I cannot see any mental images, I have aphantasia

Forums › Health and fitness › I cannot see any mental images, I have aphantasia

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SpartanVXL

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#2535915 6-Aug-2020 18:11

It’s an interesting subject to be sure. If I were to describe myself I’d probably be a 2 on that scale, solely at the discretion of how good my memory of detail is. If I had an apple in front of me and then closed my eyes I’d have a pretty good ‘snapshot’ of it as an image (almost an afterimage as the lights go out, so to speak) in my mind.

Otherwise I’d say I’m decent with spacial awareness. I could walk around the house with my eyes closed, I’d have a 3d image of where everything is (or should be unless somebody moves something and doesn’t put it back). I can walk the streets of my hometown in my mind’s eye in the form that it was in last I was physically there.

Of course assuming I can remember well enough with enough detail to do so :)

olivernz

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#2535952 6-Aug-2020 22:10

So, this is an awesome thread! I am absolutely gobsmacked. I've learnt a heap about myself and others I interact with. So I actually talked with my mother and turns out she is a 5, which now explains a raft of other things! How cool! Thanks everyone for this awesome thread!👍🏻

LostBoyNZ

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#2535959 6-Aug-2020 22:39

@blackjack17 That's even more impressive that you can design 3D images in your head when you can't 'see' them in your head. But I understand what you mean about not seeing something but just know it. I'm glad the lack of visualising hasn't put you off fiction, quite a few responses have been from people who really enjoy fiction books.

@MadEngineer I must admit if there's one thing I've learned from this thread (and I've learned many things!) it's that I don't think there is a 'normal' as such. Everyone seems so varied.

@Fred99 Whoa I'd seen the first image before but I've never seen the second image before, that's trippy!!

@gzt I don't find myself easily fooled by magic shows but then again I don't want to spoil the magic for myself either.

@tanivula Both you and your partner both being the same in that way goes to show how common it is I think. I bet your friends will be stunned to know!

@SpartanVXL That's interesting to know you'll have an afterimage type of view. Out of interest, if you try and picture something you're very familiar with, such as a family member or close friend for example, can you see them at all? That amazes me that you can walk all around your house with your eyes closed!!

@olivernz Thanks! I've learned so much too. Actually what made me realise I had this in the first place is Bree Tomasel from ZM's Bree & Clint. She realised she has Aphantasia the other day, and I happened to hear that on the radio and that's when I realised wait.... people can actually see things in their mind!? I just had a look now and they did a Facebook post about it too, the comments are quite interesting to see at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=236301127409854

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olivernz

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#2536052 7-Aug-2020 08:22

@LostBoyNZ, sorry for making you a guinea pig but just out of curiosity, does it affect being able to judge stuff you can't touch too? So for example is it hard for you grabbing a raw egg with tongs? So basically the imagination of consequences in relation to your actions. I don't guess it does because otherwise you'd have more problems in day to day life but curious.

LostBoyNZ

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#2536074 7-Aug-2020 09:01

@olivernz Ah I don't mind at all, it's very interesting to see how everyone is different and what people think. I can't say I have any trouble with that, such as grabbing a raw egg with tongs. I guess for me at least, I (all without actively thinking about it of course, it's just insinct at this point) just know that if I put the tongs around the egg and close them enough to grab it it'll work.

Yesterday we were absolutely stuffed after a big meal and I said to my wife I imagine we'll just ask the waitress to please roll us over to the counter to pay the bill :D Even though I don't have an actual image in my head of us being comically balloon like, rolling around the isles, I imagined the 'idea' of that. I realised quite often I'm thinking of random and funny 'mental images' (which in my case are just the ideas, not the actual images), and I'm really glad I can explain them verbally without the need to visualise them.

Which sort of goes against my theory of why I personally don't enjoy fiction books, which was that I don't turn the words into something I imagine. Clearly I can imagine creative situtations just fine without the need to visualise them, and as this thread shows, you don't need to visualise images to enjoy fiction books. Maybe I can't imagine the ideas at the same time as reading the words, or maybe the reason why I don't like them is totally unrelated (that's more likely it seems).

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SpartanVXL

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#2536215 7-Aug-2020 12:35

@LostBoyNZ Yes I’d be able to picture/visualise people I’m close with quite well, usually in the form I saw them last. I can however remember different versions e.g. a close friend wears thick-rimmed glasses now on account of his eyesight, but I’m far more familiar seeing him without so the first image to come to mind is without.

In saying that though I’m pretty horrible at remembering people who I don’t have much interaction with. Not intentional, just forgetfulness I suppose.

Same thing with moving around with my eyes closed, if I’m familiar with the place like my house then I simply treat it as moving from A to B within a 3d memory map. I know where I start when my eyes close and I know roughly where I’ll be when I open them again (based on movement, touch, hearing).

Edit: not to say I won’t bump into things, just that I won’t get lost without sight in my own home. Vision just make everything far more accurate. Reading what I’ve written seems like it would be quite obvious to most people, but I suppose that is the point of the thread discussion :)

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trig42

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#2536239 7-Aug-2020 12:46

I'm pretty hopeless at remembering people.

I always wonder how I'd go with an identikit picture. I don't even think I could accurately describe my parents or my wife to a Police artist.

I cold describe an apple, a car, a building etc. Probably even a cat or a dog.

I've always though my inability to remember faces was due to my reluctance to look people in the eye, as I have a lazy eye and am a bit self-conscious of it (got given a bit of stick about it years ago in school). I try and make the effort to look people in the eye, but when doing that, I am concentrating on looking them in the eye and what we are talking about, rather than what they look like :).

olivernz

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#2536330 7-Aug-2020 16:57

@trig42 Nah, if you could remember faces you'd do that in a millisecond. Eye contact and the such has nothing to do with it. I have a friend that has the same issue and I guess a bit worse than you. Really difficult for him to even distinguish people. He has actually walked past his wife when meeting her in crowded places. Took him years to figure that one out.

LostBoyNZ

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#2538839 11-Aug-2020 20:30

@SpartanVXL That makes sense yeah, I guess it's just like any other form of memory in a way, that our brains discard things that it figures isn't particularly worth keeping (such as people you don't have much interaction with).

I've since learned my Mum is the same, and my brother's partner is the same, along with several people I know on Facebook too. Surprisingly common!

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SpartanVXL

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#2539233 12-Aug-2020 11:00

Took me a while to find, but the ‘walking with eyes closed’ is similar to how a VR game Scanner Sombre plays. In the game you can’t really see but have a device which ‘scans’ the environment for you and renders a basic geometry so you can view it. (excluding the wacky colours of course)

The similarity is when closing my eyes, I have a somewhat basic 3d image of whatever I’m thinking of. The more I focus on parts of the memory the more detailed it becomes in my mind.

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