Imagination Blindness - Aphantasia. The Ways Your Brain Can Break 

My book, which expands upon Aphantasia and all of the videos in the The Ways Your Brain Can Break playlist, is available now! a.co/d/4zXaocz

I find it very difficult to believe people can actually SEE things in their minds.

My whole life since childhood everyone told me how rich imagination I have, but today realising that I've actually never SAW the things I was fantasising about is shocking. Even when reading a book and trying to see the room, the colors or characters is really tough for me, I can't hold the picture in my mind, it's so abstract and it always changes like a psychedelic trip.

This explains so much! Meditation was always so hard for me - particularly when you’re told to imagine yourself engulfed in white light. It’s literally impossible for me

I remember in kindergarten we were playing a game where u win a prize. They told us to close our eyes and tell what colors we see. Everyone said smth like yellow, blue, etc. And as I child I was surprised because I saw only black, lol. I thought everyone was lying to get the prize.

I always thought "picture in your mind" was a figure of speech for "think about."

When my teachers asked me to imagine something i thought they meant to think of something so my way of "imagining" things was by literally just having a mental conversation like i could come up with a whole story but i won't be able to actually visualize it and this always bothered because when i was younger from time to time I'd feel like I'm actually imagining something but in an instant it'd begone and i wouldn't be able to remember it so now debating whether i was actually picturing things or did i trick myself into thinking that i actually saw something

Mine is congenital and I had no idea people could literally see things in their heads until I was an adult. I’ve always struggled creatively because I have the intense need to create but literally cannot image what I’m trying to make whether it be music, art, or writing. I don’t mind so much though because I never get images stuck in my head that I can’t get rid of.

It’s really weird for me, since I can see images in dreams and sometimes involuntarily, but if I try to visualize it then It’s really hard, I can only describe it based on memories, but not actually visualize it, it’s really weird

I can imagine it’s just not visually based, additionally I have Aphantasia in all 5 main senses.

I just recently discovered aphantasia, but I have known for years that my mental imagery was not like others. I always tell people that I can feel the image rather than see the image. It's an outline, and it only stays as I am consciously thinking of it.

Unfortunately I have Aquired Aphantasia and it's actually caused me considerable difficulty in adjusting to my new reality. Until 20 years ago, I was lucky enough to be exceptionally gifted with mental imagery. I could literally imagine anything I wanted with massive clarity, but not just still images. I could play back entire scenes in my head, including sights, sounds and smells. My dreams were so real, it would often take me some time after waking, to work out what was real and what was part of the dream. That part was a little unsettling sometimes, but not a big problem. For me, it was a very big part of how I remembered things. If I wanted to remember pretty much anything, I'd imagine it in my mind and could explore the details as though I were looking right at it. I've also always been a highly creative person, in many different ways and if I wanted to make something for example, I would imagine what I wanted to create and then could make it from that created memory. That all changed 20 years ago though. I had a head on collision, because I made a stupid mistake and although luckily no one was seriously hurt, my partner at the time was pregnant with our first child and for a few hours, well, let's just say I thought my mistake had brought that to a horrible end. Even though it turned out that our Son was thankfully unharmed, I most definitely wasn't. For the next couple of years, whether awake or asleep, my brain kept torturing me with the most horrific and vivid images and entire scenes. Things that no parent should ever see and not just of the crash and my feared outcome. I slipped deeper and deeper into depression and symptoms of ptsd and then eventually, I just stopped seeing anything in my mind at all. IN many ways, at the time, that was a great relief, due to what I'd been seeing, but with it came huge memory problems. I've struggled to properly remember things accurately ever since that ability to recall vivd images shut off. Now 20 years later, there has been minor improvement. I've started occasionally seeing detailed images in dreams, although nowhere near as vivid as they used to be, but good enough. I also now occasionally see brief flashes of reasonably detailed images unintentionally, but if I try to concentrate on those images, they disappear entirely. As for seeing images intentionally, forget it. If I'm really relaxed and there are no distractions, I can sometimes bring up the briefest of darkened, fuzzy images, but nothing more and they lack all of the additional details that they used to have. No sounds, no smells and I can make them move, so no scene replay at all. As with involuntary images, if I try to concentrate on them, they vanish instantly. So in my case, it doesn't appear to be physical brain damage that's caused my Aphantasia, although I did possibly suffer very minor, (undiagnosed) brain damage from whiplash, which caused a loss of muscle memory, (I had to retrain my hands to do things like how to tie my shoes and use a knife and fork for example), but it seems mine was caused by trauma. I've struggled with it a lot over the years, but until recently, I didn't know what it was called or that other people had it too. I thought it was just me and in some ways, it's a relief to know that it isn't and possibly even gives me hope that if mine is trauma triggered as I suspect, then maybe there's a way to get it back. Apologies this is such a long post by the way. I didn't start out intending it to be that way, lol.

I ALWAYS knew I was broke lol. This makes so much sense 🤷🏻‍♀️

the hardest for me is to picture faces. I mean, I spend so much time with those people and know exactly what they look like and can describe them but i‘m not able to picture them in my mind. weird.

Im a digital illustrator and people are always confused because instead of turning characters in my head, I will draw and redraw them into position on the canvas. I never knew why until realizing that everyone else just does it mentally

I found out I had aphantasia several years ago and the concept of people actually being able to SEE things in their head blew my mind; like you, I always thought phrases like “picture this” were metaphorical I tend to have extremely vivid dreams and have a “vivid” imagination but I was in probably my mid twenties when I found out most people can voluntarily create mental imagery and it made me feel like I was playing life on hard mode 😆

I'm over 40 years old and only a couple of years ago I realized that my mind is both blind and deaf. For me the word "thought" has always meant a kind of an impulse of information. It seems to be mind-blowing for many people to find out that it's entirely possible to think without "converting" the information into sound or pictures. And now I also realize that many people meditate for years and years to achieve a state of mind that I have every day. I always wondered how it seems to be considered nearly super-human to "quiet" or "empty" your mind.

I consider it a great tragedy that you still have less than 5,000 subscribers. Everyone. Share this video.

I found out that I may have aphantasia today during an engineering class when the teacher told us to “take apart the cube in our minds,” to find unique nets for it. I was stuck unable to do the assignment because I couldn’t imagine anything. Made me think I was crazy 😔

As someone with hyperphantasia I always assumed everyone had the same level of visualization, I would often say things like "Just visualize this and you will understand what Im talking about".... Was an eye opener learning about the various levels on the spectrum and how people learn to adapt by growing different skillsets and methodologies to achieve the same goal.

I discovered I have aphantasia a few years ago. I always thought people who were speaking of seeing something in their head were using it as an expression, meaning they could remember it, so I didn't really question it until it randomly came up more in debth in a conversation. My dreams never have images. But I still know what's happening. I imagine the difference is like between reading a script vs watching a play/movie. I love messing around in photoshop because I can make my thoughts something I can see 😊

Do you have aphantasia, or the opposite (hyperphantasia -- really good mental imagery)? Let me know in the comments!

I have this (the congenital kind), and people are always veeeery confused. Also I have an absolutely crap sense of direction because I can't form a proper mental map

didnt realize people could visualize in their heads, and it makes me kinda sad to think that my brain is "broken" even though i was born with aphantasia, i can see imagery in dreams and hear sounds if they were significant though, and ive gotten better at remembering my dreams recently

This explains why I had crazy, vivid dreams (still without color, though) when I recently had a fever. Thanks for the info :)

Im in my 40's and just learnt this 2 days ago and as person from a young age i loved drawing but found i could copy a picture perfectly but trying to draw one from imagination i struggled. 😢😅😊

It would drive me nuts when my therapist would tell me to meditate, and imagine sitting on a beach with the waves crashing down.. I'm like.. I literally see black, I can't invision anything. I never even heard about this until youtube, like.. How did a therapist not know about this?

I have congenital, I never realized that people could make images in their brain. I just thought everyone was just saying that they could see something in their head but not actually, basically just lying because I couldn't see it so I thought no one else could. I can picture things in my head but I just can't visually see it, say I am reading a book, I can imagine what is happening but I can't SEE it. I always thought that was how you imagine things, I never realized people can imagine things in their head with actual color and see actual things. It's actually really hard when I'm drawing to plan out things before I draw it. The weird thing is, is that I do REALLY well with maps, I have an okay memory but I can memorize landmarks or whatever you call them amazingly. I am, according to my mom and some other family members, the only one that can do well with maps.

If I were to close my eyes and try to imagine something in the day, I wouldn't see anything. However if I close my eyes to go to bed and start to imagine while I'm on the cusp of dreaming, I will see stuff and it freaks me out. While I may not be able to imagine while I am awake, I do dream vividly.

I have Aphantasia. All I see is darkness, yet I could tell you what you wore to a concert we went to 15 years ago. I don’t get a visual just an eruption of words and thoughts. I have a strong inner monologue that is constantly going😩. Even when I’m talking, I can hear it remembering things like... tan shorts, red shirt, blue hat. While I’m talking🤦🏽‍♀️. It’s like background noise. I can also play the soundtrack to my favorite songs in my head every note. When I day dream, there is no visual. I can literally hear myself talking in my head like I’m reading myself a story. I just can’t see it.

When I imagine something like a “theater of the mind” for my D&D group, I imagine fuzzy non-color models that I cannot see, but kinda sense are there? Like, close your eyes and touch an object next to you. Then, with your eyes closed, move your hand away. Then, imagine you were touching that object again. It’s like a phantom object you’re holding. You may not be able to see it, but you can almost feel it’s shape. I can make these move around in my head. I “assign” colors like a name tag 🏷 that comes up when I focus on “what color is the clerics robe” and I think “yellow” for example. If I try to imagine a yellow cloak, the best I can do is imagine a phantom, non visual cloak, and tell myself “this is yellow” like I’m actually looking at a yellow pencil/yellow flower. I can’t see anything, just sense it

Realising I was aphantasic and others get to see stuff with their imagination caused me more grief than my autism diagnosis at 35.

Woah the pupil constricting thing is so cool!!! I literally just tried it by filming myself imagining the sun and then a lightbulb and it looks like a cat hunting lol. Best fact I’ve learned in months.

I experiance aphantasia. My brain is not broken. It is different from those who don't.

I can imagine the idea of things I can’t actually see them. I don’t believe people ACTUALLY see the images in their head

Talking about this stuff to a non-aphantasiac was very insightful. When trying to explain how I think, I realized how hard it was to put it into words; because it's so abstract. Where other people seemingly have inner monolog and pictures, I have abstract Mindmaps that float around waiting to be connected by forces in the dark. Often times I just sit there and stare into space, not actively thinking anything consciously, but waiting for the darkness to spew out an answer, a concept or an idea. That's the best I can describe it. I barely ever have an inner monolog. I think abstractly, and certainly faster than it would take me to formulate everything into a monolog as I'm thinking it. So it rarely happens purely for efficiency purposes. That of course results in a lack of practice and thus a low ability to articulate myself. But man, I'm still so fascinated by the fact that y'all can imagine things in your head. Like picture loved ones, imagine whole worlds, bring a book to life. Or decide what food you wanna pick at the restaurant because you can actually imagine them all and then pick based on real-time judgement. I have a list of good and bad food. That means I have most of the menu items labeled as good. And since they're all good, they're all equal. I cannot value one over the other based on their ranking. And I can't imagine the specific taste and texture to decide which I'd like more right now. I have to pick one of many "Good" options purely at random. Or maybe I'm just also autistic or whatever. Seriously though, odds are pretty high lol

I think about this inability as anything but broken. Really inconvenient as an artist, but in art i also feel like theres a benefit.

For as long as I can remember I've never been able to picture images. It's always been black, no noise, or anything. My memory isn't the best and usually I can only remember some things with triggers. Even things that I remember aren't visual it's sort of a concept I guess you'd call it. It's hard for me to be emotional about things from the past because of the lack of connection. It's hard to explain but I've dealt with it for a long time.

Good video, and the correct pronunciation of Aphantasia, well done.

This is all new to me just heard about it . I dont understand, i thought all human beings could visualize imagery or anything in their minds I do it all the time.

I have Aphantasia, I have since birth, unless it can caused by head trauma. I never realized what I was missing and how things like "minds eye" actually made sense until I was maybe 30ish... give or take. Kinda makes me sad... especially when it comes to loved ones who have passed

I have aphantasia, it really REALLY sucks The worst part is that my family thinks that because I think I have it that I blocked imagination because I won’t let myself do it. I just want to get a proper diagnosis :(

I believe this happened to me ! I know for a fact that I use to have the ability to see images in my mind when I was younger very vivid details like people's faces etc...I ended up having black out spells and one episode I hit my head and was blacked out! got a concussion... after that...nothing!!! And I didn't even realize it was gone until I started to try to do visualization excerices.... But the weird thing is I see the mental pictures now if I keep my eyes open...like a daydream or staring off into space... whatever I want to visualize I can but I have to keep my eyes open...if I close my eyes nothing but a still black picture😓 Honestly I miss being able to see vivid mental pictures when I close my eyes but I don't think I'll want to now...it'll probably scare the heck out of me lol

I can't picture the colors of a rainbow, but I know them. it's weird like I can't picture a three-dimensional object but I know how many sides it has and I can draw it

Hooray for an informative video on the topic that despite some people's comments, does not at all imply that people are "broken"!

Sometimes when I read something. I can visualize things but sometimes stuff like buildings and staircases literally disappear. But most of the time at school when a teacher said imagine “blah blah blah” I could never do that. I only realized this wasn’t normal today.

I didn’t realize that when people talked about imagining things that they literally see pictures in their mind! My mind was blown when I realized I was the weird one’ 😅😂

People see things in their mind?!?! Every time my teacher told my class to visualise everyone except me could actually see things, literally, I have a hard time imagining

Thinking about this issue, many of my memories have photo snapshots as reference. If I think about riding horses as a kid, I can remember what the stable looked like, the horse, his saddle, the riding ring, my hard black English riding hat, etc., all stored as photos or mental videos as well as the sensation of riding, my feelings, etc.

I have acquired aphantasia. It's changed the way I learn, create, and recall memories in a really alien way. I don't feel like myself at all.

Whenever i close my eyes i cant see anything. It’s just black. I can think of an apple but i wont even see its shape or color. Its just that i know what an apple looks like, but i cant see or imagine it? Is this also aphantasia? Like i just remember what my friends look like but if i close my eyes i cannot see their faces?

The only thing I can imagine is sound. Every other sense is gone completely

I kinda wish I never found out about this

I’ve been having Aphantasia since I was a baby I never knew why

I feel like I’ve missed out on so much

I didn't realize how much "dimmer" my mental pictures are than other people's until I started taking THC edibles. When I am high, strain-depending, my ability to picture things in my mind jumps by at least 300%-- normally, the images are faint to the point that I'm often not sure whether I'm seeing the image, or just being told it's there. This is particularly true with faces-- ordinarily, I can not picture someone's face (though I can recall, clearly, a photo of that same face), and when I'm high, it's like they're there.

Super interesting, thanks! Meanwhile, I have just realized probably part of my bad people memory stems from not being able to imagine their faces in my mind. I am perfectly capable of imagining pictures, but when it comes to people I usually remember the way they act or dress more than what their faces look like... I don't think I could draw a single friends' face from memory, not even my room mates' whom I see every single day.

I think I may have acquired apantasia , I suffered several head trauma's as a child, I see only black when I try to visualise something, only discovered this condition yesterday and can relate to so much of it, and now for the first time, I am beginning to understand why I think the way I do. very eye opening excuse the pun

Can people without aphantasia actually SEE things while their eyes are closed? For me it’s more that I can feel it (not literally, I think of it but I can’t see anything at all). I don’t know if I have aphantasia, I’m confused.

Blew my mind when i found this out as i thought i had brain damage for not being able to form images in my mind & when i was trying to do some counselling the mental exercises they asked me to do i faked it because they always started with "Imagine Blah in your mind etc.." which i just cant do, & these things made me way more aware of the fact, which caused me some stress, after watching this it appears i have partial Aphantasia as sometimes but not often an image albeit blury will pop into my mind usually after waking & not for long more like a dream residue, but i can never actually focus & manipulate any images in my mind & the harder i try the more i fail. Also i know i dream but am never able to recall what i am dreaming about unless it is very emotional as i will often wake with feelings but no actual memory as to why i am feeling a certain way.

I feel like this is the reason why I'm more able to deal with boredom than a lot of people. I can sit and watch Jurassic Park in my head or rewrite star wars. I'll often go on autopilot and daydream something then realise I've just driven miles not seeing a thing. I obviously am still aware of my driving because I didn't crash... Its just very odd when it happens

I have aphantasia, ever since I learned about it periodically I get depressed and start lucid dreaming just to imagine because for some reason I can imagine when I'm dreaming... I will literally spend my lucid dream lying in my bed imagining trees or something... It feels so liberating to be able to imagine... I truly envy you people, I have a theory that I developed it instead of having it since birth because I broke my head when I was a kid falling backwards. It doesn't make much sense though because I remember when I was still a kid, just older, complaining to myself about how difficult it was to imagine something and not being able to imagine a face... Most likely I had a crappy imagination to begin with and simply lost the ability growing up. The first period I tried to imagine I would manage sometimes to almost give myself a seizure and imagine for a little while some random shit my brain was cooking up, it felt more like bending myself backwards to look at a screen where stuff was already playing though, I wouldn't really call it imagining, but it gave me an idea that people truly can see images in their head, it hasn't happened since though.

The weird thing for me is like I can know (kinda) what something looks like and my brain knows that but I can’t “see” it with any significant detail or really anything else. All I can do is think about how something looks. I never had a “breakthrough” where I learned people can see in their heads because I think I probably have partial aphantasia or smth. But for example I can’t translate what I know something looks like out of my head, like if I were to attempt to draw something. I usually forget 90% of the important things even though I know what something looks like. Edit: the case with the guy near the end of the video is close to what I’m like, mine would be the congenital version though.

As someone without aphantasia, I can't imagine how someone else without it would be unsure of whether or not they have it.

Thanks for aquainting me with Aquired Aphantasia. That seems to finally fit.

I always had the ability to imagine but it’s not that detailed, or colorful. If you say imagine 3 spheres, I imagine a dark room with 3 pale spheres and that’s it. Most people would give great detail. I also am bad at picturing things like in books, which is why I usually watch movies rather than read books, so I can actually understand what’s going on.

When I am mentally imagining something that turns I can’t stop it , like I can’t stop cycling.

When i tell you i was SHOOK when i found out people actually see things with their eyes closed🤯...I see NOTHING just straight ⚫️. I just rest in the feeling of things, I conceptualize an image but i don't actually see it. I dream pretty normal but meditation & things where you have to conjure an imagine in your mind? nah. I wish! I can feel the feeling of seeing it..if that makes sense😂 I'm very emotion/ other sensory based when 'visualizing'. Damn i'm kinda jealous of other people's brains🫠😂 I bet their meditations & visualizations Slapp!!✨️ Also, I don't have an inner monologue that people talk about having. Alot of the research I've done shows a link between that and aphantasia. I'm so curious how that works.. like people hear a voice in their mind 24/7?? Is it yourself or like disconnected from you? What's it talkin about?🤔😅 like i'm genuinely so curious! I have thoughts i think in my mind but i don't audibly hear them.. Alot of people I've asked say it can be annoying and very self critiquing even mean at times which sounds Awful😟😣honestly just the thought of it in general kinda freaks me out😬 like constant chatter all day everyday only you can hear? I'd go insane..both of these concepts really fascinate me to no end!!😌 the human mind is so complex! Quite interesting.. I could talk psychology & neuroscience all day💯

SOME PEOPLE CAN ONLY LOOK-- THEY NEVER SEE.. THE WINDOW TO THE SOUL IS BLOCKED

People really be dissin me for not being able to picture my family like bro i wish i could 🤣

I always wondered how people described things to a sketch artist because I could absolutely never and come to find out it’s because people can actually picture things?! I freaked when I found out people don’t have an internal monologue and I do and come to find out some people can picture photos?! I’d love to know if those who can picture images and those who have an internal monologue are or aren’t related. I have a monologue but can only manifest images when I’m extremely tired and up until recently never chose what I saw (still can’t completely) recently I’ve been practicing on manifesting images I WANT to see and even then it took me weeks to get a bunny on command,then a house,dog,cat etc. mostly I just see floating images and almost always not pleasant:

then how do I know if I have? Congenital Aphantasia was said to may have poor imagery does mine count as one for the first case: I can picture the sky, I can picture a cloud, pretty color sky blue and white clouds, a rainbow I can imagine it with colors, with its proper colors like red, yellow, green, blue, purple but if you asked me the colors or the order of it, I wouldnt be able to tell you unless I specifically concentrated the image; strictly, into the rainbow like I know the colors are there when putting it as a general picture, yet somehow I cannot tell you what colors they are. like when you do a "find the differences" you dont notice the differences until you strictly look for them does that count as a poor imagery to be congenital aphantasia? or is it just my brain ignoring small details? like when your eyes follow a mosquito and suddenly it disappears from eyesight because your brain sees it's a small dot, so it decides to ignore it from the picture for being too small to consider visualization for the second case: Whenever Im talking or even typing like right now, I dont imagine the actions of the words I mean, I do sometimes, not always the case, for the majority of the case as I talk or type I imagine the words I want to speak, like if I say "I want to eat an ice cream" I dont imagine the ice cream or me eating the ice cream or even just my lips syncing to the words I say I just imagine, precisely that: "I want to eat ice cream" - the letters, the words, the sentence is what I think. I will imagine the Ice cream but I'd do that if I want to, rather than involuntarily

Can’t imagine how people who can’t see images in their mind like What do you all think when I say (let’s say he is someone you know ) John ? As for me If someone says someone I know I will immediately imagine what they look like and also something related to what we’re talking about

I Have aphantasia ans lately I have been really jealous of people with phantasia. I’ve always done really well in school and I was valedictorian but I always hated reading books because I found they were really boring I have found out that it’s because I cannot picture the story in my head. I was wondering if there was a way to acquire phantasia? Please answer

I went through a deep depression then ever since then…I couldn’t see anything in my head

What's interesting for me, is how even though I can't see things in my mind, I can *hear* them. For example, when someone who does *not* have aphantasia, thinks of a waterfall, they can see it in their mind's eye. I don't see it, but I hear it. I hear the roar of the waterfall.

I never knew! Well… I didn’t know that there was a name for it. If I was told to picture in your mind “x” all I would imagine was an amorphous grayish blob, regardless of whether it was supposed to be an apple or a flame, flowers or anything. I definitely didn’t realize that some people just couldn’t do this.

I could see images so clearly as a child. Now I see nothing in my mind. I never noticed when this happened, but I’m betting it was around the time I had brain surgery in ‘94.

I have it!! That’s why I cannot draw. I can’t imagine any pictures. I have to look at something to be able to draw it. I still have vivid dreams from time to time though. This is interesting. I wonder what causes it more than just “I’m born with it”

I have congenital and complete aphantasia I cannot even imagine what it must be like for people who don’t have the condition

Seeded with a very abstract mind . Id argue strongly that this is the bases for the ancient chaldean

I didn't know that someone could imagine something clearly or something bright I just thought that some can imagine better and I nearly can't

Wild. I can build whole worlds. I have multiple worlds I visit in dreams too, places that are familiar because I've dreamed of them over decades...all imaginary dream worlds. When I wake up I remember areas and laugh at how it mirrors real life. Often I forget about these places until I dream about them again, and it's like I never left.

There was a Star Trek episode where one of he crew explains that he can’t see his father’s face. They came up with some Ferengi explanation but I wasn’t impressed. I never see anyone’s face in my mind anyway. I’ve had several appointments with my Doctor but there is usually a long initial delay before figuring out who exactly I’m talking too. At my age that's usually a bad sign. I lost my Mom in a crowd one time. It wasn't till she sneezed that I recognized her.

Creativity isnt all about what you can see people. Just wanted to set the record straight.

For me, audiobooks give me the feeling of being able to imagine things because i can focus more on immersing myself instead of having to read the letters. Its hard to describe because its not actually seeing it but more like "feeling?" it.

even though I’ve been able to imagine visuals forever, it still sounds like a bizarre concept

I believe this kind of videos are making a lot of normal people think they have aphantasia. Because they think they were supposed to ACTUALLY SEE an image painting when closing their eyes. It is not like that. You see black when close your eyes, but you can imagine something.

It’s not that imagination is not there. It’s just that you can’t see the actual visual. Think about it like this, when a normal person visualises something, they already know what it is, it’s not being implanted, it’s self generated and they KNOW what the picture is. I am the same, I know what the picture is the same way you know if you can remember a taste or smell. There is an intuition, an imprint in your brain that you are comparing to without sensing it at the time. The reason people with Aphantasia are shocked is because we do the same thing, we think of the picture without seeing it, a memory or imagined image, we get a sense of exactly what it is and could draw it, without ever having to see it. This is why people think visualising was just a figure of speech, because we are all actually doing the exact same thing, with the exception of a person who has a visual in their head can literally see what they already knew and can mentally examine it. The reason people with Aphantasia can remember shades of colour better is because both people ‘know’ what the colour and memory was, but people with Aphantasia can’t project it and see it and then possibly change the colour slightly after seeing it. However both people know the colour to start, the initial memory. One person can then see it, the other can’t. No difference in anything else I’m aware of other than being able to see the picture. As I said, the same way someone remembers what something feels like, smells like etc without sensing it at the time, just add visual to that also. You can still remember pictures and images, you know what they are, could recognise or recreate them or imagine a change to them, just you don’t ever sense it literally.

thx I had no idea people had this disability I thought mental imagery was like the feeling of it thx u.

Interesting

I used to be able to visualize things. As a child I saw a program about brain surgery on tv. It scared me, and for weeks I kept seeing this brain when I shut my eyes. It suddenly stopped and I was never able to fully visualize again. I can vaguely visualize repetitive things. like what my house looks like, but If I randomly met someone in the street I would not be able to tell you what they looked like. I can still see in dreams. I wonder if it is a self defense mechanism in the brain, Ironically, afraid of seeing the brain I saw in my childhood.

AFAIK I have congenital aphantasia the obvious problem with self-diagnosis is the nature of the tests It's pretty much "can you picture X in your mind? 1-5" repeated about 30 times

Im autistic and a lot of autistics have thos problem. This has helped me to understand myself better.

Had a stroke, now I have aphantasia

Its like a room im in but its very dark. I know where everything is, i know it's there. I just can't see it.

I can only see images when I sleep!

So I can’t see numbers. I can’t see letters of the alphabet in my head either. Heaven forbid someone calls out a telephone number, or a price of an object! And unless I have paper and pen to write down the spelling of something dictated, it’s gone in an instant. But, I can recall incidents from when I was three years old. Is that aphantasia or should I just accept my deficit?🇨🇦

Ok. I guess my mental imagery is also subpar then. When I imagine something, my imagination is completely different from actually seeing: I see the broad fuzzy picture of something, not the actual thing with all its details. However, I have no problem with directions since the broad fuzzy picture suffices for that.

Whaoooo I never thought people could see images in their minds.. I can imagine images and see vivid images in my mind's eyes during lucid dreams. ....