I Have APHANTASIA (you might have it too - please check!!) 

I had to stop and google this. Interestingly, I’ve never thought about this. But I do not “see” an item that I think about. Like I know what a banana looks like and I can vividly describe it from memory, but I don’t see imagery. Didn’t even realize other people do see imagery. Interesting and confusing.

At the ripe old of 27, I just realized I can’t recall smells at will. I didn’t know people could do that. 😨

I can’t imagine not having music playing in the back of your mind my head is basically a radio😅

I have total aphantasia! Can’t see, taste, smell, hear, or feel anything in my mind. No internal monologue either. I’m always completely present in the moment, which can sometimes be really shitty. I also get over things really really quickly, because I simply don’t have to emotional attachments that would tie me to a specific trauma or event. Im also a creative, I love to paint and write, which is my only real way of channeling my thoughts and emotions. Another thing is, I’m always listening to videos or podcasts or audiobooks bc I can’t stand the silence.

I didn’t know until just this morning that I couldn’t conjure images, smells or sounds and that was abnormal. I always thought when people said “visualize it” they meant it conceptually.

It just came to my mind how boring reading a book must be when there's no 5D-movie playing in your head ...

It’s the same for me, I can’t imagine anything and my whole life long I thought it’s normal to don’t. It’s already been 5 years since I know of aphantasia. I figured it out myself after a good friend told me to imagine something and I told her I don’t get it, she looked at me like I’m crazy. Later on I googled it and finally realized that people could really see things in their minds and that I’m different. I was 12 at that time and I didn’t really now how to feel about it. No one I told about it believed me or took me serious, even making fun of me and I felt very lost. With time I just accept it and hoped that research would be done. Now I’m glad to see that more and more personalities in the media get open about aphantasia, it shows me that I’m not alone. And to answer the question, I’m really bad in remembering the directions to a place and I also have a problem with recognizing faces I’m not really familiar with. But on the other hand I have very vivid dreams, which I can remember, even if I had multiple dreams I can remember most of it, I don’t see them after waking up, but I can describe what happened and sometimes in my dream I realize that I’m dreaming and I can observe the dream from another perspective if that makes sense. Being able to dream so clearly gives me hope that I’ll be able to imagine someday

It has taken me nearly 70 years to workout that other people can do all this. I experience life just like Stefan with the exception of directions ( can’t remember the instructions), no dreams or nightmares, and I am really good at finding lost things.

People can imagine smells? I can't do that. I can see pictures in my mind's eye, I can remember music and have definitely had ear worms, but I can't imagine smells.

I didn't realize "in the mind's eye" wasn't a figure of speech until I was 28. And your comments around the 9-10 minute point about not relating to the idea of having poor ability with visual puzzles, etc. are exactly how I don't relate to those ideas. In fact, during a recent psychological baseline testing, they had a test where they showed a panel of six geometric images (say a circle with a line halfway through it), and I was able to replicate 5/6 after one view, and 6/6 after a 2nd few second view, and also after a delay with some other things between having seen it. I'm pretty good with directions, as well. It's in there somewhere, but it is absolutely *nothing* that I would call "visual" about it, at all! I remember being frustrated when people would say things like, "visualize a flower" -- OK, I can conceptually imagine a flower, just not at all visually. Then they continue, "What color is your flower?" Um, it has to have a color? OK, how about a blue flower, there aren't many blue flowers, so I'll think about a different colored flower than most people. "What kind of petals does your flower have. At this point, I'm internally getting irate. "I have to decide what the (ahem!) petals are like now? What are you going to ask next? What kind of leaves it has? How's the root system on that flower?! This is *ridiculous*!" That was before I had any idea that other people could "see movies" in their heads, and whatnot. Which, frankly, can't possibly actually be true, because that's just crazy talk. Am I right? I'll just say it. It's "un-image-inable. You might also want to look into SDAM - Significantly Deficient Autobiographic Memory - which isn't remembering from a 1st Person, sensory point of view. Oh, and dreams are *very* rare for me. If I have a visual dream it freaks me out totally. Especially since once a visual dream actually happened months to a couple of years later. There are a few Facebook groups with a lot of people, and the experiences are all over the map. Some people with no senses, others with only no visualization, etc. I loved this video!

I have aphantasia and it blew my mind couple of years ago when I heard that people can see pictures in their inner eyes. I don't visualize anything my eyes closed or open. I have an excellent sense of direction and I'm skillfull in calligraphy and watercolors. When I walk in the woods my mind is always computing something in a conceptual level. When I say that I'm thinking nothing, it means I'm not thinking anything in particular. My mind is never quiet or blank (again, in conceptual level. I don't have minds eye or inner hearing).

I have this, too! I can't 'pull up' an imagine in my mind of how my family's or even my own face looks like. I have no problem recognizing them when I see them, but I just can't 'see' their faces without actually laying eyes upon them. I can kind of imagine a banana and other things like that, but I don't see a clear imagine of it, I just kind of know what it looks like, without actually seeing it.

Stefan, wie ist das, wenn Du ein Buch liest? Siehst Du dann auch nichts? Sind das für Dich nur Sätze? Bei meiner Schwester ist das so. Ich fänd für mich das Leseerlebnis sehr arm ohne meine Bilder.

Hi Stefan - All my life I have had Aphantasia and never knew it until three days ago. Like any good plot twist, all the clues were there but I missed them until I stumbled onto a random tweet that described this, and I realized it was my experience, too! It’s actually pretty mind blowing to realize, after 51 years of life, that nearly all the people around you have this amazing mind power that sounds like science fiction. And it’s real. And possibly a huge part of daily life. Almost everything you described about yourself is the same for me. I have no problem at all with directions. The only thing that is different for me is that I do generally dream in pictures. They tend to be a quite dim and lacking in visual detail, except maybe once a year I will have a vivid, lifelike dream, and I wake up in total awe of the experience.

I vividly remember the moment i noticed i have aphantasia.

Stefan, does this mean that you never ever have an annoying song stuck in your head???

How does your banana look? Haha that sounds so wrong😂

Thank you for sharing your video. I have aphantasia and it was a long journey, struggling with learning even though I went to college and graduate school for an engineering degree. People tell me that I think differently and I attribute that to aphantasia. If I could flip a switch and all of sudden have the ability to visualize, I would do it in a heart beat. One day this might be possible, but for now I focus on appreciating whatever positive/unique skills that aphantasia has allowed me to explore. Thanks for sharing your story. Rest assured that you are not alone.

I'm 50 this year and I've had this all my life but only found that it was a recognised thing with a name a couple of days ago. What's really weird was that before looking up videos today, I had this exact discussion with my wife - down to the detail of what thoughts you have while walking in the woods and being unable to picture our wedding day.

I have aphantasia as well, i found that out two days ago and i am traumatized, people can see things in their mind ! It must be sooooo magic ! I would have been so different and maybe way better without this "sickness" (?). I know i am not alone and there is worst situation, but i have the feeling we are missing 50% of our lives

I only just found out a few weeks ago that i had aphantasia and i never knew that other people could see things in their minds. I thought that counting sheep was a metaphor

Yep- this is me! I found this out a few years back too. Thanks for the great video to help explain to my friends how this works :)

Y’all are blowing my mind!! 😅 gunna go research myself now 😂

Ich höre lieber Radio, als dass ich fernsehe. der Grund: Im Radio sind die Bilder schöner!

This is so interesting! I have had the same experience. I also realized only recently when the term "Aphantasia" popped up everywhere that others do see images in their mind. It never occured to me others would see something in their head because that idea is totally alien to me.

I have it,omg..im 50 years old..learnd about it in a potcast this morning..good video..grtzz from belgium

Wait what?! Back in school a teacher told us to day dream and asked us what we saw. I didn't really get the task/question. This irritated me so much that I still remember this, about 10 years later. And now you give me this explanation?! Stefan, you found another person like you.

Oh my gosh, I heard about this a few months ago and it blew my mind that people SEE things! When I “imagine” things, it’s more like I’m hearing myself give a description of it. I can “hear” songs but it’s more like I’m just singing the lyrics in my head. I can’t smell things! I can recall how things smell but I don’t smell it. I do think about things, but it’s just basically me talking. My brain is a novel, not a movie.

I have a few questions: Do you ever have a Deja Vu? And, if you ever, for example, drive past something you've driven past before, could you ever say: " oh i remember this, i've been here already"? If you understand what i mean

Stefan, thank you so much for your video. I experience life, pretty much exactly as you describe it except, the only major difference is, sometimes when I am in that place between being awake and asleep, I will, "see" images. I completely relate with the feeling jealousy, especially since someone very close passed away in 2016. I can't explain how I stored her face in my brain, -but it wasn't by an image. But now, each year I'm losing more and more of that memory. That sucks😤 But, enough feeling sorry for myself 😌, I am otherwise happy & extremely excited to find someone else like me! 😊

Yeah, I used to think I had face blindness (prosopagnosia), but eventually I just realized I have aphantasia. It seems like Dana has hyperphantasia. I do seem to have a slight ability to imagine sounds, though. Sometimes I have lucid dreams, and I'm absolutely flabbergasted by how vivid the imagery in my dreams is.

I just found out about this yesterday, on tiki's Tok. I was gobsmacked. It's crazy to me how people can do that. I can't see anything, can't smell or taste. Exactly like you, I do have loads of nightmares but when I wake up I rarely can describe them, some thoughts come up in my mind about the dream and I can vaguely describe it but no images. I do remember seeing images in a dream two times when I was a kid but it was a lucid dream.

This must be SO strange! I have images, moving pictures, sounds, music, smells and everything else in my brain 24/7. They are even there when I'm not really awake in the morning, and they never stop and to be honest, I love that! I cannot even imagine how it could be otherwise. EDIT: Here on youtube, there is a channel called "AmyRightMeow", she has Aphantasia as well and made a video about that, and what's even more interesting: She's a cartoonist! She deals with visual stuff all the time, but she can't see any of it in her head! So crazy....

I’m the same as you no picture no music just pitch black. I also work IT and when I try to picture something in my mind I just remember the properties of the object. It’s blew my mind when I read that people have pictures, music and video in their mind

I’m finding this really weird, I’ve never really seen anything in my minds eye I guess. Anytime I remember back it’s like it’s all being narrated by my inner monologue not like I’m actually there. I can’t fathom literally smelling a smell or visualizing something, if I did this I’d wonder what drug someone slipped me. I do have vivid dreams but those are like million times different then active thoughts. I like the database metaphor that’s exactly what it’s like for me.

Wow! Das haut mich total um! Ich habe ZU VIEL im Kopf. Ich bin hochsensibel, habe ein sehr ausgeprägtes "inneres Leben"... ZU VIELE Bilder, ZU VIELE Geräusche, Gerüche, manchmal Geschmäcker.. unglaublich viele Erinnerungen und Vorstellungen von Dingen, die (noch) nicht stattgefunden haben. Ich träume enorm viel, habe auch tagsüber eine Art Träumerei - ich bin IMMER Bildern vor meinem inneren Auge ausgesetzt. Selbst wenn ich mir richtig viel Zeit nehme und versuche, an nichts zu denken und den Kopf frei zu machen. Das kann ich nicht. Ich kann mir absolut gar nicht vorstellen, wie das für mich wäre, einfach n-i-c-h-t-s innerlich zu sehen 😱 Beim Lesen verschwindet für mich sogar nach den ersten Sätzen der Text. Ich lese automatisch, sehe aber keine Buchstaben und Wörter mehr. Ich SEHE stattdessen, was da steht. Mir gar nichts vorstellen zu können wäre einerseits bestimmt sehr entspannend, andererseits furchtbar gruselig und eintönig 😂

I have it too. Kind of. The only thing I can imagine are voices. And emotions. So it’s a bit different.

Only found out there was a name for my lack of mind's eye last night...! I had it until some time after an illness (lyme disease) and one day I realised I couldn't recall faces, scenes, anything, maybe a very brief, grey image, then nothing. Can't imagine smells, but can 'play' music in my head and recall conversations. Glad I'm not alone, I've mentioned this to some doctors and they couldn't shed light on it. Google is your friend, I typed - have lost my mind's eye and it came up with Aphantasia !

This is so fascinating! I can’t decide if I’m jealous of Stefan, or if I very slightly pity him. I’ve always felt like my imagination is not as ‘strong or vivid’ as other people’s. Trying to “picture” something in my mind has always been difficult, except for when I find a book that really speaks to me, very few authors use words on a wavelength that allows me to disconnect from what IS. However, I’m also constantly reliving emotions, if I feel embarrassed at some point in my day, that feeling keeps affecting me for days afterwards, and I struggle to recall in my mind’s eye what actually caused it. Humans are so interesting! This video has made me think that we really are unique, and not one of us experiences life in the exact same way. Thanks for sticking around to read all my ramblings! And way too personal to ask, but what do Stefan’s nightmares look like to him?

Stefan's shock at realizing that other people's minds do not work the same reminded me of myself when I first learnt I'm synesthetic. I was also shocked that other people actually do not experience the same things as I do and for all my life it felt so natural that I never questioned my mind :)

I also have aphantasia and just now realized I dont hear my voice while I think, its just thinking to me. But my mind is rarely empty as I get lost in thought a lot but theres no sound I think to me it is like walking through concepts and pinging different parts of my brain. Im not thinking about things around me Im just thinking about my own life a lot and get lost in that. Im really good at remembering where things are and locations but its like i remember the pattern of getting there. I have trouble following someone giving me directions because I cannot see a map in my head and follow it and when they list off ways to get there in steps I get lost. I thought it was because I couldnt memorize them word for word. I cannot walk somewhere in my head but if I walk there irl I remember the steps to get there.

I just realized I had aphantasia last week. I was in therapy for awhile, and one of the exercises my therapist went through with me several times was 'picturing' a peaceful, relaxing place. I never could do it, and felt SO bad, since this was supposed to be helping me. I thought the same, picture it was just a saying. I also can't smell something, just because I think of it. I do hear songs in my head, though.

I think I have olfactory aphantasia, if something like this even exists... (I can't imagine smells. Weirdly, I _can_ imagine taste, which is mostly handled by the same receptors as smells) Imagining pictures is a bit hard and looks very "vague" in my head but I'm pretty good at imagining sounds

I've subscribed to you for two years, how did I miss this video?!? I'm 0 to 1 on the scale. I see black too. Sometimes I can get a flash of an outline in my head for something I saw very recently but it fades almost instantly. Mostly I rely on touch, taste, and smell. I could never understand why people who were asked whether they would rather go deaf or blind would have to think about it until I was this many years old (50!). Blind, would be my obvious answer because, apparently, I'm half blind already.

HOLY SHIT! I never knew that was a thing! I thought everybody was like that. I'm terrible at remembering directions but I'm really good at reading maps. I'm absolutely hopeless at verbal descriptions of complex things but I'm really good at understanding them if I can see a crude sketch.

I am 63 and have done published artwork and have sung in a choir. This week, I learned others can see actual pictures with their eyes closed! I see black, but can imagine the "sense" of things in other ways. I wonder if the obsessive desire to draw in the high detail I could do without training as a kid was my brain compensating and trying to get further visual insight. Funnily enough, my favorite thing to draw was literally an eye!!! All my life, I've doodled that!! When it comes to sound, I conjure songs by silently singing them, and can feel it strongly in my heart, as if actually singing the song. But I didn't know people could actually hear a sing in their brains, or smell actual smells until this video! Wow, what a revelation. I'm realizing too that I'm on the autism spectrum. I got IQ tested and it blew my mind to hear I scored on the genius level. That was in my 20s. I'm 63 now, and I always doubted it. But I took an online IQ test a few years ago and it said I was in the highly gifted range. This is without college, except for one course, Intro to Logic, which was very difficult, but I scored a 4.0. It's astonishing to me how complex and variable the human brain is. I also find it amazing how much when I smell certain things, it can evoke such strong childhood memories, and how in order to memorize people's names or street names I have to say the names outloud repeatedly while concentrating hard. I also cannot do simple math in my head, and I have an abysmal sense of direction.

Finally we discover with Dana 🤣🤣🤣 when you ask a man: what are you thinking??? and he say: nothing..

Yea you are not alone stefan. i have that too. no pictures no thinkings just nothing. i need a photo in my front to see things.

Ich bin sehr realistisch: Ein kilo Bananen mit Plastikband im Regal in der Gemüseabteilung vom Supermarkt

I’m in the same boat as you, nothing, nothing at all… no dreams, no visualizations, I also work in IT! And I feel the same thing… I always say my brain is like email program. I read it, process it, pull out keywords and then archive it

Hi Stefan, I'm exactly the same as you. No pictures, sounds, or smells 'inside' my head. I also don't dream (that I know of), have no problem remembering a route, even after just looking at it once on a map, and love reading. What struck me most in the video was when Dana asked you what you were thinking about; that's the same for me, absolutely nothing, and it's not a problem at all - it just 'is'! For some reason this is hard for many people to believe?!?! Personally I don't think I'm missing out on anything as I've never had it and am not sure I could cope with all that stuff going on in my head ;-). Kev

I also have this, with pictures as well as smells and sounds. I think your database explanation is how I would explain it too. I'm also really good at remember directions and stuff too which does feel kinda strange now. I've also been told I'm very creative and imaginative, I write fantasy worlds, so it's also sort of ironic. It's a very strange thing to come to realize.

Well now I realize how deficient I am...I just never thought about it but I can't picture or smell

Hi from Australia! I have aphantasia so I can’t SEE what I’m thinking about. I also can’t smell or feel something by thinking about it - however I can think of a song and I suppose I kind of am hearing it in my head. First I was only hearing the lyrics and then when I tried to think of a song with a beat I heard that in my mind to - it was Missy Elliot “work it” lol. I can’t switch off my thoughts like you though I have a constant inner dialogue - aphantasia is different to not having an inner dialogue. Some people think in a non verbal way, so maybe you have no inner dialogue and aphantasia. The mind is so mysterious!

Funny thing about picture memories: they are fake. The brain doesn't store the actual images - it reconstructs them from the information it has. I was once thinking about the ceremony where I got my Abitur. People of my class were on stage, but then I remembered that one of those guys in that image hadn't actually been there, and that the view was from the audience, even though I was actually on stage at that time. :D Also: imagining controlled 3D movies requires me to focus, while motionless images just fly into my head randomly without me being able to entirely stop them.

I have it!! Its awesome that u guys are making a video about it, thank u

Woa, that's so weird! I always assumed everyone could imagine things. It never ever crossed my mind to question it! :O And speaking of imagination, I cannot imagine not being able to imagine stuff, hehe.

Can't do pictures either! I can do music :) But the idea of aphantasics being less creative somehow is weird. I spent 20 years being a lighting designer (I guess I managed it by using my version of your spreadsheet) . Now I'm a writer and again aphantasia's not stopped me. It's maybe even inspired me, my firsf book was SFF and set in a world that has no light at all! Great to hear your take on all of this. All the best, Paul Arvidson.

I have extremely vivid imagination. Combined with a problem of seeing blood this lead to some situations where friends told me something about surgery or some medical problem and I just fainted. So it's really not all positive! On the other hand though I enjoy a lot that I have a continuous playlist of songs in my head which keeps on entertaining me

It must be really easy for you to fall asleep then. Whenever i try to sleep my brain just throws all kinds of scenes and pictures and thoughts at me which keep me awake. Like brain, stop it, we´re sleeping now! ^^"

Stephan is an Android. 😉

Many years ago, I had a friend who was like this. It was fascinating to discuss it with him.

I can't "see" things in my mind's eye, nor smell, or taste. I can hear songs and I do dream, but lately they have been nightmares as well. You are not alone!

I know that feeling well, I can’t picture things in my mind, smell or vision. I also don’t have any dreams that I remember, though sometimes I remember descriptions of parts of them.

Late to the party here but i also have aphantasia, or parts of if because i can conjure sounds but not images or smells. It was really interesting to hear you talk about your two perspectives and the potential plus and minuses! Hope you are well!

I have it too. It's nice to know the name of it. I figured it out when i was like about 13. Everything you said i felt so hard. About the faces, dreams, directions, nightmares, smells. Everything! I can not see nightmares after waking up, but i know what happened. It's like the database you described

TL:DR: There's something called maladaptive daydreaming, which is when you daydream costandly, so it's kinda the other exreme and also try amino to find/join a community of people with aphantasia. I don't have aphasia but have you ever heard of maladaptive daydreaming? It's kinda the opposite, I think? It's when you daydream for long periods, sometimes even hours at a time and you typically have your own worlds and characters, including an idealised version of yourself. And it just plays like movie in your mind and you always come back into those dreams for 'world building' and 'character development'. Maladaptive daydreaming is different for everyone, but most people have more than one world they frequently immense themselves in. Some daydreamers also have more control over what happens in their dreams than others do, some even have none at all. Sometimes my daydreams get so intense that I feel really strongly about what happenes in them: when something good happens, I get happy and i tend to smile and laugh out loud, which is really embarrassing when there's people around. Same with bad things, when there's a death for example, I can feel grief, like someone died in real life and I even made myself cry in the past. But I can't control if something like this happens, it just does. Like when you're watching a movie where you're fav character dies and you can't do anything about it. And MaDD can also really impact your life in a negative way, again for some more than others, cuz you're constantly daydream and it interferes with your daily life and tasks a lot. Some people can't even control when they daydream, there are different things that trigger it, like a book you're reading, a movie or even music. Some of us, myself included, tend to also talk or murmur to ourselves or pace around the room in order to get out the energy we get from our dreams, which can also be embarrassing in public, so I try my best to not do that, which is really hard sometimes. It's not yet categorized/recognized as a mental illness but I think that, once there are more studies about it and once more people know about it, it'll get recognized. Sorry for the long-winded comment but I thought that this might be interesting to you. That there is also the other extreme. And just like you probably can't fathom my situation, I just can't imagine what it's like not to daydream or to not be able to even imagine anything at all. (What do you do all day?) Sadly I don't know any people with aphasia but maybe you could try amino. It's an app that has loads of different groups all based on different interests, fandoms or even mental illnesses, like MaDD. I'm sure there's one for aphantasia too.

I also have aphantasia, I cannot see, hear or smell anything in my mind. However my orientation is very very good, I just have to go somewhere once and I will remember the whole way and I can go there without any problems. I also do not dream, I have had 2 different nightmares and every time I used to have a nightmare it was one of those 2. I really cannot imagine people seeing and hearing things in there mind, to me it sounds so crazy, but also so very helpful! It is so weird to think about!

Wait until you get into lucid dreaming. It's like a meditative state where you interact with your mind and can do whatever your heart wants.

I also have no trouble with directions or 'thinking' about visual things without having images or other sensory reenactment in my mind. I also like and use the informational version of having the data that makes an image without the actual image. Discovered there was a name for this about 4 years ago, but have always been aware since I was a pre teen, that people actually ment Seeing Things when they said they imagined seeing a thing in their imagination. I've talked about it in a couple of my clips and podcasts, it's fascinating stuff. I'm non neurotypical in a few ways, so brains and the science of how we think and how consciousness works are a subject of nerdy interest for me for sure.

Love that video!

I deal with this too. I only discovered it wasn't normal until last year! I discribe it as having working graphics card but a broken monitor. I can't really see things but I think about something as if I'm seeing it without actually seeing it. I constantly have to keep talking to myself in my head to help keep the thoughts of what I'm supposed to be visualizing otherwise the thoughts can disappear.

I can’t see things either. I can imagine songs and conversations in my head , but neither images nor smell. I only need to see a map once and can find my way most of the time. Don’t have a navigation system or use my phone as one. I love reading, but I can’t see a character, just like if their description is good. So I can feel you in that regards. Don’t really dream as well.

That sounds so familiar to me I had no idea people could really bring a picture to mind. I can bring words to mind and I have an emotional attachment to those words I can bring up the things that have happened in the past but it would be like a book I can tell you about it I can make you feel with me my emotions. Honestly I never even realized to this moment how much more vivid cool a book with great descriptions of environments must be to normal people its probably why I prefer movies and stories about emotional topics that don’t go to much into describing stuff because it’s lost on me. Wow 😯 I never knew really other people got more out of that then me thank you for enlightening me but now I feel a sense of loss of something I never knew I didn’t have 😞. I also am good at directions for the most part I can remember a list of items just words again of things along my way and I can remember turn here and what not but for me it takes a few times. I can remember very detailed emotions but words and not pictures along with those words and most of my dreams are also nightmares with very strong emotions attached.

I wasnt able to imagine things in my mind when I was a kid and I remember this very well. I first realized it when a teacher in kindergarten told us to imagine some stuff... But one day, years later it suddenly worked. And it still does. My banana was just a banana though... without a face :D

My brother has this problem and when he told me I thought he was joking, I feel for you guys, this phenomenon “just is” :)

I don't have aphantasia, but my images are not as "wild" as Dana's either. Like with the banana I just saw a normal banana in 3D with black or dark surroundings, floating in the air. When you asked for it, I could rotate the banana and see different angles. Same with the pool. I saw the pool, the surroundings and the shapes of people, but I didn't hear or smell anything and the people didn't move. I again, could change the angle of my view like when you described that I was laying on the towel, I changed my view accordingly. Since I can't smell like normal people, I can't imagine smells. In real life I can only smell very strong smells like in a perfume I only smell the alcohol it contains and a vague hint of "something else" that makes me able to distinguish between two or more different perfumes. I have never smelled a cookie or roses or coconut or anything like that. Only when I am lucky I can catch a very faint hint of what those things smell like. On the other hand, I am great at imagining tastes. Right now I have the taste of Pizza Margherita with oregano in my mouth and it makes my mouth water.

Yes me! I have no mental images at all either. Everything is black for me too. I just found out like yesterday and I’m going through all kinds of emotions hahaha

Danke Euch für das interessante Thema. Wenn ich in der Vorstellung etwas sehe, höre, rieche, schmecke, eine Berührung oder etwas im Gleichgewichtsorgan spüre (z.B. Seegang vom Schiff), dann ist das eine Erinnerung, und wenn ich darauf aufbauend weiterdenke, dann können solche Sachen passieren, wie einen Gegenstand in Gedanken zu drehen. Stefan, bist Du in der Schule im Kunst-Unterricht klargekommen, obwohl Dein "inneres Auge" das nicht macht? Hast Du eine "innere Stimme", also spontane Einfälle (können auch Erinnerungen an einen Punkt auf Deiner To Do-Liste sein) und spontane Ideen (unkreatives Beispiel von mir: "Lass uns heute nachmittag einfach mal woanders spazieren gehen") ? Wie nimmst Du Musik wahr, speziell Filmmusik, die aus dem Gedächtnis der Zuschauer bestimmte Emotionen abrufen soll, um den Film interessanter zu gestalten?

That's so fascinating! I agree with Dana that I don't "see" imagined things in the same way I physically see things, I can feel that it's a picture in my brain if that makes sense. Sound is the easiest to imagine, very closely followed by images. Smells and tastes are harder, I can imagine them but it's a lot less vivid than the former two (imagining a song is VERY close to actually hearing it).

I can't imagine or smell either When I close my eyes it's just dark. When I do look at pictures I can remember the times. I never knew how rare this is until you brought it up.

I have this, and just found out today. A co-worker plays this game when our banquet events have a period of down-time; we are given two words and have to combine them into a drawing. My co-workers immediately start drawing on the whiteboard. I stand there, I say I can't think of anything, they tell me it can be whatever I want, and I still just stand there. Blank. After some thinking, I start drawing something similar to one of the objects, and then I sort out one part of the object that I can change to include the other. I assumed my anxiety, lack of a drawing skill, and maybe wanting to be clever was keeping me from drawing anything. But it was "simply" that I can't imagine what these things looked like to do a decent drawing.

I discovered I had aphantasia a few months back! I'm exactly the same when it comes to dreams. I can never see or really have them, but I still manage to have nightmares. Rather than see them, I feel them. I'll wake up with my heart racing, and I'll be short of breath, but I won't remember ever seeing and hearing a thing. I also can't see my fiance's face. I need a picture in order to really describe it in detail. It really is crazy! I also think it has contributed to my lack of interest in reading. I have a very hard time remembering or comprehending what I've read because I have no image of what characters look like or the scene in which the action is taking place. I can describe the characters, but I've never actually been able to visualize them. That's why I actually prefer movies, so I can put a face to a name! It really is fascinating!

I think I have aphantasia too. I talk a lot to myself and this way I keep thinking on things that happened before, but I cannot picture faces of people I know in my mind so easily. But when I dream, later I remember dreaming of someone, so somehow I saw this person in my mind.

I can see / imagine things, but I can't smell it - the cookie thing triggered the image of opening of the oven, feeling the heat and kinda knowing the smell, but not directly snelling it. Songs are more difficult still. But I never thought there could be people not having any of it. Investing needed. On the other hand, there are people smelling tones or hearing forms, so why not the other way round, where you are "missing" things?

So interesting!! I can see images but not in vivid color or detail. I cannot conjure up a smell. Music yes, when I want to hear them. The mind is so amazing and beautifully made.

I have aphantasia 😊 Found out a few months ago. To be honest is really bothered me at first (I'm an artist and it made me feel like a fake.) I'm ok with it now, I've decided that I am an artist because I have aphantasia. Thanks for bringing this topic up ❤

I´m confuesed. When I try to imagine a banana or a pool because you told me then I don´t really "see" it. But when I read a book I automatically have a movie running in my head. Also I have songs stuck in my head constantly without humming them myself. Remembering something also works with pictures in my mind. I can see images of things I have done. I´m also often daydreaming with actual pictures in my head. So everything connected to a story I can see. Also I never think nothing. I always think something and struggled to shut my mind off. It would be nice to calm down and think nothing for a short time but then again I never would want to miss my daydreams and visualizing a story when I read it.

Was??? Ich dachte das "stell dir vor" wäre nur was hypothetisches??? Ich bin gerade total von der Rolle...Echt jetzt, heilige Scheisse.... Das heisst wenn Leute sagen "das Bild geht mir nicht ausm Kopf", die haben ein konkretes Bild??? Und wenn jemand was ekliges oder so sagt das Gesicht was die Leute machen ist nicht nur eine show???? Alter ich brauch ne Pause...

I can imagine things in my mind but I can’t imagine what’s it’s like to not be able to imagine things. I day dream all day long. I even day dream while talking to people.

I don’t “see”, “smell”, or “hear” either. In my head I “hear” my own voice, not he artists..

I want to ad something to the orientation part of the video. I heard from a study that says, that men orientat by distence and women oriented by pictures. So probably that is explaining why you are so good at it Stefan.

There's a youtube artist with this. She even did a video on it. AmyRightMeow

Ich bin über Ella auf euer Video gestoßen und bin gerade total baff. Ihr habt mich echt vom Hocker gehauen🤯, denn offenbar habe ich Aphantasie, wovon ich bis eben nicht einmal wusste, dass es das gibt. Andere können Dinge vor ihrem geistigen Auge sehen, hören, gar riechen?!?! Für mich ist sogar diese Fähigkeit unvorstellbar. Irgendwie will ich euch danken für diese Aufklärung...irgendwie aber auch nicht😅, denn bis eben wusste ich nicht, dass mir etwas fehlt und jetzt bedaure ich das Fehlen dieser Fähigkeit, die das Leben echt bereichern muss. LG

My Aphantasia is interestingly not related to sound or music, only to visuals and smells (and touch but I doubt anyone is actually "feeling" something in their mind)...

Ach du meine Güte, Ich war bis jetzt der Meinung, dass alle Menschen imaginieren können. Ein Ohrwurm funktioniert genau so. Man hört einen Song oder nur einen Teil und er spielt den ganzen Tag die Backgroundmusik in meinem Kopf. Lege ich, nach einer Weile lesend, mein Buch auf Seite, empfinde ich den Raum plötzlich als leise, da doch vorher so viele Stimmen und Geräusche in der Luft (also in meinem Kopf, beim Lesen) waren. Danke für diese Erkenntnis, ich habe den Verdacht, dass dies oft zu Missverständnissen führt in Konversationen über Literatur. Ich teste es gleich einmal aus!

Also hat Stefan auch nie Ohrwürmer??

I have it too. You're definitely not alone.

yup, i can see the banana, but no face - i suppose i'm not all that tuned to you, just enough to see a common banana . :D

I not only image things in my brain, I can hear music. Not only that, I sing in a gospel choir, and I can hear other voice parts in my head when I sing and think of the music. I also hear the instrumental breaks. It may sound strange, esp. to a non-singer, but I love to hear and experience the harmonies in the part of my brain that 'plays' the music I am learning, or have already learned.