this makes sense but like I can imagine things with their specific details as a whole, but I can't focus on specific details individually
I'm like this too
@@gaiaswildchildtarot like I can imagine a persons face with every detail. But I can't think of like "oh there's a wrinkle right here."
Wow, I'm the complete opposite. I can only see a specific part of the image at a time, I can't ever really see the whole object, it gets more blurry when I 'zoom out'
@TheeQuinn M exactly
Most of the time details are a little blurry for me as well, but, at least if it's something I'm familiar with or imagining "from scratch," I can imagine the details but only if i focus in on one or a few specifically, and then it sort of becomes as close up shot of those details I guess
Monocular here. Right eye works great. Left eye removed at 11 years of age. I didn't know these ideas until after I retired from a life of computer programming and music. When I tried the VVIQ I suddenly realized what's happening. I spent a lifetime of intense activity in sound and sequences, unaware of the differences among abilities of imaging. What's weird for me is that I know everything and everyone when I see them, but don't see much in my mind's eye, except for vague notions of shape and the edges of things.
This has been driving me crazy thank you for putting a name to it
I have hyperphantasia and synesthesia as well, so here's another confirmation for ya... I live and breathe within my vivid imagination - images, scenes, music, voice, touch, sometimes even smell. My life wouldn't be worth living without it, that's how vital it is for me. The downside is that you're always in danger of losing touch with objective reality, as the inner world can appear even more real than this life, and often preferable.
I have hyperphantasia to the point that I have perfect color memory - which is practically unheard of. I first realized it wasn’t “normal” when I blew my mom’s mind by perfectly matching thread at the store to previously purchased fabric she had forgotten to bring with her to the store.
It sounds amazing
!
That sounds really cool!! I do believe that remembering colour can work without visualization though. I won't say that I have perfect colour memory but I have a pretty good sense of colour without much visualization at all. I find it very interesting to read all the amazing things people can do here and that with such a wide array of different skills. Visualizing pictures, colour, sounds, tactile feelings, movement and soo many more. It's incredible.
I have aphantasia, dream in hyperphantasia occasionally and have a massive synesthesia. I have all of the sias, do I get a puppy?
That makes me wonder how this is possible.
same my dreams are all over the place but i cannot see things when awake, like unless i open my eyes...
@@Moonbutnosun You don't need imagination to have a synesthesia, it just means your senses bleed into each other. Being able to dream with a visual component is rather common for people with aphantasia since birth. I don't know what it's like for everybody else but for me it's literally like having the screen on my pc turned off, sometimes it'll flicker on during a dream or on a particularly momentous occasion(usually involving drugs) and I'll glimpse at an image underneath for a brief moment. While awake at times, very very rarely, I can feel visualization right outside my reach, like I'd be able to see what I'm thinking if I just managed to scrub away the black film covering everything and drugs sometimes are able to do just that and allow me to strip away the blackness and see the colors underneath. It's actually a bit more complex than that. Imagine visualization as an arm, it feels like I could access the image if I just managed to bend back my hand at a specific angle but it's just outside the range of my wrist and although I can at times reach the angle by pushing on it with the other hand(drugs or sleep) it snaps back soon thereafter because it can't hold the position on its own. To put it simply I do have the screen and it works but the port connecting it to the PC is all messed up and jagged with the cable held together with ducktape that doesn't work anymore but if you tinker in the back and smush it around the port it may occasionally flicker in and out for a moment or a couple seconds at best. In dreams it's the same, it's never longer than a couple seconds although I don't have much information on it because I remember my dreams like twice a year, my nights are rather dreamless as far as my recollection goes and it took me a while just to realize I did have images in my dreams due to how rare they are and the fact that only a minority of my dreams actually have bona-fide images, but when they do they are picture perfect and rather immersive plus they fade in and out seamlessly like the visual component was always there to begin with and somebody just turned on and off the lights for a second(not even because my synesthesia on the image is ever-present while I'm dreaming which is what gives it that seamless feeling, that only gets magnified when the image pops up but that is only dampened when the image disappears(while if I close my eyes irl my synesthesia doesn't give me blindsight like daredevil xD)).
Basically if visualization was basketball, I'd be like Michael Jordan in a coma, still a great basketball player just not exactly player material right then and there. I don't know much about visualization but considering that I hear it's trainable I would assume my subconscious/unconscious uses it on the regular for the skill to be that impressive when I actually get to occasionally tap into it.
@@federicopettinicchio that was both very informative and edgy. Thanks!
You get 2 puppies!
my imagination is so strong that i lose my vision of reality and almost see the image in my head
When the algorithm seriously hits it out of the park for me specifically!! Subbed!
This is fantastic- thank you! I am have hyperphantasia, synesthesia, and am dyslexic- and studied photography and painting i didn’t realize until I was in college that everyone didn’t see everything anyone said. It comes up in almost every conversation. I’m so glad to know more research is happening!
If you don’t mind, with hyperphantasia, do you really see images as clear as real life? I’ve always wondered this but have never known anyone who could answer. Thanks!
Tu soufre pas
Visualisation is a huge part of my learning process for inline skating. (I think a lot of athletes do also)
I have ideas that I play over and over in my head to think through the motions, work out any variables that could injure me.
To me it is like a data collection simulation where I play out all possible scenarios.
I can be laying in bed and have a what feels like an adrenaline/ fear response (quickened heart beat.. etc) if I imagine a scenario where I might be injured or hurt.
I have always been a “daydreamer” and I escape to my internal world often.
A lot of my friends I skate with also do the same and it has the nickname of “mind skating”
I don’t know if it has any relation to hyper side of this spectrum but I thought I would share my personal experience.
Very interesting to learn about this.
My BFF has aphantasia and I have hyperphantasia. It shocked me that she can’t see anything in her mind. I’m a writer and a reader and I can picture the scene as clearly as if I’m watching a movie. The idea of not being able to see my characters terrifies me. I can see them in such detail; the stains on his glasses and the little bumps in his front teeth. The flaky chapped skin on his lips, the creases in his shirt because he hasn’t ironed it. When I imagine a beach I’m basically transported there and I don’t even have to concentrate to completely be there. When I walk on the sand I can feel it beneath my feet. I love the imagination.
I never understood why my friends would go and see a movie of a book and say 'Hermione looks nothing like she should'. I had a solid idea of personality and actions of a character, and they may/may not have lined up, but I never thought particularly on what a character looked like. Also, I write a lot of fiction, and since finding out (only about a year ago, in my 30s) that I have aphantasia, it is really interesting to me to go back and read my own work, and see how little there are descritpions about what a place or person LOOKS like - it is much more likely to include a 'vibe' or relevant information about plot or use of an item/area.
I had nerdy fun watching your vid. TY. I think I’m realizing that I don’t foresee faces or imagine them but I can easily recognize faces in real time. In the moment, I'm like a human face recognition machine in my mind's live awareness. I only need a slight view and I know who someone is. Even from behind merely seeing a bit of their face. But I don’t visualize or remember it visually. I’m often frightened by visual changes in environments. Like my whole orientation to singing changes in a new space. I don’t visualize real ppl well. But snapshots like photographs of places recur in my mind,s eye.
Similar to you my recall is best caught by photos/footage of a memory, my memories in general aren't visual however - more distant, sensational & super abstract!
Thanks for making this video.
Learning about the various different questionnaire types is super interesting.
I’m a dentist, and I ended up preferring the much more artistic field in aesthetics and techniques that allow me to play with tooth colour. Once I can build and see the tooth or veneer I create, it comes alive, it’s why I so enjoy the process of reconstructing someone’s smile. I know conceptually how it should be, and when I then make the restorations in someone’s mouth it’s so exciting.
Reading:
I’ve never liked reading fiction unless it was deeply descriptive in experience rather just painting the endless picture of the scene. For me everything is conceptual rather than visual it seems in my mind, but for instance I could never understand people who said they preferred the book to the film.
My earliest realisation of this was with Harry Potter. I liked reading Harry Potter, he was the same class of school as me each year the first three books came out, but everything became so much better after the first film release. Seeing the film was incredible for me. To me I had never seen anything, just loved the suspense and concepts the books offered, and all of a sudden everything was technicolour and vivid.
Talking with friends who I think have hyperphantasia, they describe reading books as watching a TV series. I could never comprehend this. To me watching TV far outshines my reading experience. I think it’s why I prefer non-fiction or biographies as people are describing memories, and when they do it’s more conceptually described, rather than someone imagining something in a fiction novel.
Though I am still being questioned by those who I consider near to me to have hyperphantasia, they believe as I’m able to describe an apple or a sofa or a scene to mean I can picture things in my mind. Using the red star test - for me to see a red star, I must think of a memory that has a red star, for me it was che Guevara’s hat. I know it’s a sludgy green and has a red star. So I can think of this red star and I know it’s vibrancy and colour but I can’t seem to see it in technicolour - it’s theoretical. Where as hyperphantasia folk can say, they can just conjure an image of a pink elephant and super impose it anywhere and imagine it in technicolour- I can conceptualise this for sure, but it’s not a clear picture it’s black it’s completely conceptual. As in Incan describe components but not see the full image with all its components clearly as I can with a specific memory I have scene before.
The same goes for peoples faces. I can recall like I’ve memorised it the picture of my mothers face, but from photos. Less from real life. Somehow the photo 2D image is much easier for me to recall then trying to remember her face - as I can’t conjure up the image of her face at all. It’s completely blank. But I know and can describe her or my husband features.
I think it would be very interesting to work with detective sketch artists and to a blind comparison for them where they must sketch a description of the same person but from those recalling the face from those with aphantasia and those with hyperphantasia.
For instance - to sketch something- even a tooth. I must see it, and for teeth I had to memorise every feature that goes into the shape of every tooth, I can’t just conjure up an image. It seems it could be related to why some have more photographic memories than others.
Also, I do seem to get over things once they are gone. I’ll be annoyed at the time, but am not haunted by the image or recurring visuals. I think I just miss the representation of the thing or look to replace it. For example, my step father died when I was 16. I was quick to be able to just speak about it, seemed unemotional and matter of fact about, but it wasn’t until later that I realised I was scarred by the memories of him sick in hospital. I avoided anything that would trigger that memory and sabotaged relationships to never feel the loss I felt from losing such an amazing person.
I still question whether it is that those with hyperphantasia are just describing they’re conceptualisation as being super vivid, and it’s just the way we describe our imaginations that is different or is it truly different experiences.
Also another interesting point during lockdown has been e-commerce clothes shopping. Some people love it, and I’ve noticed that unless the model looks like me, I struggle to understand if it would look good on me, but for others it seems they can easily imagine what something would look like on. I hate shopping this way, and have to see it on someone or myself in order to imagine how it would look let alone fit!
Hope these anecdotes help!
I think it really would be interesting to devise some different metrics to try and distinguish the effects of this spectrum of imagination.
The beret you mention has been worn a lot and the red part has been in the rain and dried off. I need my teeth done but not in your country
I like visual description in books so I can more accurately picture what's happening, but I get why that wouldn't do anything for someone who can't see images in their mind. Particularly for a fantasy world series like Harry Potter, where it's required to be able to get a decent idea of how everything looks. I prefer movies and tv shows though because I want to know how thinks look, not just try to imagine how they look. I guess that's why I'm drawn to very detailed visual description so I can do my best to picture it, because I want to get as close to actually seeing it as possible. Sorry if that didnt make any sense haha.
this is so interesting! thank you for this video! as a kid, I would fall asleep acting out different scenarios in my head. just whatever I liked at the time, but usally magic battles. I always pictured myself with electricity coming out of my hands and covering my entire body. it was always the same, extremely bright, white & blue sparks entirely covering my hands. that was a way for me to feel powerful despite being a very shy and timid child. I used to do it all the time at school when I was nervous.
I always make up stories in my head and can actually see the person moving around where ever I am, hear their voices, and see their facial facial expressions. My mom said I was such a huge daydreamer and I consider it a true gift. Although, I have gotten quite a few stares from people and family members when I'm talking to myself. I also have huge, crazy-detailed dreams (which some end up actually coming true), so I beleive myself to be very sensitive to my surroundings. This explains all of it! Thank you!
This video is something I was needing! Some years ago I exercised my visualization at a daily basis, annotating the results. At certain a point, I realized that I started to being able to "put" objects in some places and move them (or walk around them) with much more clarity than in the beginning. This also changed my dreams: I started to have more lucid dreams and to maintain the lucidity longer (this also made the lucid dream almost hyperreal, with much more details to my eyes).
Nowadays I'm wanting to resume these trainings and I was looking for a framework to assess myself about the results. These questionnaires will help a lot.
Oi, vc é brasileiro tbm né? rs Queria saber como vc fazia esses exercícios pra exercitar sua imaginação. Tem dicas que possa me dar? Tenho um pouco de dificuldade pra imaginar e visualizar as descrições muito detalhadas nos livros e isso acaba me frustrando.
2:32 I totally get what you mean by having a good spatial imagery while being aphantastic. I recently find out that I have aphantasia and I was quite succesful in moving geometric objects in my head (without visualizing really) to understand and solve geometry questions in high school.
The quiz has me on the hyperphantasic side. Which makes sense seeing how I space out all the time and see the weirdest things but I can never remember them after the moment is over.
When I was taking the tests I noticed that I had an easier time visualizing things I see more often, like my mom for example, but had a harder time creating a clear picture of a place I don't go to very often, like mountains and a lake surrounded by trees.