This was a really interesting talk, thank you! I have recently found out that I have aphantasia and have yet to find somebody in my friends and family who does as well. Sadly, I find that most people are not interested at all in this condition when I try to talk about it.
@@qine6559 I don't have it, but now that I am aware I have noticed when people have trouble with maps or something and I now realize that they may think differently than me and I adjust how I communicate. I think it's really important that we all learn about all of this more so we can better communicate with each other as a species. It may help solve many problems we didn't even know we had!
It’s the weirdest thing to have. You just know you have a memory of something. No visual, no audio, you just know. I have this whole life I know I had, but I can’t draw a vision of anything.😥
@@nickjunes the only childhood room I remember, is teenage, I hung Elton John poster everywhere. Can I visualize them on my walls if I close my eyes and see that image? No. I have the memory of it.
@@jeninegrasc8414 Thanks. Do you remember an experience you had in a childhood room like laying in bed curling the blanket under your toes or tossing a ball against the wall? Do you remember playing with toys by yourself?
@@nickjunes I have memories, like you would have say, a hard drive. I have a memory of my mother coming into my room when I was 8, telling me my uncle was about to pass away. I was in bed. But , like a computer with a blank screen, if I close my eyes, I absolutely cannot visualize it. I can hear it in my mind. I have that for memories very keenly. Like songs, note for note. Sometimes conversations, voices of people I have not spoken to for years, but nothing visually. I sometimes at night try to make myself see colours while my eyes are closed. The closest I’ve ever come is to a very dark greenish colour. I thought that was pretty good. It’s kinda of depressing, you know. I won’t go into detail here why, but it would be nice to be able to think of someone who was loved, and I can’t think of them and see their face, and I haven’t got the courage to go and look at their picture yet. Aphantasia is not your friend….
@@jeninegrasc8414 But has it only become sad recently because it was recently discovered or did you always know you were different? Did you ever think anything was missing? Do you have lots of photos of your loved ones? That must be some comfort.
Pretty sure I’ve had lifetime Aphantasia. I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t blackness. I wonder if this explains why I’m always alone in every dream I’ve ever had. There are never any familiar faces in fact I don’t even know if there are any faces really. There’s people, but I don’t know if they have faces because I’m never really looking? But I definitely see landscapes..My dog used to be in all my dreams but cancer took him early in life and since the day he died I’ve not dreamt of him. To this day. It upsets me so much because he was my best friend in life and dream and now he’s gone from both. I miss you Bird.
I felt so alone on this subject. I would talk about my visions with my friends and Kung fu teach with no answer. My journey started with meditation and martial arts. After ten years I became hyper sensitive to electromagnetic sensations. That lead me to a gem shop on the summer solstice. I asked the lady that worked at the shop what crystals are good for my apartment? Another lady answered “ pick one up and feel it.” Just ask she spoke, the gem in my hand started doing something that I couldn’t explain. Since then I have been working with gems that have lead me to have vivid dreams. My vision is not what it was when meditating but since learning of aphantasia I now know why. This lecture has lots of interesting insights pertaining to the heart. The Egyptians knew something about the mind and heart. Thank you!
This was refreshing to hear … and I wish to add contrast.. I have had health issues all my life and further from fit than a hippo on land .. I have always drawn and visualize when learning or thinking on anything though .. and would just know things by connecting to them as you do gems .. anything I think of or anyone I think if I want a answer, I connect and ask as wait to hear and be shown what data they have to offer .. I call these expressions they .. because they seem to have their own personality at times when showing me things or answering things for me .. I also see energies .. orbs … sparkles all over that look yellow I call grid of life energy .. it activates more intense when ever around running water , forests , mountains , and most def thunderstorms.. I also can feel and connect to crystals and items as you do .. you can use this same ability to wave your hands over scratch off tickets ^^d and see if a winners lined up worth buying or not for fun .. and many silly things like this .. I don’t find it makes socializing hard personally but I do easily get bored around most adults as they seem to lack connection to life and curiosity for the world around them to add value to their lives as I do .. which experiencing all this and witnessing how mad most adults are because they lack these abilities , leading them to self delusions and being easily deceived .. I am very glad I perceive this reality as a collective who is open to all life has to offer , on many levels others mostly won’t get to ..so if you have similar abilities .. know it’s not a disorder , it’s a advantage!
Know your not alone .. you don’t have to be super guru or super fit .. these are superficial constructs holding a lot back .. you don’t have to be sober and not a drug addict .. you don’t have to be in nature and prime energetic rich areas to connect .. anyone IMO can use meditation to develop these senses if not naturally already tuned in to using them .. just allow your self to let go and be and feel and focus intent if need be after you reached that flow of heart and mind space .. there’s many practices available .. simply breathing , dancing and being is what I do to get boosts or spend time in nature or at beach .. some times take shrooms and smoke pot as chill with my crystals and mental spectrum bubble buddies of light ^^d it’s very simply human not super human kind of life IMO so don’t over complicate it .. do what you love and enjoy your self :) “miracles “ will come to you like breathing air
Yessss! I cannot remember my own face. I recognize people I know but I often forget their face and experience that I «remember them» upon meeting them. Sometimes I cannot remember their face at all and need additional hints, like voice.
I'm over 40 and I just discovered I have phantasia today , even though I have a good memory but I was always blaming my self that why I can't visualise my parents.
I have strong visual/audio/touch abilities to visualise but no taste or smell. If I think of a simple maths problem 94 - 12 I get an automatic inner vision of black numbers on a white background and it's easy for me to work it out quickly. I was recently asked to count out loud backwards from 100 and after about 89 I lost my focus, got much slower and mixed up numbers. But just now after reading some comments I tried the same exercise while visualising the numbers counting down in my mind's eye. I could do it really quickly and accurately as if reading the numbers off an external screen. Very interesting as I've never tried this before 😮
I just learned that I have aphantasia, and was wondering about the dementia thing, as well. My mother and her friends are at age where they go through these tests and hearing about the questions asked I'm sure I'd be diagnosed as demented right now. I would argue that in my case there is also a correlation between aphantasia and mathematical skills: surely I'd do better at it with practice, but for me, calculating requires a lot of "seeing". I can try to force my brain to look at 87 apples, but then subtracting 15 apples or 25 percent of the apples is slow and onerous. I would love to hear how people with aphantasia but good maths skills work their brain, and learn techniques better suited to me and my "blind" brain. Thank you, good people of academia, for your work and this video!
Out of curiosity, have you looked at where Neptune is in your natal chart ? I am wondering if it could be that you have intuition centered around other domains rather than visual, and maybe maths could be more natural for you when “seen” in those domains
I am adept at spatial relations but I couldn't possibly "look at 87 apples". I imagine things in relation to each other. Those things don't have a visual component just a place, and I think what's the logical move to connect those things. As for subtracting, I think that's simply becoming more familiar with decimal numbers. 7 - 5 = 2, 8-1 = 7. 72. 8/4*3 = 6. 7/4*3 = almost 6. so almost 66. To do this by seeing must be super slow as you maybe could quickly remove about 1/4 of the apples, but counting them must be slow.
I can't really do mental math but I can hold the idea in various pockets. I loved chemistry and hated most higher maths. I loved trig. But you can literally see the formulas for chemistry and memorize the different wants of solving trig problems but it's right there in front of you. You don't have to "visualize" it. I seriously didn't even know that was a thing. How can you see something with your eyes closed? Apparently everybody else can...
The fact that many people feel surprised about aphantasic being able to dream visually, makes me wonder are imagination and dreaming similar experiences…. to me they are completely different things
My hyperphantasia feels identical to dreaming if I am in deep focus. I also have hypnagogia/hynpopmia, exploding head syndrome, and involuntarily lucid dream. I often wonder if I am missing a part of my mind that is present in aphantasia. The ability to turn off visual thinking, and use a more alphanumeric form of thinking.
We have analytical strengths because instead of imagining things visually, we imagine things conceptually. Instead of being creative via visual imagination, we get creative through conceptual imagination. If that makes sense. I can still picture scenes or events, but purely conceptual. It's hard to keep a coherent scene going, but it's not impossible. And although I get no visual or audio feedback, I do experience a felt understanding of how things would look like and behave. Just all in the dark
Are any chess players at expert/master level or above aphantasic? I would be very surprised if the answer is Yes, but that would be interesting in itself and worthy of further study.
I have hyperphantasia. I think being in the middle is probably the most helpful, because most people can not conceptualize aphantasia or hyperphanatasia. My imagination can be like existing in 3D space with the ability to fastforward and rewind my actions, as long as those visions are quite "physical". Alphanumerics are fairly impossible for me to visualize. I don't typically remember trivia or stats on anything, but I know how physical objects/space seem to work. I can fail a test alongside someone who aces the same test, but then I can apply the knowledge into the real world, where that same person is confused by it. So it is a double-edged sword. Also, I'm easily overstimulated by sound and movement. I am at my best when working in deep focus routine, rather than reactionary, fast-paced environments. My mind can do work internally which eliminates many mistakes before taking action, so when I have to react quickly without thinking I get frustrated, because my mind knows it would be more efficient to take pause and think through the problem first, and then execute.
Since depression disassociation derealization disorders can cause the condition - I wonder if there are any connections between childhood trauma and apparent lifelong aphantasia - perhaps the causal event can occur so early that one thinks they've always been this way.
Good question. I don't remember being able to visualize as a child, but I did have a horrific childhood. I know that I couldn't as a teenager, but I didn't have a word for it then. I first heard aphantasia at 50.
I am hyperphantasic and began experiencing trauma by 4 years old. It continued to 17 years old or so. I feel like my hyperhantasia has been there since birth and never gone away, but may have also made me more confusing to my abusers which led to further abuse as they tried to change me towards their more aphantasic understanding.
I don't have full aphantasia but find it extremely difficult to picture things. I want to know more about this. I'm certain knowledge of where people sit on the phantasia spectrum as it were, could be used to tailor education more efficiently. I also believe that people with hyperphantasia are possibly more likely to experience visual hallucinations from psychedelics.
I have hyperphantasia and I hallucinate visually on mushrooms. The hallucinations are not like new things though. They are like normal things start to look like paintings or color shift. I would say they are mild hallucinations. Otherwise my imagination is extremely vivid though and I never watch a movie more than once because I can just rewatch it in my head and to watch a movie twice is like torture for me. I can sit in one place for hours and just imagine things. In some ways I think it can be paralyzing because the world in my head is more rich than reality at times...actually most of the time. In my head I can fly around the universe or create new universes or whatever. In reality I just have what is in front of me and when I look at media I'm always looking for media that reflects the richness of my imagination, but am mostly disappointed. Lately though I've been enjoying AI art because a lot of it is like what is in my imagination, very satisfying.
I don't have aphantasia, but I also don't see "movies" in my head. I see still pictures, like snap shots. I've tried really hard to picture a moving image, but don't think I can. I understand what you mean by just knowing that you know something without having to "picture"it first.
I find it hard to imagine exactly what it’s like to have this “minds eye”. What exactly am I missing ? Is it really missing or am I just interpreting how I perceive myself differently, but actually others perceive similarly but just report it as visualizing ?
You are not missing anything - I can visualize with my eyes open, not closed. Nice to have some "peace" my eyes closed and feel sorry for those, who don't. I count my-self lucky not having this "minds eye"
@@kristiinakallas6130 I, too count myself 'Blessed' for not having an active minds eye. At 72 years old I have led an active and fruitful life with no regrets. Very interesting to read you can visualize with your eyes open only, my neighbor has the exact same thing, and he knows others like him. It takes a lot of folks to make up a village.
It's like watching a camcorder video in your head. I can see myself having a conversation from work earlier today, from both the point of view of how i experienced it and also from a 3rd person perspective. I can see anything that I can think of. A blue elephant, a pink lamborghini, etc. But I do believe there are distinct advantages to having aphantasia, the main one being not having to relive the most painful or embarrassing moments of your life over and over. It's hard to control the thoughts/movies that "play" and takes years of control to not get sidetracked when doing tasks.
@@inkjazz I cant imagine images with or without my eyes closed but I still think of the not so nice momments before going to sleep. I just get a though of how I did somethig that one time with the rough emotion, the concept of what happend but without the faces, envoirnment and whatever else you would get normaly.
I've been aware of my inability to congure images in my mind since I was a child (24 now) - I'm curious if anyone else has a relationship with Synchronicities? I've watched 'The Secret' a few times and one main concept is to picture yourself/imagine having what you most desire. Obviously I've never been able to picture images, but I've been manifesting fortune just by "knowing" it will happen. Very hard to explain, but through Synchronicities, I've developed some form of communication with all things around me - for me, the number 56 is seen everywhere, since 12 year old(my first memory of seeing 56 very often) I wonder if anyone else has a similar experience? (Very unlikely 😅) "Seek and you shall find"
2-4% of modern people carry Neanderthal DNA it effects things like autoimmunity, red hair, fair skin freckles tobacco addiction, sleep patterns , depression, and dyslexia. Archeological evidence suggest Neanderthal's did not use visual/graphic arts the way modern Cro-Magnon man does (though they seem to have possibly made use of some early symbolic items or nongraphic arts) - when modern man came around there was an explosion of art ... indicating a possible greater inner visualization - my wondering then could aphantasia be a throw back to or DNA remnant of our Neanderthal cousins
could be, could be. I have been this way ever since I remember so there would seem to be a genetic component. Although Neanderthal normally suggests something that is less advanced and I feel that this property of our brains does have advantages :) The ability to be more clinically detached since you don't see images to give you strong memories of loved ones who have passed and negative situations....the ability for abstract thought to be a little easier regardless of IQ...maybe less propensity for feeling distracted....several advantages. :)
@@neutrino78x the idea of Neanderthal that people think of as being less advanced is largely misconstrued, in the field of physical anthropology Neanderthal DNA is not actually considered intellectually disadvantaged.
Hmmm. I have red, curly hair, an autoimmune related genetic disorder, super white skin, freckles, smoke MMJ, have always had disrupted sleep, and depression.
I wonder if some of the things mentioned such as not liking fiction are correlation not causation ... how do the percentages who report disliking fiction and descriptive passages compare to the general population. Couldn't this just be a a matter of taste or intelligence?
I have hyperphantasia and have difficulty staying focused on the text. My mind immediately begins creating the visual world the story is taking place, and it like my mind gets distracted exploring the imagined world, and it is like my eyes stop inputing the words as part of the story.
I found the laughing very disrespectful. I have never had visual imagery and like most people with "aphantasia" thought that everyone talking about visualisation were talking metaphorically.
well I mean it's not really a disability. We have advantages as a result of it. I think they said someone with aphantasia is 20% more likely to be a scientist or engineer of some kind. :)
I have aphantasia and found the laughing super funny, because it (for me) was funny. Finally they learn about us and even laugh as our brains are so inconcievable to them. Laughing is inviting and I didnt feel they were laughing at us, but more on the comical aspect that there can be so many differences where we dont even know there are As for negative experience. I guess I have several, but the one that stands out: I remember when being a child, at school there was a teacher who talked about brain and focus and he said «if I say, dont think about a Pink Elephant, you cannot do it. Right? Didnt all of you just think about it in your head?» I was the only one saying «no». And the teacher got really mad at me. And since I was anxious, i forced myself to think about a pink elefant because then the teacher would leave me alone. But I have no internal monologue, so it didnt come naturally. And then I spent several days wondering why everyone just pretended. Or maybe pink had a different meaning than colour. Obviously, for me, noone could think about a colour…. So eventually, i just took for granted people talked about experience as if they could see it. And I even do it myself! Because I am good at associations…
@@neutrino78x I have lifelong hyperphantasia and while I am good with applied sciences involving hands-on experimentation and observation, I am horrible with alphanumeric retention.
@@jmfs3497 " have lifelong hyperphantasia" Hyperfantasia? So you are able to see see things extremely clearly in your mind? In a way I'm jealous! I literally can't picture anything. 🙂 Still, I don't want to be "cured" because suddenly seeing things in my mind when I think of them might be disconcerting. Also in some ways it makes me more focused and more in the moment....depends on the subject though. 🙂
This was a really interesting talk, thank you! I have recently found out that I have aphantasia and have yet to find somebody in my friends and family who does as well. Sadly, I find that most people are not interested at all in this condition when I try to talk about it.
Same people were like @ “yes I can see images” “oh you don’t? I am surprised” and no further questioning 😂
Yes! Same! I feel handicapped but pretend as nothing is wrong because people generally dont care.
@@qine6559 I don't have it, but now that I am aware I have noticed when people have trouble with maps or something and I now realize that they may think differently than me and I adjust how I communicate. I think it's really important that we all learn about all of this more so we can better communicate with each other as a species. It may help solve many problems we didn't even know we had!
It’s the weirdest thing to have. You just know you have a memory of something. No visual, no audio, you just know. I have this whole life I know I had, but I can’t draw a vision of anything.😥
Can you describe your childhood bedroom?
@@nickjunes the only childhood room I remember, is teenage, I hung Elton John poster everywhere. Can I visualize them on my walls if I close my eyes and see that image? No. I have the memory of it.
@@jeninegrasc8414 Thanks. Do you remember an experience you had in a childhood room like laying in bed curling the blanket under your toes or tossing a ball against the wall? Do you remember playing with toys by yourself?
@@nickjunes I have memories, like you would have say, a hard drive. I have a memory of my mother coming into my room when I was 8, telling me my uncle was about to pass away. I was in bed. But , like a computer with a blank screen, if I close my eyes, I absolutely cannot visualize it. I can hear it in my mind. I have that for memories very keenly. Like songs, note for note. Sometimes conversations, voices of people I have not spoken to for years, but nothing visually. I sometimes at night try to make myself see colours while my eyes are closed. The closest I’ve ever come is to a very dark greenish colour. I thought that was pretty good. It’s kinda of depressing, you know. I won’t go into detail here why, but it would be nice to be able to think of someone who was loved, and I can’t think of them and see their face, and I haven’t got the courage to go and look at their picture yet. Aphantasia is not your friend….
@@jeninegrasc8414 But has it only become sad recently because it was recently discovered or did you always know you were different? Did you ever think anything was missing? Do you have lots of photos of your loved ones? That must be some comfort.
Pretty sure I’ve had lifetime Aphantasia. I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t blackness. I wonder if this explains why I’m always alone in every dream I’ve ever had. There are never any familiar faces in fact I don’t even know if there are any faces really. There’s people, but I don’t know if they have faces because I’m never really looking? But I definitely see landscapes..My dog used to be in all my dreams but cancer took him early in life and since the day he died I’ve not dreamt of him. To this day. It upsets me so much because he was my best friend in life and dream and now he’s gone from both. I miss you Bird.
I felt so alone on this subject. I would talk about my visions with my friends and Kung fu teach with no answer.
My journey started with meditation and martial arts. After ten years I became hyper sensitive to electromagnetic sensations. That lead me to a gem shop on the summer solstice. I asked the lady that worked at the shop what crystals are good for my apartment? Another lady answered “ pick one up and feel it.” Just ask she spoke, the gem in my hand started doing something that I couldn’t explain. Since then I have been working with gems that have lead me to have vivid dreams. My vision is not what it was when meditating but since learning of aphantasia I now know why.
This lecture has lots of interesting insights pertaining to the heart. The Egyptians knew something about the mind and heart.
Thank you!
This was refreshing to hear … and I wish to add contrast.. I have had health issues all my life and further from fit than a hippo on land .. I have always drawn and visualize when learning or thinking on anything though .. and would just know things by connecting to them as you do gems .. anything I think of or anyone I think if I want a answer, I connect and ask as wait to hear and be shown what data they have to offer ..
I call these expressions they .. because they seem to have their own personality at times when showing me things or answering things for me ..
I also see energies .. orbs … sparkles all over that look yellow I call grid of life energy .. it activates more intense when ever around running water , forests , mountains , and most def thunderstorms..
I also can feel and connect to crystals and items as you do .. you can use this same ability to wave your hands over scratch off tickets ^^d and see if a winners lined up worth buying or not for fun .. and many silly things like this ..
I don’t find it makes socializing hard personally but I do easily get bored around most adults as they seem to lack connection to life and curiosity for the world around them to add value to their lives as I do .. which experiencing all this and witnessing how mad most adults are because they lack these abilities , leading them to self delusions and being easily deceived ..
I am very glad I perceive this reality as a collective who is open to all life has to offer , on many levels others mostly won’t get to ..so if you have similar abilities .. know it’s not a disorder , it’s a advantage!
Know your not alone .. you don’t have to be super guru or super fit .. these are superficial constructs holding a lot back .. you don’t have to be sober and not a drug addict .. you don’t have to be in nature and prime energetic rich areas to connect .. anyone IMO can use meditation to develop these senses if not naturally already tuned in to using them .. just allow your self to let go and be and feel and focus intent if need be after you reached that flow of heart and mind space .. there’s many practices available .. simply breathing , dancing and being is what I do to get boosts or spend time in nature or at beach .. some times take shrooms and smoke pot as chill with my crystals and mental spectrum bubble buddies of light ^^d it’s very simply human not super human kind of life IMO so don’t over complicate it .. do what you love and enjoy your self :) “miracles “ will come to you like breathing air
This is a science based place. No a mumbo jumbo place.
Yessss! I cannot remember my own face. I recognize people I know but I often forget their face and experience that I «remember them» upon meeting them. Sometimes I cannot remember their face at all and need additional hints, like voice.
That is a separate condition called prosopagnosia.
I'm over 40 and I just discovered I have phantasia today , even though I have a good memory but I was always blaming my self that why I can't visualise my parents.
I was 50.
I just turned 60...mind has been blown.
I have strong visual/audio/touch abilities to visualise but no taste or smell. If I think of a simple maths problem 94 - 12 I get an automatic inner vision of black numbers on a white background and it's easy for me to work it out quickly. I was recently asked to count out loud backwards from 100 and after about 89 I lost my focus, got much slower and mixed up numbers. But just now after reading some comments I tried the same exercise while visualising the numbers counting down in my mind's eye. I could do it really quickly and accurately as if reading the numbers off an external screen. Very interesting as I've never tried this before 😮
I just learned that I have aphantasia, and was wondering about the dementia thing, as well. My mother and her friends are at age where they go through these tests and hearing about the questions asked I'm sure I'd be diagnosed as demented right now. I would argue that in my case there is also a correlation between aphantasia and mathematical skills: surely I'd do better at it with practice, but for me, calculating requires a lot of "seeing". I can try to force my brain to look at 87 apples, but then subtracting 15 apples or 25 percent of the apples is slow and onerous. I would love to hear how people with aphantasia but good maths skills work their brain, and learn techniques better suited to me and my "blind" brain. Thank you, good people of academia, for your work and this video!
I have aphantasia too but I dont have any problems at all with math.
Out of curiosity, have you looked at where Neptune is in your natal chart ? I am wondering if it could be that you have intuition centered around other domains rather than visual, and maybe maths could be more natural for you when “seen” in those domains
I am adept at spatial relations but I couldn't possibly "look at 87 apples". I imagine things in relation to each other. Those things don't have a visual component just a place, and I think what's the logical move to connect those things. As for subtracting, I think that's simply becoming more familiar with decimal numbers. 7 - 5 = 2, 8-1 = 7. 72. 8/4*3 = 6. 7/4*3 = almost 6. so almost 66. To do this by seeing must be super slow as you maybe could quickly remove about 1/4 of the apples, but counting them must be slow.
I find Reading a book is impossible if you can’t imagine the story line ,Then it is meaningless words
I can't really do mental math but I can hold the idea in various pockets. I loved chemistry and hated most higher maths. I loved trig. But you can literally see the formulas for chemistry and memorize the different wants of solving trig problems but it's right there in front of you. You don't have to "visualize" it. I seriously didn't even know that was a thing. How can you see something with your eyes closed? Apparently everybody else can...
The fact that many people feel surprised about aphantasic being able to dream visually, makes me wonder are imagination and dreaming similar experiences…. to me they are completely different things
My hyperphantasia feels identical to dreaming if I am in deep focus. I also have hypnagogia/hynpopmia, exploding head syndrome, and involuntarily lucid dream. I often wonder if I am missing a part of my mind that is present in aphantasia. The ability to turn off visual thinking, and use a more alphanumeric form of thinking.
We have analytical strengths because instead of imagining things visually, we imagine things conceptually. Instead of being creative via visual imagination, we get creative through conceptual imagination. If that makes sense.
I can still picture scenes or events, but purely conceptual. It's hard to keep a coherent scene going, but it's not impossible. And although I get no visual or audio feedback, I do experience a felt understanding of how things would look like and behave. Just all in the dark
same!!!!
@@brynn7064
Are any chess players at expert/master level or above aphantasic? I would be very surprised if the answer is Yes, but that would be interesting in itself and worthy of further study.
Super interesting - thanks for posting this
I have hyperphantasia. I think being in the middle is probably the most helpful, because most people can not conceptualize aphantasia or hyperphanatasia. My imagination can be like existing in 3D space with the ability to fastforward and rewind my actions, as long as those visions are quite "physical".
Alphanumerics are fairly impossible for me to visualize. I don't typically remember trivia or stats on anything, but I know how physical objects/space seem to work. I can fail a test alongside someone who aces the same test, but then I can apply the knowledge into the real world, where that same person is confused by it. So it is a double-edged sword.
Also, I'm easily overstimulated by sound and movement. I am at my best when working in deep focus routine, rather than reactionary, fast-paced environments. My mind can do work internally which eliminates many mistakes before taking action, so when I have to react quickly without thinking I get frustrated, because my mind knows it would be more efficient to take pause and think through the problem first, and then execute.
Since depression disassociation derealization disorders can cause the condition - I wonder if there are any connections between childhood trauma and apparent lifelong aphantasia - perhaps the causal event can occur so early that one thinks they've always been this way.
Good question. I don't remember being able to visualize as a child, but I did have a horrific childhood. I know that I couldn't as a teenager, but I didn't have a word for it then. I first heard aphantasia at 50.
Adopted but have never experienced visualizing. Luckily for me… i would have hated to lose it. Best not to ever have had it!
I am hyperphantasic and began experiencing trauma by 4 years old. It continued to 17 years old or so. I feel like my hyperhantasia has been there since birth and never gone away, but may have also made me more confusing to my abusers which led to further abuse as they tried to change me towards their more aphantasic understanding.
@@jmfs3497- What’s an aphantasiac understanding?
I don't have full aphantasia but find it extremely difficult to picture things. I want to know more about this. I'm certain knowledge of where people sit on the phantasia spectrum as it were, could be used to tailor education more efficiently. I also believe that people with hyperphantasia are possibly more likely to experience visual hallucinations from psychedelics.
I have hyperphantasia and I hallucinate visually on mushrooms. The hallucinations are not like new things though. They are like normal things start to look like paintings or color shift. I would say they are mild hallucinations. Otherwise my imagination is extremely vivid though and I never watch a movie more than once because I can just rewatch it in my head and to watch a movie twice is like torture for me. I can sit in one place for hours and just imagine things. In some ways I think it can be paralyzing because the world in my head is more rich than reality at times...actually most of the time. In my head I can fly around the universe or create new universes or whatever. In reality I just have what is in front of me and when I look at media I'm always looking for media that reflects the richness of my imagination, but am mostly disappointed. Lately though I've been enjoying AI art because a lot of it is like what is in my imagination, very satisfying.
I don't have aphantasia, but I also don't see "movies" in my head. I see still pictures, like snap shots. I've tried really hard to picture a moving image, but don't think I can. I understand what you mean by just knowing that you know something without having to "picture"it first.
I find it hard to imagine exactly what it’s like to have this “minds eye”. What exactly am I missing ? Is it really missing or am I just interpreting how I perceive myself differently, but actually others perceive similarly but just report it as visualizing ?
You are not missing anything - I can visualize with my eyes open, not closed. Nice to have some "peace" my eyes closed and feel sorry for those, who don't. I count my-self lucky not having this "minds eye"
@@kristiinakallas6130
I, too count myself 'Blessed' for not having an active minds eye. At 72 years old I have led an active and fruitful life with no regrets. Very interesting to read you can visualize with your eyes open only, my neighbor has the exact same thing, and he knows others like him. It takes a lot of folks to make up a village.
It's like watching a camcorder video in your head. I can see myself having a conversation from work earlier today, from both the point of view of how i experienced it and also from a 3rd person perspective. I can see anything that I can think of. A blue elephant, a pink lamborghini, etc. But I do believe there are distinct advantages to having aphantasia, the main one being not having to relive the most painful or embarrassing moments of your life over and over. It's hard to control the thoughts/movies that "play" and takes years of control to not get sidetracked when doing tasks.
@@inkjazz I cant imagine images with or without my eyes closed but I still think of the not so nice momments before going to sleep. I just get a though of how I did somethig that one time with the rough emotion, the concept of what happend but without the faces, envoirnment and whatever else you would get normaly.
I've been aware of my inability to congure images in my mind since I was a child (24 now) - I'm curious if anyone else has a relationship with Synchronicities? I've watched 'The Secret' a few times and one main concept is to picture yourself/imagine having what you most desire. Obviously I've never been able to picture images, but I've been manifesting fortune just by "knowing" it will happen. Very hard to explain, but through Synchronicities, I've developed some form of communication with all things around me - for me, the number 56 is seen everywhere, since 12 year old(my first memory of seeing 56 very often)
I wonder if anyone else has a similar experience? (Very unlikely 😅)
"Seek and you shall find"
2-4% of modern people carry Neanderthal DNA it effects things like autoimmunity, red hair, fair skin freckles tobacco addiction, sleep patterns , depression, and dyslexia. Archeological evidence suggest Neanderthal's did not use visual/graphic arts the way modern Cro-Magnon man does (though they seem to have possibly made use of some early symbolic items or nongraphic arts) - when modern man came around there was an explosion of art ... indicating a possible greater inner visualization - my wondering then could aphantasia be a throw back to or DNA remnant of our Neanderthal cousins
could be, could be. I have been this way ever since I remember so there would seem to be a genetic component. Although Neanderthal normally suggests something that is less advanced and I feel that this property of our brains does have advantages :) The ability to be more clinically detached since you don't see images to give you strong memories of loved ones who have passed and negative situations....the ability for abstract thought to be a little easier regardless of IQ...maybe less propensity for feeling distracted....several advantages. :)
@@neutrino78x the idea of Neanderthal that people think of as being less advanced is largely misconstrued, in the field of physical anthropology Neanderthal DNA is not actually considered intellectually disadvantaged.
Hmmm. I have red, curly hair, an autoimmune related genetic disorder, super white skin, freckles, smoke MMJ, have always had disrupted sleep, and depression.
I wonder if some of the things mentioned such as not liking fiction are correlation not causation ... how do the percentages who report disliking fiction and descriptive passages compare to the general population. Couldn't this just be a a matter of taste or intelligence?
I wonder as well. I am a total aphant and I read voraciously. I particularly enjoy Fantasy and Sci-Fi even though I can't picture a single thing.
I just find it boring - a whole page dedicated to describing 1 scene in a book that I can't even picture 😅
No thanks
I have hyperphantasia and have difficulty staying focused on the text. My mind immediately begins creating the visual world the story is taking place, and it like my mind gets distracted exploring the imagined world, and it is like my eyes stop inputing the words as part of the story.
Aphantasiac and I cannot read fiction.
I found the laughing very disrespectful. I have never had visual imagery and like most people with "aphantasia" thought that everyone talking about visualisation were talking metaphorically.
I had no idea this was a literal thing either. I figured it out today. Oh well...
well I mean it's not really a disability. We have advantages as a result of it. I think they said someone with aphantasia is 20% more likely to be a scientist or engineer of some kind. :)
I have aphantasia and found the laughing super funny, because it (for me) was funny. Finally they learn about us and even laugh as our brains are so inconcievable to them. Laughing is inviting and I didnt feel they were laughing at us, but more on the comical aspect that there can be so many differences where we dont even know there are
As for negative experience. I guess I have several, but the one that stands out:
I remember when being a child, at school there was a teacher who talked about brain and focus and he said «if I say, dont think about a Pink Elephant, you cannot do it. Right? Didnt all of you just think about it in your head?»
I was the only one saying «no». And the teacher got really mad at me. And since I was anxious, i forced myself to think about a pink elefant because then the teacher would leave me alone. But I have no internal monologue, so it didnt come naturally. And then I spent several days wondering why everyone just pretended. Or maybe pink had a different meaning than colour. Obviously, for me, noone could think about a colour…. So eventually, i just took for granted people talked about experience as if they could see it. And I even do it myself! Because I am good at associations…
@@neutrino78x I have lifelong hyperphantasia and while I am good with applied sciences involving hands-on experimentation and observation, I am horrible with alphanumeric retention.
@@jmfs3497
" have lifelong hyperphantasia"
Hyperfantasia? So you are able to see see things extremely clearly in your mind? In a way I'm jealous! I literally can't picture anything. 🙂
Still, I don't want to be "cured" because suddenly seeing things in my mind when I think of them might be disconcerting. Also in some ways it makes me more focused and more in the moment....depends on the subject though. 🙂
So this is all subjective and inconclusive, don't pigeonhole yourself.