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Dr. Zeman, has early brain development and adverse child experiences (ACEs) or (early childhood trauma) and aphantasia been discussed or studied? It seems reasonable that a very young traumatized child's brain might "wire" for survival, turning the lights out so to speak to lessen the consequences of uncontrollable distressing imagery, thoughts induced by toxic stress . Could the child's brain not build out in those areas compared to a child who has not experienced ACEs? Thanks for sharing your work and insights.

Great research! Thank you.

Thank you!

30:12 ah, that, it went viral 10 years ago or something, maybe more, or maybe it was less...I'm not good with colors, golden stripe parts and the other parts are white, maybe with a blue hue...

I have aphantasia, I can't visualize anything it almost hurts to try . I also don't dream visually but I can recall dreaming but it's only like listening to a story . Wild to think that most people dream or can visualize things that are realistic. People who see things in their heads I always felt should ve in a psychiatric center lol

Very good idea for a study

Very interesting especially as a Synesthete which is the total opposite to how our brain works.

Since Tom Ebeyer just emailed out a link to this video I suspect more people will be seeing this soon. Overall I am impressed that Christian Scholz has worked so hard to understand how people with aphantasia think and imagine and describe how we talk about it. From the starting point of philosophers assuming people have to visualize to think it makes sense to have explored this in such detail. I am 63 years old and just found out about aphantasia. Christian Scholz is absolutely correct -- I had no awareness that others actually visualize; I have simply been participating in shared language albeit from a different experience. I talk about my experience or memories in a way that visualizers are likely to think means I am visualizing because they can't imagine not visualizing. From the number of people who pop up at various ages just having learned of aphantasia and the fact there was no name for this until quite recently I suspect my experience of thinking this "visualizing" thing was just language for the way my thinking and memories work is typical for folks who don't visualize. We aren't "playing along" -- just using the common language without realizing our experience was fundamentally different from most people's.

Dr. Zeman, your work on aphantasia is fascinating and deeply relevant to me. I not only lack mental imagery, but also sounds, monologues, and any form of inner narrative. It feels like I don’t ‘think’ in the traditional sense, yet I have understanding and awareness without active thought. This unique experience has profoundly shaped how I perceive the world and process information. I’d love to share my condition with you, as I believe it could provide valuable insight into your research. Is there a way I could contact you to discuss this further?

👏❤️

I have aphantasia, at least I think so…. Because I don’t see an image in my head or have the ability to visualise inside , only fields and colours, but mostly black. But I feel the image inside, as if I know in many ways what it is how it looks, but I see no picture. I’ve drawn my whole life, I love to draw, I am good at drawing, right now the only thing I am doing.❤ So to train this ability for those with aphantasia is a very good idea.

Very interesting presentation, thanks. However, the constantly repeating visuals were annoying. I especially liked your discussion of understanding versus rote learning (at14:06). I have a PhD, and you explain clearly my approach to learning. Still, I've noticed, from listening to you and other aphantasics, that many of us are attributing too many aspects of our personalities to aphantaisia. I'm aphantasic, but unlike you, I have a strong emotional memory and remember hurts and disappointments as well as times of love or elation, even though I can't "relive" them. The personality is extremely complex. I've discovered during the short time that I've known of aphantasia that people, myself included, tend to use aphantasia simplistically to explain our strengths and weaknesses. I thought aphantasia must be responsible for my great memory for events, stories, movie advertisements, pop culture images and songs, cultural moments, and such, in that I wasn't continually filling my memory with imaginary pictures (though I have a weak memory for numbers, words on paper, visual details, or musical notation.) However, I found that many with aphantasia claim that they have poor memories for the things I remember. One woman recently used aphantasia to explain her introversion. However, I'm an extrovert. I also learned that some of us have constant inner monologues while others don't think in words at all. We all -- even scientists -- have to be cautious about leaping to conclusions about how aphantasia shapes our personalities. The research just isn't in yet.

My aphantasia was part of the reasoning a (now disgraced) psychiatrist used to diagnose me as psychotic, instead of autistic. According to him, not being a visual thinker was a sign of psychosis... This was almost two decades ago. Have anyone else encountered this same, unhinged prejudice?

I am the person with Aphantasia and no inner dialog i think we have memory of all events in the past. Because i remember everything, but my memory located in abstract place i feel it. But some people consciously some unconsciously decided to live in a current moment. We kind of blocked ability to look in the past and the future, to remove redundant conversation with a brain about future and past.

I want to tell you my story maybe it will help you in your research. I am the person that was not able to learn at school. I learnt only subjects like history, etc where i can immerse myself completely in emotions involved in the topic, because i can't imagine in my head. that is why i am emotional thinker not visual. When i was small i think i had really weak vizualization almost 0, and I had constant dialog in my head. i have constant rush of thoughts in my head. It is difficult to explain but i was kind of living in my head, my soul was located in my head(directly, my beeing, my concentration was in my head). Now i live without thoughts, i have constant silence in my head and whenever i want answer, i ask my sunconsious directly through inner impulse, i sent to my inner world emotional impulses and idea, and receive answers like intuitional understanding i can compare it with when people have revelations, it is the same because inner world answers with revelations not with words. I will explain now how i live without thoughts and communicate with inner world directly. I think it all goes to mental level. I remember myself living in small world inside my head, where i have constant dialog with myself, where i stayed in the shower and discussed with i have no idea what person, what should i do best, relieve some moments of past etc. it was boring life where i have no control of my body and where i constantly have dialog with myself. But one day when i slept or was in borderline state, or when i smoke gashish, i found the way out of the living in small part of body(brain) and i slowly moved down from living in my head to living in whole my body, (it was tough and long way not fast) alterego did not want easely to release me from his grips, it was long fights during my sleeps when i tried to move away from alterego control. I think it is connected to will power that i developed through life. And as soon as i discarded or better say put alter ego to the corner of my consciusness i was not able to live without dialog. And now i live in my whole body i can communicated with my subconsciouss directly if i need etc I am kind of human of the world. I am not connected to any religion or any political views or anything else i am free person of non ending expanse of universe. Now i can easy stop any annoing idea in my head, i think it is connecte to will power, because when idea that i don't want appear in my head i take this idea and remove it from my head it is kind of i can put dome over my head and decide what to put inside my dome and what to remove by will. I forgot that people have constant dialog in their heads people that live with irritating ideas and can't remove it. Few days ago i lernt that i have apostasia. i thought all people like me. That all people have void in their head , people can communicate with innerworld directly (communicating in the head it is not communication with inner world it is communication with alterego), that people also can't imagine apple in the head. Solution to all this is to have problems and work on your problems and go deeper in yourself rather than chasing social dreams. Because when you chase social dreams you are living in your head, but problems in the life help you go deep in yourself and investigate what and how. I can explain more about my way though life but it will be 100s pages. But what helped me became who i am now is life struggle etc. I lernt that all people must find escape from alterego, it does not matter how but all people must. Only then people can be caled human beeing not mental robots that live in illusion. When dialog stopped appeared new things like i have white noize in my head instead of voices. I feel energy in my body, i live in the world of constant revelations. It is difficult to deceive me because i can read people and their intention. After you moved away from your brain and take control of it you start living in different dimmention of the world you became more intuitional, more pure , more free person. Because you have 0 brain influence on you. I want to say last thing as soon as people take control of their brains and start communicating with inner world directly there won't be any religions but one. And this religion is called universal religion. We are all connected as human and also we connected to whole universe. It is like me and universe is same. Only inner dialog and redundant vizualization prevent people to understand this. But imagination is not bad thing. It is bad in the hands of person with constant dialog in your head. Because you alter ego can influence imagination. But as soon as you took control of you brain imagination is crucial thing you can use your imagination by your will and without influence of alterego. i wish you understand what i wrote, it is too deep to grasp straightaway. Because for me it took 40 years and you are just reading my text for the first time. I am living without thoughts for 20 years , but only when i understood that not all people like me, understanding just came. I can categorize people in 3 groups first group and majority people that have constant dialog, and 0 control of the brain. Second group is people that have control of the brain and live free of brain influence this group is 10 times smaller than first. And third group - elite group that has all qualities that second group has plus this group developed their soul so much that they can discover outerworld. And this group is located on the top of the human evolution. But to get to 3 stage is more difficult than to get to the 2 stage. Will power must be rificulously strong, people from 1 -2 stage can travel by soul in otter world, but they can't take what they learnt from their journey with them back. Like most people don't remember your dreams after you wake up, same when you use DMT or LSD they took back only really small part of knowledge. 3 group can do anything. We can call them angels walking on earth. Jesus, Budda, Konfucii etc. Problem with science is that it is limited to brain imagination. But if we compare universe and billions years of evolution and human limited brain. We can;t compare it in any way. Brain is too weak to understand this life and all science is limited by brain potential. It is deadend. I would say what all scientists know or will now will be ridiculuosly small amount of universe. Our brain created not for understanding universe, our brain created to uphold life on a resaonable level. And when scientists want to understand more than human brain is capable of. It leads to dead end and ilusions. If you want truth, walk the way of your soul. First put you inner voice at the back of you consciousness, take control of you body, develop strong will, and then you will have answers. But be ready this road is 100 time more difficult that life in brain. Long years i tried to understand everything, but one day it was 2 days ago, when i learnt about my condition. Everything clicked and i understood all peoples behavior, division of people based on their views, believes etc. Scientists- Christians, Muslims are the same they are on the same levl. Level of brain.And all their believes based on brain interpretation, not based on reality of the world. Future of Scientists or religion is when people are not slaves of their brains. And their soul os oppened to real world. Only then science became true, people became human beeings not mental creatures that lives in illusion etc.

I want to tell you my story maybe it will help you in your research. I am the person that was not able to learn at school. I learnt only subjects like history, etc where i can immerse myself completely in emotions involved in the topic, because i can't imagine in my head. that is why i am emotional thinker not visual. When i was small i think i had weak vizualization, and I had constant dialog in my head. i have constant rush of thoughts in my head. It is difficult to explain but i was kind of living in my head, my soul was located in my head. Now i live without thoughts, i have constant silence in my head and whenever i want i ask my sunconsious directly. through inner impulse, i sent to my inner world emotional impulses and idea, and receive answers like intuitional understanding i can compare it with when people have revelations, it is the same because inner world answers with revelations not with words. I will explain now how i live without thoughts and communicate with inner world directly. I think it all goes to mental level. I remember myself living in small world inside my head, where i have constant dialog with myself, where i stayed in the shower and discussed with i have no idea what person, what should i do best, relieve some moments of past etc. it was boring life where i have no control of my body and where i constantly have dialog with myself. But one day when i slept or was in borderline state, or when i smoke gashish, i found the way out of the living in small part of body(brain) and i slowly moved down from living in my head to living in whole my body, (it was tough and long way not fast) alterego did not want easely to release me from his grips, it was long fights during my sleeps when i tried to move away from alterego control. I think it is connected to will power that i developed through life. And as soon as i discarded or better say put alter ego to the corner of my consciusness i was not able to live without dialog. And now i live in my whole body i can communicated with my subconsciouss directly if i need etc I am kind of human of the world. I am not connected to any religion or any political views or anything else i am free person of non ending expanse of universe. Now i can easy stop any annoing idea in my head, i think it is connecte to will power, because when idea that i don't want appear in my head i take this idea and remove it from my head it is kind of i can put dome over my head and decide what to put inside my dome and what to remove by will. I forgot that people have constant dialog in their heads people that live with irritating ideas and can't remove it. Few days ago i lernt that i have apostasia. i thought all people like me. That all people have void in their head , people can communicate with innerworld directly (communicating in the head it is not communication with inner world it is communication with alterego), that people also can't imagine apple in the head. Solution to all this is to have problems and work on your problems and go deeper in yourself rather than chasing social dreams. Because when you chase social dreams you are living in your head, but problems in the life help you go deep in yourself and investigate what and how. I can explain more about my way though life but it will be 100s pages. But what helped me became who i am now is life struggle etc. I lernt that all people must find escape from alterego, it does not matter how but all people must. Only then people can be caled human beeing not mental robots living in illusion.

Any aphantasia play chess? Anyone get headaches with high focus gsme?

My first D in highschool was to write an autobiography, it was a disaster and very painful not having substantial recall.

I grew up in a refugee camp I always have trouble spelling and never learn proper phonetic. I could only remember how to spell by remembering how words are actually spell but I lack mind eye. Anyone having similar experiences?

It was really interesting to hear the story about seeing pees in the video. I had a similar experience after a whole day of collecting and cleaning berries and mushrooms. So then before rest of the day I had a very clear and vivid image of them when I closed my eyes. This has only happened a few times, even though collecting berries and mushrooms is a seasonal habit for me. So I am curious about the mechanism that prevents me from voluntarily seeing something but allows it to appear unconsciously, like in dreams. Mostly I cannot visualize pictures. But if I think I also have no ability to imagine melodies, tastes, touches, or smells. However, I have an inner voice. I can also imitate a melody if I know the words very well, and some melodies can get stuck, more like a muscle memory, that I keep singing for a while. But I still cannot hear music or melodies inside my head without the words. I wouldn't say that I am good at verbal descriptions either. Usually, it is difficult and takes time to formulate what is on my mind. Maybe my thinking process is more abstract, logical and conceptual, could be even geometrical or where things are placed/located then a verbal. I also have strong art skills, allowing me to draw or 'copy' very realistically from what I see in reality or from a photo/reference. But I am mostly not able to draw from memory. Only some of well known or well trained things that I have decomposed and stored in my memory, like a stack of parameters and the relationships between proportions.

Thank you for this video -- it's a shame more people haven't seen it (compared to all those lazy "influencer" videos that made aphantasia a "fad conversation" for a few minutes many years ago). For many, many years, I asked people if they could visualize things in their head, and everyone (and I do mean everyone I ever asked) always replied that they could see images in their mind's eye. "Aphantasia" had not been coined, so it's possible that most people just associated whatever was happening in their minds with the idea of "seeing images in the mind." Nevertheless, when pressed to actually describe what they saw, they struggled to say anything meaningful. If I asked them what they saw when they read a book (and whether or not what they were "seeing" in their mind's eye interfered with the perception of the words written on the page), they tended to have really lousy answers. When I asked them if they saw the "conjured image" better with their eyes shut than with their eyes open, they tended to give very muddy answers that didn't help at all. As the interview proceeded, I found that most people tended to wildly overestimate and "over-represent" their ability. It was frustrating for everyone involved (no doubt due to the fact that thinking and imagining is such a private experience, and we clearly lack the language and education needed to make sense of the differences between thought, perception, and imagination) Although it pertains to a different part of the brain (I assume), I found it helpful to think in terms of sound. If I asked someone to imagine a loved one's laughter, or if I asked someone to think about a very famous song or a famous singer's voice, most people reported that they could "hear" it (in their "mind's ear"). And yet, curiously, they were more willing to admit that they weren't "really" hearing it. It didn't have the same acoustic qualities. They couldn't turn up the "volume" and drown out other sounds. When asked about sound, it seems to me that people had an easier time reporting the "weakness" of the "signal." Regarding visualization, on the other hand, most people (in my experience) made claims that fell apart when they were pressed with precise questions and were asked to pay very careful attention to language and description. Thanks for this video. I hope more people watch it.

I don't recollect having memories since I was very young, a toddler I would say. I need to see pictures to know something about the past. Of course I do have some memories... but I don't know if I have them because they left a strong emotional response at that moment. I do not recollect or feel now strong emotions as well. So, yes...If I take pictures or see pictures then I can recall the moment of the picture. Names, faces, places, events... all not available for me as memories. My son growing up, going to school, no memories... what he ate, what he did, what he dressed like... no memories. And again, my emotions are very limited as well. My son left home to live with his girlfriend and people couldn't believe I wasn't suffering because now I am alone. I find it interesting, just as the weather, earthquakes and other things. I hope there will be more awareness on this topic, because my doctors don really care about this.

WRONG! I have a constant inner dialogue. Never stops! Drives me mad. But i cant visualize at all. Its black

So how did one count sheep to fall asleep?

I feel like basic geometry has gotta be so hard though?

I don't think i have any mental imagery... I can "try" to picture something like a point in space extending lines when imagining a triangle being drawn, but the "image" falls apart in my mind even faster than I can conceptualize it, and yet I don't think I've "seen" anything, just black. Like Plato's allegory of the cave I "see" the shadow on the wall of an image meaning that I don't see it in any real sense just that I'm vaguely aware of some conceptualization of an image having taken place, but I've certainly never seen anything. I'm also not sure how to describe the voice in my head that is my thoughts. It is my voice and yet there isn't sound. Its not that I hear myself, but my thoughts are endless streaming dialogues with myself. I don't really think I can imagine sound either. Its hard to explain, but when I think of an animal or a noise I just know what it is and just make a ton of connections and that's what builds my idea of something. If you ask me to visualize a beach, I think "beach" and immediately think "sand","water", "waves", and so on, but i don't see any of it or even say any of that it just is my thought. I recently came to the realization yesterday that people can see actual pictures when they close their eyes and that baffles me. All I ever see is the same black. I don't really know how to describe what the feeling of an attempted visualization that devolves instantaneously is like beyond my example above. I'd assume other people start this process and just succeed where I fail. Why I know what things look like when I cannot see them I do not know.

I've had it my whole life. Shocked to check with my mid 40 yr old daughter today that she has it.

One good thing about it, it is nearly impossible for me to hold a grudge or retain bad feelings for someone who wronged me in the past. Why? Because I can’t visually re-live and replay the injury in my mind. The hurt fades away fairly quickly.

When asked how many windows? I found the explanation of flying from where I am (in my head) through the house to each window and "knowing it's there" very accurate. I produce some sort of mental image or understanding but it isn't a clear picture like representation. Idea is an interesting way to put it but feels wrong to me still. It's more substantial than an idea. It's almost a faint feeling of actually walking to the windows and looking at it.

The "hunters mind" comment caught my blind inner eye. I have always been hyper aware of other people's unique body language. So much so I recognize people by their movements as well as I can by seeing a face. It has also been very unsettling not being able to picture the faces of loved ones and pets. Thank you so very much Dr. Zeman. Coining the phrase has helped so many of us begin down a path of understanding by helping us become aware.

I have lucid dreaming, also can hear say things in my mind when I sleep is when I see things when I'm conscious I can't do mental imagery

Religion is a system of control used to play on peoples subconscious mind state. When you come into this world you were not born with any religious text attacted to you. Many churches pastors and other religious groups use scare tactics to get you to give in and give up your conscious mind state. Making you a walking zombie. Light comes from darkness not the other way around. They have you backwards. Why is it when u go to a church they dont present any facts they just said believe or god said. But they dont present you with any math, science, or historical facts to support what they are telling you. They just say if you dont believe your going to hell. Much of it is brain washing and used to control humanity. There is no man in the sky controlling the universe no heaven or hell. Buddha, Jesus, Allah all are one in the same all the texts are one in the same.They all talk about the universal mind and how it works. And different time periods of the world and the state in which it has and will go through. Much of these names and religions were made up by man. We gave the elements of the universe human like attributes even more so making them human giving them names and birthdays times and seasons. All of this was just a way to study and relate to the universal mind as a whole. People do your own field research because there is a answer for everything. Peace and love to all.

I resonate with this message... I feel my biggest frustration is trying to describe what's wrong with me in order to get help. I feel like there are huge implications coming from having aphantasia, SDAM and "ADHD. Sure when things are good... They are okay. But as soon as the complications start adding up... I'm useless to the world. Then it compounds

It is not a disability, just a variation of the mind. I love having this quirk that sets me apart from other people. To not see things when I close my eyes has not given me a disadvantage in life.

I have aphantasia but a strong inner voice. Everything is words.

It always strikes me as strange when they put the pictures up as a comparison as to what people might see in the spectrum of visual thinking, presenters tend to use very similar 3D colour images with lots of detail. For me it’s less like cataract vision and more like glaucoma vision. Less like someone turned down the lights of what a visual thinker see’s and more like looking through a telescope of a narrower much simpler picture. I do have images but rarely and they are nowhere near as complex as the images they show. Think small 2D, black and white emoji horse 🐎 minus the blanket and the surrounds are blurry or blank. To think as much as that takes a lot of effort and trying to use visual pictures rather than the other ways I naturally use would be disabling in everyday life. Moving pictures are a no, If you asked me can I see a face it would be a black and white emoji lol. Today I learned about hypophantasia but there is still much more variation within that we still have to learn.

Things that are always the same color, like lemons, are not a problem. We memorize those things. I know that lemons are always yellow. Show me a car that is blue but my friend has the same car in orange, I am likely to recall the color I am more familiar with because I see my friends car often but have no anchor to the blue car. Also, I am a birder and typically have to re-identify the same bird until I memorize it's primary features. If I see a bird once and then don't see that bird again for weeks, I can't recall it from memory because I have no retained "picture". I have to see it multiple times until the verbal description is memorized. This memory manifests as a verbal description in my mind. If that makes sense...

Artist.

Ridiculous! The problem isn’t about a minds eye but rather it’s a inability to self assess. No one actually can close their eyes and see something as if it’s really there. If they could then v.r. Would be near pointless and far more people would be closing their eyes all day long in order to immerse themselves in their own life-like creations. People would be going insane, unsure what was real and what was imagined because they are both that similar.

Very interesting. A most obvious question is are there differences in the experience of aphantasia vs phantasia subjects on hallucinogens, LSD, DMT, etc?

I don't have a minds eye, I have a minds thesaurus

I have some type of aphantasia but maybe… I can hear in my head, ie repeat back audio in my head, but it’s short clips, like a highlight reel, my impression of the sound. Small dialogue is easier to recall than random sounds. I can’t tactically feel things in my head, I can imagine the emotions I felt touching that object but I can’t replay the actual feeling of the object. I can’t smell well in real life, I have no sense of inner smell. taste…. I can kinda do this. It’s more like my tongue remembers the taste, not my head. That’s what I call cravings… it’s not 100% recall but it’s still way better than my other senses. Oh and I’m 100% inner monologue. In silence it’s nonstop commentary. Or it’s telling a story using the shitty bits of visual imagery it’s got. It’s one voice, and I wouldn’t say I hear it with my ears. The voice will also speed up. So if I’m watching double speed TH-cam videos, the voice will get faster. This was clear to me when I tried to read a TH-cam comment. My reading speed stayed the same (I read aloud in my head) so my inner voice was forced to slow down. This speed discrepancy felt like I was having a stroke. No lie.

I am one of these ppl who can't produce. Images in my minds eye. I, although untested, fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. I wanna say this. I use the monroe Institute, gateway tapes, to meditate, too. Once the binural frequencies play in my ears, about 10 15 min in. I can start to pull images into my minds eye. They are random but they are almost crystal clear. Some of the things I saw were, my kitchen, my dad end table and lamp, my driveway, and for some really random reason, Bart Simpson. I try to lay still and do this excersie without the frequencies, and I can not produce images. Not atm atleast. This is something i am working on as I type this. I'm just curious if anyone else here has tried binaural beats and meditation to produce images. If not may I suggest you try it. Please let me know on here in the comment section if it worked for you

I've drawn haphazardly a couple times, only to see coherent pictures afterward. With both oil paints and digital Paint(s), I've daubed around. I think my conscious aphantic mind draws on my subconscious mind to show me what I should say - is that the basis of abstract thought; I seem to be able to (imagine?) seeing very vague silhouettes that move to convey conceptual structure. Does anyone relate?

I have this and I do not have very much recall of my childhood and what I do think I remember, I do not know if I just invented it or if it actually happened. What I think I remember, I have very little details.

I believe I have aphantasia and anendophasia, so im not sure im a verbal thinker, or at least im not very conscious of it, in fact im so poor at some verbal tasks like memorising a list. Yet Im here, and I do things that regular people do

What is "sensory intrusion"? Was it explained on some questionnaire that I didn't receive?

I make short movies happen in my mind, just a few seconds. I imagined I was in a car looking out the windshield and I said, : “Ok, let’s go.” and for 2-3 seconds my whole body felt like I was going 69 miles an hour. I could see it as, but when I started feeling it I opened my eyes and shut it down. I’ve been experimenting with my own mind for years. It’s great when you can close your eyes and then think of something you want to see or feel you can just do it. Kind of scary. I’ve had dreams that I was in a car that was moving but that was just brain, my body didn’t feel it. This I felt as if it were real. I can tell my visions what to do and not only do they don’t, i can immediately feel it in my head. I know the brain itself has no pain sensors, but i felt something in my head while it was happening and when I stopped, the feeling in my head stopped as well.

I worry that your science is going to eventually flatten our minds out and separate them into a number of dead abstractions so they can fit into one of your genius’s models.