It’s like if you’re watching a show someone asks you what you’re thinking about. I say nothing. My mind is blank expect for what I happen to be watching/doing. This is not 100% of the time. But a good majority.
@@Crootcovitz I think they're connected in the way that having one increases the chances of also having the other, but they're definitely different things.
I don't have either except when really needed. If I really need to memorize a number for example, I can say it in my head, but that's about it. I'm never talking "to myself" the rest of the time, but I can imagine discussions with others.
Same. I'm also not sure what I should expect. Am I supposed to have focus on it? It's seeing black failure? I'm not sure I understand how vivid these people claim they can see something in their mind. Like dream clear?
@@MelodicTurtleMetal there is a scale 1-5 of how vivid or not at all nothingness, outline, slight colour, details, lifelike. while awake 1-2, and for me dreams are 3-4
I was shocked some years back, when my wife told me she could close her eyes and see things, like watching a movie. I always thought was just an abstract concept. She was equally surprised I could not do it.
She might be having Closed-Eye Hallucinations, which is not a psychosis. I have it, and it's part of my bedtime relaxing routine. I did some research on a whim a couple of years back. Imagine my surprise, when I found that not everybody can do it.
Ask her if she can _actually_ see it like if it was outside here mind or see it _inside_ her mind (if she can actually see it she wouldn't be able to tell it apart from the actual world if she doesn't she would). Some people don't have the separation so everytime they imagine it seems real instead of a foggy non-directional unrealistic imagination
Just to clarify, visual memory has nothing to do with your eyes. I can imagine things whether my eyes are open or closed and actually sometimes it's easier to keep them open and just unfocus them while I'm thinking of something. I don't actually see images on my eyelids when I close my eyes, I see black as well. The images are in my brain.
@@maddies757good explanation, i think some people misunderstood thinking that people can see an image on your eyelids. which (from what i understand) is not true. I see a black screen with blue/purple wave forms. but when i try to imagine a picture i "see" in my brain a faint visual of whatever. but that "seeing" is just within my brain, not within my eyes.
I recently heard about aphantasia recently and I’ve had it all my life. My brother doesn’t. And now I have a phrase to describe the word salad that exists in my brain all the time; verbal scaffolding.
Yep. I took a yoga class in college to help relax and meet the requirements of taking a physical exercise course. I dropped out for several reasons, but a big one was not being able to picture anything in the mediations at the end. It was stressful vs relaxing.
If I know a place, I can re-create parts of it in my mind, but I've never actually Seen it. More like consolidating information into a mental 3d model.
I would, too, but I wouldn't see it. I would feel myself walking around it, and maybe even hear my footsteps, I could point to where I know the window would be, but I can't see it.
Dallas Rover but I’m sure you do see your house in dreams which leads me to guess that aphantasia is the lack of controlling your minds eye. Not the total lack of the mind’s eye.
Its hard to say exactly how I know it. I'd say it is definitely a memory. but it is almost like proprioception, the sense of knowing your body's position. I just kinda know. its like I sense them. I have 12, if you count the door window. I can usually learn the layout of a new house very quickly and can move around through it in the dark with what seems like above random success
For what it's worth, while I can imagine things quite vividly, I cannot, for the life of me, put those mental images onto a canvass. I can draw just fine, but what I have in my head acts as the storyboard and what's on the canvass is the final product. Except that the quality of the work is inverted; what I put on a canvass looks like a storyboard in comparison to what I have in my head. And it is SO frustrating! It's a big part of my perfectionism, and you probably don't deal with perfectionism quite the same way I do because you don't get overly attached to the ideas in your paracosm. Though it would be interesting to know how you might deal with perfectionism in other ways.
It actually dawned on me earlier today just how crazy of a concept “minds eye”/inner monologue, both of which I have, truly is. I can imagine my own voice, other peoples voices, songs, movies, anything. I can hear it, but I can’t hear it. The mind’s eye is even stranger to me. I can picture an apple, rotate it, turn it upside down, peel it, I can make it change from fuji to golden delicious to granny smith. I can see all of it crystal clear, while at the same time I can’t see it at all.
Exactly, that's what I was thinking, like I can see it when I want, but I don't actually see it like, I can differentiate the imagination from my mind to real world, because it's not like I have screen in my mind that have everything colored, but I can imagine what would the color look like, for example, when I start imagining a red apple, firstly I choose a place on where will the apple be, for example my home on the table, something that is familiar, is usually the option that I pick, then the apple gets placed there, outlined then instantly the 3D design of it is filled up, with it's texture and that, almost like doing a project in blender, that obviously happens in just seconds, then I try to put the color at the end, all of this I can imagine it, but then I suddenly remember what is the place of the imagination is coming from, it will be that dark pitch black background after closing my eyes or something like that, so it's still weird for me
"while at the same time I can’t see it at all" I think this is the hardest part to explain, especially to people who lack the ability. When you see something in your mind's eye you're not literally seeing it in a way that's indistinguishable from reality, but it's like you have the impression of seeing it. The best way I've thought to explain it is that if literally seeing something is like eating food, then visualizing something is like smelling food. Same goes for "hearing" one's inner speech vs literally hearing actual speech.
@@Shadowmech88 a weird part of it for me that i just recently remembered was how when i was little i had it and it was still pretty strong but it was almost like i couldn’t totally control it, like if i imagined a skateboarder going off a jump and spinning (i played a lot of thps) after they landed and were supposed to stop they would just continue spinning like some strange glitch. idk if that’s weird or not 😅 have you had that or anything similar or heard anyone talk about it?
@@jamesongorman8531 I can't say I have. The closest concept that I can think of is intrusive thoughts, where unpleasant/morbid thoughts pop into one's head largely outside of their control. Personally, I've always been in full control of my mind's eye as far as I can remember.
Ironically, it's boggling to think about how complex the brain really is. Even more interesting, the idea of you, a brain, thinking about itself in a way that even makes itself confused ("you" in the collective sense).
I'm 32 and I just discovered I had this a few weeks ago. It's not like learning I have a disorder, it's more like discovering that most people have a super power that I don't have.
I found some serious benefits to Aphantasia too though. Not having to deal with reliving memories, getting to experience something more akin to seeing something the first time again, having an easier time understanding abstract concepts, being more able to "live in the moment", etc. Definitely seems like I'm missing out on something, but since I can't imagine what it is I don't let it get me down too much.
@@Daymare_666 From my talks with others, it seems you can still suffer from PTSD, but it's physical, rather than "flashback" style. Freezing, increased heartbeat, panic, etc. but no visuals. I don't suffer from it myself, and I do suspect that it's less common for aphantatics to have, but from those I've talked to it isn't quite immunity.
@@Daymare_666 I have PTSD and aphantasia. My PTSD triggers are mostly auditory, but can be visual. Lots of PTSD treatments involve visualization, which wasn't effective for me, but EMDR, which is sensory, has been very helpful in managing my symptoms.
Aphantasia: "A life without mental images" When people with aphantasia read novels they can't really visualize the images, but they can develop an emotional connection to the story!
@@victorclabaugh1373 I’m sorry. Elephants on Parade has to be one of the most freaky Disney animated sequences ever made. And I can’t explain why as an adult. But as a child, no likey!!
I recently discovered that I suffered from Aphantasia, even though I don't consider myself to be suffering in any way. It's hard to describe what I don't see, because my imagination uses my memory of having seen these things previously to get a vague idea of what something might look like, even though I don't see a thing. For instance, when I picture an apple I know what an apple looks like - I've seen them before. I know what red looks like, I've also seen that before. I just don't see a red apple - I see a black canvass with nothing on it - also know as the back of my eyelids.
Ш don't see a very clear picture "like in a movie" when I think about things/events; they appear as if they are very deep but close to my eyes. For example, I can't imagine someone eating an apple for a very long time; it's more like a gif. I can imagine different variations, a drawn apple or a real one, but seeing thoughts is not as pleasant as watching a real movie. But I don't know how you can live without your inner voice. If I need to swear, I swear hahaha
This is how it is for everyone. The people who say they “see” something see it in their imagination. Not literally right before their eyes like a projection on the back of their eyes.
My brain graphics card is pretty weak, but still accurate. I can only render something for like a split second. I imagine visual rendering is very costly in energy
My high school girlfriend told me that when she saw a movie it would get translated into a description, and when people talked it was kind of like she was reading their dialogue. Books were just the natural order of the world to her, while in my brain every book, even a dry instructional manual, gets transformed into a movie or game tutorial in my head.
Same, it's extremely had to "imagine". My ex was the same; I wondered how she enjoyed films if the instant it was gone, she couldn't vividly recall it.
@@Nezha_Main bruh When i try to imagine for some reason its like a color blur, i know i could do it way better in the past But when im daydreaming, shits vivid asf. Sometimes i even catch myself playing songs in my head louder than my surrounding. Now not so much becausebi have earphone all the time
It took me until i was 29 years old last year to realize that when someone said "Now picture this..." they were being literal and telling me to ACTUALLY visualize something. After a while of reading on the subject i came to learn I have Aphantasia less than a year ago.
I doubt that, not due to anything you said but because i believe many people have a misunderstanding resulting from words like "picture this" and people "seeing things" in their head. Can you imagine going from your room to the kitchen and grabbing something from the fridge? I don't mean like a movie playing in your head, just the fact that you can think about going from your room to the kirchen. Normal people don't actually see things, despite what many people say, it is all just a misunderstanding from the double meanings of words. I can just see darkness with my eyes closed, nothing else, but i "know" what an apple looks like for example. A lot of things like "turning the apple over in your hand" are just metaphors that try to make it easier to imagine
@@leomadero562 you picturing an apple in your head sounds like me, but most people apparently can actually see an apple, almost like a dream figure. I think as a young child I could somewhat do this, as I remember imagining and actually visually seeing a motorbike weaving between trees, poles, etc while driving. I think it got so bad that at one point I was frustrated that I couldn't look out the window without seeing that, and it was distracting. ... I think that happened 😐. Other than that one memory, I can't recall 'seeing' something when I shut my eyes.
As someone with aphantasia, one of the things I've had to learn is that I have to be mindful of what I describe or say, especially when telling a story. This comes up in regular life sometimes, but I really discovered it when playing rpgs with friends. It had never occurred to me that they could, and would, literally visualize something if I described it. This could lead to much more visceral reactions than expected, and took me a little while to figure out why, because for me it was just an amorphous concept on a checklist.
yea some peoples minds can imagine the worst stuff, so people should always watch how they say things like they will say something like poop and even before describing something else, we have a bad immage in our head of you pooping till you continue the descriptions...its kinda the main reason people read books, if you can't imagine it, then theres no point
@@ravinraven6913I read books all the time without being able to imagine it, I also love writing fiction, so there is absolutely a point in reading books even without the ability to visualize
I visualise everything without input on my part, so whatever someone says my brain will conjure a mental picture of regardless of how sweet or gross, kind or absurd, pretty or objectively horrific.
@@dreadsndogs4406I'll take your word for it, I wouldn't see a point to reading if I couldn't visualise. Like ok, I read a description of something; now what? Without the ability to visualise it's just ink on a page.
@@TheRealMycanthrope I always wondered why books spend so much time describing in detail scenes and how people look or dress... until I learned that many people can actually picture that in their minds :-).
I could never figure out why my parents were grossed out at dinner when I’d bring up roaches, or dog poop, or other such things. It took a long time to find out that they involuntary “saw” those things when I talked about them. To me, they were just words.
My little brother has aphantasia and he said cheese boogers. And after that day I didn't want to eat cheese for days. K I just grossed my self out imaging people eating boogers. Skdjwbfjdj bye
Well sometimes they even just change the characters appearance. You can still tell the difference if a character was described as blonde and ends up with brown hair. But even though I have aphantasia I can still select features of people I've seen and attribute them to a book character. It's clunky and I often do google searches of people discriptions to fill my memory banks. So when I read I get an idea, but the visual adaptation is always never what I construct and it throws me off. 👁️👄👁️
@@Vaith I believe I have slight aphantasia(self diagnosed so take that as you will) for me my mind always glosses over visual details like they are completely unimportant when I read In addition to that my imagination is very much non-visual and is more concept based to the point where anything I imagine is more a concept than anything (actually writing this down I'm starting to wonder if I actually have aphantasia or if I just don't find visuals important)
I've always wondered why authors described characters. I always attributed it to humans being really superficial. It never occurred to me that most people need to simulate a picture in their brain. Every time I got to the point in a book where they were describing how people looked I was always thinking, okay weirdos.
It’s very comforting to hear that other people struggle with visualizations as well. I have to work extremely hard to visualize anything verbal and always need to use an physical image to draw from. When I do visualize it’s only for a fleeting second before it’s just darkness again.
I remember i had that when i was in 5th grade i was really good in geometry but now im 20 and i cant really see like that anymore or im having a Bad time seeing things in my thoughts
When I read a book for me it’s like a movie playing, I no longer see the words or pages, but when doing artwork I still need a physical image or object to draw from. I think that it is two separate abilities.
It's like a quick image for me sometimes I can imagine it more than once and can only sorta visualize things with my eyes open allot harder with my eyes closed, just thought I'd share.
@Medicinal Blood Do you literally see things that you imagine? Like are they overlaid on your field of vision, blocking your view of the objects behind the one you're imagining?
@@SilentBudgie Nope, literally I can imagine anything I want in as much detail as I want. Kinda like having a dream. I've had dreams so realistic and so detailed I thought they were real momentarily after waking up. I can still see, kinda like having both at the same time but you can't 100% focus on both. Sight and imagination don't overlap, but generally, you can't focus on both in detail at once.
@@SilentBudgie No, it's about whether or not images are involved in the sensation of thought. If you can mentally move around your house to count the windows in each room by remembering how the room looks you don't have aphantasia. Otherwise you probably do.
I always thought sayings like "minds eye" and "imagine" were metaphors. Like sure, imagine an apple. I know what an apple is. I can conceptualize an apple in my mind. I just can't see anything that's not physically, actually in front of my eyes. I had no idea people actually visualized it - "saw" it in their heads. Suddenly, mind palaces made more sense to me. As did the meditation sessions I had to take in PE class in school. "Imagine you're on a beach. Hear the waves crash on the shore" etc, I was never able to do that. There was no beach, no waves, so how was I supposed to hear them? Oddly enough, I do dream visually. I can also get earworms and manipulate their volume to an extent. On one hand, I feel as if I'm missing out. On the other, I'm used to the way I am..
@Some_Guy_632 I don't know what the OP of this comment experiences, but for me things are stored in my head with a list of attributes, so an apple is "roundish, green red or yellow, has a stem on top, sometimes is a gradient between two colors" but there is no like, visual of an apple, it's all just words
@Some_Guy_632 It's kinda hard to explain. I have a "feeling" of what an apple looks like, if that makes any sense, but there's never any imagery at all. I don't really have a list of words like Quincy, just this feeling. If I'm asked to imagine a blue apple, well, I have a feeling of what an apple looks like as well as what blue looks like, but for me to actually fully get the concept, I'd have to see a picture of a blue apple. That's what I mean by conceptualize. I can "imagine" a blue apple insofar as I know what those two concepts are seperately and I can kind-of-but-not-really smash them together, just non-visually. I hope I'm making any sense at all 😆
Earworms? You mean tinnitus (ringing in the ears)? I have tinnitus, and Mother of various deities does it ever get loud sometimes!! It’s multi-tonal, too, which is extra annoying. XP
Wait, you can manipulate the volume of earworms? So can you quiet it down and think about something else at the same time? I think for most people, earworms are just a bit louder than normal thoughts so we can't hear anything else when we get an earworm, which is why they're so annoying.
I only realized that I thought, memorized and "visualized" things differently well into my thirties. When people told me to visualize something I never knew they meant it literally. "You actually see a stuff in your head? What did you smoke? You're all tripping!". I was never good at recognizing faces and I always thought I had a shitty memory as I never seemed to be able to remember my past as vividly as everyone else. I have extremely vivid visaual dreams but it's "lights out" as soon as I wake up. It is fascinating to me that most people experience the world differently. The interesting part is that I am creative and work with visual design and I have an eye for colors, architecture and interior. But when I construct a creative idea in my head I imagine the abstract concept of it intead of visualizing it with my "minds eye". I have an internal verbal discussion regarding how something should look, act and feel instead of visualizing it. This always worked fine for me so it never put a stop to my creativity. I guess we all learn to compensate especially when we are born this way. Fascinating stuff!
Hahah, right? I'm in a couple fb groups on the topic, and there's someone joining pretty much every day going through this realisation. It's fun to watch. (And they even sometimes still surprise me with a realisation I hadn't yet made myself)
I mean, I've known about this since the late 90's... actually came about because a Wiccan was trying to describe to me how they did a spell: "picture yourself sitting under a tree, then slowly have a bubble expand outwards from you..."... I was like hold up, you lost me at that first part. Started asking everyone else if they could actually see an apple when they thought about it, and they got really confused when I told them I couldn't. Wonder how many thought I was just lying O.o
Newly discovered I have aphantasia. When I read where you wrote "Twilight book," I didn't picture the book, but remembered it in my memory. Previously, I would've said I "pictured" it - but I now know that most people ACTUALLY PICTURE IT🤯 Lol, mind blowing.
This was incredibly exciting for me to watch. My whole life, my every thought was connected to visual imagery. I loved creative writing because it played out in my mind like a movie. That was until 2003 when I was in a car accident and received a severe concussion. Among other side effects, I lost my visual imagery. After 20 years, I have found "work-arounds" to be able to write again. But it is very difficult. The movie screen is forever dark. No doctor has understood this. But now I know it's real and I'm not alone. Thank you.
Please explain, because I don't get the whole minds eye thing, especially when you're reading a story... Cos if you already see a whole place inside your mind from just like one sentence, like say the inside of a candy store, but then you continue reading the description and it describes it in more detail, doesn't it continually have to change? How does that work? and like let's say it was nothing like you at first thought it was... then what? Like the whole place flies out of your vision and you get a whole new thing altogether? I don't get it. For everyone else like me, you have to build up the idea step by step. You don't get a whole thing straight away What about tasting the candy inside the store? Is the whole visualisation in 3D at all? If you can see it, can you also use your other senses like tasting it or smelling it? Or do you "suffer" from atastia and asmellia?
@@marioluigi9599 HI. Well I can only speak for myself and my own experiences. I have never been able to imagine or recall the precise taste or smell of something. So I can't speak to that. As for the visual, of course it would change with additional information and context. Working with your example of a candy shop. My favorite shop is small, quiet, dimly lit, offering mostly chocolates and brittles, giving it an almost monochromatic feel. So that would be my first image. Today I can't close my eyes and see it. But I can give a general description because memories are a thing. Now let's say the next line describes the candy shop as a large open space, bright and airy, with an explosion of colors. Obviously my mental image would change to incorporate the writer's desired vision. These days, since I can't "see" what I'm talking about, I tend to describe things more by the feelings they evoke in me, or the tone or vibe, if you will. I hope that helps.
Wow! I just turned 59, and this was the first time I realized this is an actual condition. I have a really hard time picturing things. It also means I don't have a very good sense of direction. My sister can find her way somewhere if she's been there once, but I have to have a map almost every time. Even to somewhere that I've been many times, I can get anxious when I have to go there alone because I don't remember where it is and can't "picture" where to go in my mind. I think this is also one of the reasons I have a hard time with meditation practices. It's just amazing to figure this out! If someone says "picture an apple," I can remember seeing an apple, but I'm not actually picturing it in my head. Who says you can't learn something new every day!
Its not bad for you. For some people, if their inner voice too powerful, they will end up as crazy people who lose complete control of their sorrounding.
I want to say I don't think aphantasia contributes to a lack of direction. I definitely can't picture things in my mind, but I am probably one of the few people out there on the road that isn't reliant on a GPS. I can tell you where I am at any given point in my state capitol - however there are a few spots that will throw me for a loop. I always say there's something weird about those spots - either entire blocks that my brain just refuses to acknowledge... or roads that I swear I'm facing west, but I'm actually facing south. I had friends test me with a compass when we were in the woods one summer when we were working on a movie. They'd blindfold me, turn me around and around then face me some random direction and I could accurately point out north. Every. Single. Time. I was never wrong. (and before anyone tries to say "you could tell where the sun was, etc" - Nope. In the woods, lots of tree coverage, blindfolded, spun around. They did everything to try to put me at a disadvantage. Did it at night a few times too. I know which way north is because when I'm facing it, I have this weird feeling in the bridge of my nose. It's strong enough that I can't sleep if my bed is aligned east/west - because I'm a side sleeper and when I'm on my side facing north, it bothers me.)
@@CaffeinatedTigress Wow, that is really impressive! I guess my sense of direction (or lack of it) doesn't have anything to do with it then. Darn - I thought I had a good excuse! 🙂
I always thought I was weird or misunderstood when movie characters would say stuff like “I can barely remember her face, it’s all blurry now” because I just couldn’t picture someone’s face and actually see it. I’m able to like create something in my mind and remember it’s features for building it later, but I don’t visually create it, just kinda feel it
@@EnderElectrics I think with my inner voice. Tho if I focus on something hard enough I can visualize things. But I have to focus on it to see anything
And there are some like me who cant figure out whether I have aphantasia or not . I dont see anything ,but I feel like I am looking at a very hazy cloaked image of what an apple looks like
That’s still visualization, I would say you don’t have aphantasia. Just because you don’t see a vision in the physical world of an apple doesn’t mean you are not visualizing. I’m not sure anyone can do that. I don’t claim to be an expert, take it with a grain of salt
@@JonathanMartinez-eh8zt @Masterplan79th all right the polls are in . Alas it is a tie. Let's see if someone else weighs in and can end my confusion once and for all 😂
Anyone else find out that they have this like me, I thought minds eye was just a metaphor for something. Didn’t realize people are actually walking around with pictures in there head all day
Kind of? For me it was just I never really considered it. I assumed that the feeling/sense/idea of the thing being thought about was the same thing as imagining.
Yes, finally when I was 78. I was married 51 years but it is impossible to picture my wife. She used to get annoyed if she came home having gotten a different hair style because I had no reference image in my mind of her hair earlier. This also made my education all through pharmacy school terrifying. As soon as an instructor said anything it seemed to be instantly gone, so I took notes like mad till my hand cramped.
Yeah, it's like the whole "Get that image out of my head!" Or "Why'd you have to put that image in my head?" They say it cause they automatically started picturing it once it was mentioned That's scary though, you can't remember words after they've been spoken?
Yes we do... Also music. I can play a song, not brand new but a song I have listen to 20 time or more and play it back in my head, skip to the chorus or isolate the vocals. Then play the song on my guitar... not always exact until I play along to the actual in the real world recording but enough to get the gist of it. Same thing with images, movies. I can recall images of my childhood, what people have said to me and emotions and create phantasy worlds in an instant. Things that are repeated or memorized are easier to bring up in my minds eye. I am a building manager currently and I know where almost exactly (except for when someone moves something and doesn't put it back where it was designated by me or tells me or shows me the new location) everything is in regards to janitorial and maintenance tools, location of said tools is photographed and placed in my brain for instant recall. I am asked where something is located and most of the time it's exactly where I last remembered it. Unless some else didn't put it back where they found it. PUT THINGS BACK WHERE YOU FOUND THEM, PLEASE! Just saying, finding things is a waste of time and money.
I realized I had aphantasia prior to 2010 in high school when someone would quickly say’ “Don’t think of a purple elephant!” And most people would say it was impossible. For me, all I thought of was the term “purple elephant”, but I didn’t imagine one at all. I can spend hours with someone, and unless I made a specific observation related to their hair for example, if you asked me their hair color afterword, I wouldn’t know.
@@AneenvwOn the otherhand I think there are suggestions that people with aphantasia make better witnesses of events. They don't "see" things that weren't there; either they saw and remembered something that happened or they didn't.
I'm so glad this is being talked more about now. I'm an art major, and you'll hear people go, "oh, visualize this as blue instead of gray, does it have the same effect?" (this happened last week, and the closest explanation I can think of rn) and of course I don't know since I have no idea what it would look like because, I can't visualize it.
@@michaelkaminski1166 right now I am just taking printmaking, but I've done drawing, painting, and photography. I'm mainly seeing what medium/tools I like to work with best
Same and I think it also explains why most people are not exactly "sharp". Instead of conceptualizing and working with that directly, they tend to work with internal visualizations instead.
I remember my freshman year of hs my drama teacher told everyone to imagine a green sweatshirt. Then asked everyone who saw a green sweatshirt in their mind to put up their hands. When I was the only one in the class that didn't out my hand up she told me I was just joking around and that everyone envisions things in the brain
@@eliannam.5700 I'm not sure. It was so long ago I don't remember the context. I only remember then saying that there was no way I didn't see a green sweater in my mind
I remember reading this meditation book, and it said something like, "Imagine you're descending a ladder". No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't imagine anything. Some time after that, I realized I simply cannot visualize images. It's nice to see that there are others like me. I'm strong in math and logic but weak in creative things. I've wondered if having aphantasia has anything to do with that. I do dream though and I can hear my own thoughts. The way I remember images and events is I remember information about them. For example, "He was wearing a red hat" might be something I remember. But there's no visualization of a person wearing a red hat. It's simply a piece of information that I remember.
@@CardboardProphet I have kind of like an intuitive sense and understanding of what I look like. Then again, sometimes I look at myself and see practically a stranger. So maybe I'm not good at remembering what I look like. Honestly, I've never really thought much about it.
When I did landscape design I worked with someone who did amazing planting design - her combinations were great and appropriate for the spaces. I asked her one day, and she said she closes her eyes and imagines the space, the way the wind blows and the lighting, and tries out how different plants look and respond in that space. I was blown away. I have some minds eye but not like that! I can imagine about 3 or 4 plants together before I can't hold it all, and can't put the combo into the space being designed in my minds eye. Sigh. I'm slower and not as good at it.
I can’t imagine anything. It’s just fuzzy black when I close my eyes. But I have very vivid dreams when I’m asleep. I can even lucid dream. But I can’t picture anything in my head. So to think how I want something to look I move it around. And I usually take notes or pictures to help me visualize stuff.
So what is a "normal" mind's eye? Being able to see a vivid, lifelike image of an object in the mind? Or just a vague representation of that object? Because I can only see vague representations.
The wild thing is, we don’t really know! I mean, we seem to expect vivid descriptions from writing and massive visual effects in our movies… does that mean we’re great at reliving all that detail later? Or do we crave it from creative media because we don’t make so much of it ourselves?
@@itslexactually I can definitely create scenes in vivid detail. I wouldn't have a clue how to recreate them using real life. If the scene I'm creating is complex I won't even be able to see using my real eyes at that time because my visual input is totally replaced with the images I'm creating. So if I was imagining a scene where a house is collapsing into a stream of molten larva, you could walk up to me and slap a custard pie in my face and I wouldn't see it coming. Whatever I'm "picturing" is literally what I'm seeing. So I'll be oblivious to anything my eyes can see at that time. I'm pretty sure that, anyone watching my eyes at that time, would notice that they're not focusing on anything in particular. If I see a glazed look in someone's eyes, I'll naturally assume that they're "picturing" something in their mind.
This has explained so many things I’ve struggled with my entire life. Things people would always say that “I’m not trying hard enough” or “I’m not listening” even though I am racking my brain trying to find any compensative way to attempt to visualize what I imagine people are able to see but I never really knew it was actually a difference. I just thought I was an idiot.
My mind's eye is weak. I see only vague, hazy things. This especially plays into memory. I remember the emotions of a situation, but I can only visualize brief glimpses. It always baffles me when people can recount a memory as though they're reliving it. On the flip side, my inner monologue is strong. I'm constantly having conversations with myself. Edit: It's been a real pleasure reading everyone's responses. I used to think maybe I was weird. But it goes to show that, for all the ways in which we're similar, we're also all very different. Inevitable really, given that we're hyper-complex organisms, evolutionarily fuelled by random, genetic mutation.
I think I'm the same as you. I see vague, hazy things as in, if someone told me to visualise a red apple, I'd see a red apple but there's no solid outline and it's pretty blurry. It's not like the way it's shown at the beginning of video where a 3D apple turns into 2D. It's kinda like watching things in 144p except worse. When it comes to memories, I don't see slides in the sense that it's a static image but rather, a few seconds of a situation. And yes, my inner monologue never seems to end. Despite a weak mind's eye, I daydream and imagine situations a lot, although it's mostly focused on conversation.
Yeah, my mind's eye is there, but not very detailed. When I dream it's often lacking in details or very dark. I have had vivid dreams before, but they are the exception rather than the rule. I remember one dream where it was as vivid as real life, I was wandering around a crowd of people at my high school and everything was in vivid detail. It was a lucid dream, so I knew I was dreaming, and I was just astonished that there was so much detail, as if I were seeing things in real life. It's really rare my brain can conjure up such detailed images.
I am just learning about this today, and it has thoroughly blown my mind. I have never, to my knowledge, had a mind's eye and learning that it isn't the default setting to just ping back with vague concepts of a graphic description is huge. The whole 'picture an apple' thing keeps coming up and there's no image, but if you ask me what an apple looks like, I can tell you in pretty vivid detail - because an apple is round, red or green, often slightly glossy, has a stem - the details are all linked in a mind file somewhere under 'apple'. In the same way, I enjoy creative writing and the arts, but I don't *see* anything. For writing, or things like TTRPGs I can focus and become aware of an abstract conceptual space but it's liminal, like voidstuff, there's still no visual; it's like an extradimensional awareness of a space I am not in where concepts exist and become solid fact for that moment - for instance if I were told that I find myself in a forest, that space now has trees. I know it has trees. I do not see the trees. I can't tell you the colour, the species, the smell or the feel or the height or the distance, there is just an awareness that the space I am thinking of has trees. It is legitimately hard to think of how it must be to experience life differently. My first instinct is a little jealousy - I mean, what have I been missing out on my whole life? At the same time, I don't know any other way to be.
ive always been fascinated by how different we all perceive reality. how none of us will never truly know whats going on in another person's mind and why they think the way they do.
One of my new friends has this, but she makes beautiful art and still memorizes visual images, which double confused me and shows how smart the brain is to adapt in other ways.
Yup! I do 3D work and drafting with it. I like to think of it as imagining vs recognizing. Instead of imagining what I will create, I algorithmically generate it. I can see when something is "wrong" and fix it, despite not imagining the corrected version. The paper becomes the imagination in a sense.
I live so much in my head that I can’t imagine not having a minds’ eye. Simple example-everyday I wake up and imagine what I’m going to wear and how I’ll look going to work. Sometimes I also make stories in my head by visualising characters, locations, scenes. If I want to chill out I can even replay my favourite movie scenes. So finding out other people can’t do this is mind boggling.
I just found out about Aphantasia a few days ago and I definitely have it and have my whole life. I clearly remember when I was competing in gymnastics as a kid, my coaches would have me visualize my routines and I always thought they just meant to think about each skill in order. I am just floored that people can actually see pictures in their minds!! I actually have a very good long term memory including minute details but it’s more like my brain creates a log of that experience in a detailed list that I can bring back up. But my short term memory is not that great, I loose things easily because I can only focus on so much at a time.
@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 I don't think verbal memory is actually the thing at work, its more general for me, more abstract and I think in concepts much of the time. Many processes I treat analogous to how one would treat heat/pressure. Those are emerging properties and their behaviors are quite natural to us, making predictions about them and similar processes easy to make. I always wondered why others cannot see what is so obvious to me, I do not even have to spend time thinking about it (actions & consequences of software design choices). Describing "why" choices to others is much harder than making the choices. Simply because they cannot grasp the concepts before they become realizations (in mind or otherwise). Even then, with all the irrefutable facts on the table, they cling for dear life to their own initial foundationless position that has been proven to not work. Like my way, I think there are many ways people experience the world and think. Which in a way is good, it gives us aptitudes for different things and specialization does have a lot of societal benefits. But it does make it hard to work with peers in the same job that are missing the right machinery so to speak.
If I lost the ability to use my mind's eye it would feel like someone chopped off my legs. As someone who's always daydreaming and drawing, it's just too important to me.
I can daydream without pictures just fine It's not like we lose our imagination we just don't picture pictures For example for me my daydreams consist basically entirely of stories
I still have a hard time believing this isn't just a miscommunication. Like I can't just see something in my visual field if I Imagine it, but I can render 3d objects in my head, and "see them" in my mind's eye; I just find it hard to believe there are people that can't. Can people with Aphantasia remember a 3d object as something akin to a rendered image image at all, how does that even work with memory?
@@pl8827 I think I have it, acquired 23 years ago. It never worked well for me anyhow. I don't recognize faces and can't picture specific people accurately. Each time I see someone again they don't look like what I thought they did. , I use people's voices more to recognize them. I use the "verbal scaffolding" that was mentioned to put images into my memory, like the way you would describe what you see to someone else. I add placement info , like "to Right"; 10 feet away. Otherwise what I see is gone from my mind as soon as I stop looking at it. I usually don't remember seeing things at all. I CAN remember words I see in print, but no numbers. To answer your question, no I don't really picture things in 3D. I totally fail neuropsych visual, spatial, and sequencing testing. My imagination isn't affected. I imagine in concepts and mixed senses and emotion and logic. I've talked with people blind from birth but without cognitive visual impairment. They do have the ability to see in their mind's eyes quite well (blindsight). This is all mostly limiting in situations where you meet multiple people and need to recognize them again. Like, when you can't remember what your waitress looked like or what she said her name was, for most people.
Day dreaming for me is more remembering conversations, books, ect, but not actually seeing anything it's more just re experienceing the emotions and the story behind it. At the same time I don't see anything it's kind of weird and I don't really know how to describe it
After I found out about aphantasia, I realized I would be a zero or one on the spectrum. I started asking my parents about how they visualized things, and my mom was dumfounded at how I couldn't conjure up an image well at all, but how I could draw and sculpt so well. It's like I know what I want to draw looks like, and I know what elements of what thing will fit together how to conjure my image, but I rely heavily on reference photos. I also notice, when I think, I don't use images at all, but I don't quite use words either, it's just that, a thought. A feeling. A collection of things I subconsciously now.
I'm exactly the same way. And I noticed that I stopped having fun playing pretend as a kid way before other people the same age as me. My friends and siblings couldn't understand why I didn't want to play anymore.
I also stopped pretending very early and never had any imaginary adventures or imaginary friends when I was little. An imaginary friend is a very foreign thing for me because I can't grasp the thought of conjuring up an image of a being that which I can talk to myself with. It's the same thing with how I never really grasped drawing or art in general, I can't imagine a thing that I want to draw. I have to describe it to myself and draw it out with a HEAVY amount of trial and error before I am satisfied with how something looks. But the weirdest part is that I do have dreams that I can remember and describe at times because they are visually and audially in my head. Though if I become too self-aware of my dream, it's instantly gone and I wake up.
One thing I’ve been really advocating for ever since I learned about aphantasia is MORE REFERENCE IMAGES in creative classes, K-12 and beyond. If we teach visual art using lots of reference, it would be helpful to teach creative writing or even music composition with more shared information given to the students. Not only would it be an excellent accommodation for those with aphantasia, but it would show students that you can have the same starting point and end up somewhere different. :)
Me to if i close my eyes I just get black buy if I know what something looks like I can draw it. Or if I want to take a photo I know how I want it to look before taking it but I can't see it in my head I can't explain how its not words I get nothing in my mind I just know
Just so you know, it's not even necessary for people to close their eyes to visualize - it tends to make it easier to focus on/see clearly, though, as you have no actual visual stimuli to focus on. "Open-eye visualization" isn't extremely fancy, though.
When you say that, do you mean a visualization appearing on your closed eyelids or you close your eyes to focus and visualize in your mind?(imagination i suppose)
@@didyougetanyofthat It's not really overlayed directly on reality. It's like a double sight, your normal vision and visualized vision existing at the same time. Though it's far easier to focus on just one at a time, you _can_ visualize with your eyes open. Most people prefer to have their eyes closed, though many don't see much difference, because it's not too hard to filter out what your eyes are seeing/not focus on it.
Same but it's not perfect. Hard to picture maybe like every detail of a shoe for example of if I'm designing art maybe it can hard to think of all the details. Like if I had to create a shoe Id have an overall design but would have to create it in parts to start picturing the details as I go.
@@sirsir9665 man, i can imagine stitching, laces, buckles, the soles, literally everything, i can make them as elegant as i want, even with open eyes. god thats sad others cant do this.
I'm so happy you've done a video on this! I've got aphantasia and first found out about it a couple of years ago. It was such a weird realisation that the "mind's eye" isn't just a metaphor and other people can actually "see" what they imagine! This video explains exactly what its like for me.
I'll sometimes get a really faint blurry image of something if I don't think about it (like if someone mentions a place I've been I'll get a quick gist of it but it'll disappear immediately) and if I try to hold on to the image or make one it just doesn't work or disappears even faster.
@@SrValeriolete yes! And I dream in images. I know when I've woken up that I saw images in my mind that are often as realistic as actually seeing something, but I can't "see" the dream again after waking up. Some dreams are less clear but most are as clear as real life. It's odd that my brain can make pictures inside it but just not when I'm trying to make them!
I watched a video the other day about inner speech, I can visualize anything even going from the micro to macro scales of an object all while having an inner monologue about what I am looking at in my mind. This is constant with me, 100% of the day, I really couldn't image how folks go through life without both. I would never have thought that being able to visualize and discuss thoughts within your mind is only available to some. I just always imagined that's how people and the majority of animals think.
I remember when I learned that people could actually ‘see’ stuff without seeing it. I was shocked and in disbelief. I dont dream, I dont picture things, I never have. This is probably why I have always been such a fan of books, I loved the words and the stories they told, but I never saw any images or imagined the story in my head. Nowdays I am a writer and have been told that I give very vivid descriptions for things. I guess its because I have always been describing things in my head and have gotten quite good at it. This is quite informative. Though I knew a lot of this already I didnt know the emotional part.
@@graxxor Im sure my brain has all kinds of activity while I sleep. But dreams? No, I don’t dream mate. I think I would know if my mind was creating fantastical or horrific worlds of fantasy while I slept. I am an expert on myself after all
I was amazed when I found out that the term minds eye was not just a thing people said. I literally can not see pictures in my head and have to use words, only in my head, to describe them to myself. I also love reading an am always amazed at authors that an describe things succinctly with words.
I've never had a visual imagination. Sounds like it would be fun to be able to literally see stuff in my mind. Would make the death of loved ones ever so slightly less awful because I could see them again somewhat.
It's about interpretation. In another video about this subject they say that people with aphantasia suffer less the loss of a loved one, precisely because they don't have a vivid memory of them, so they can move on easily. There are no images to hurt them as the common people.
What are memories like then? When I have memories of loved ones I remember them as they happened. As they looked, sounded, smelled, as if it happened again before me, in my mind. Is it not common to be able to do this?
@@asdfsadfasdf2419 I was hurt a lot as a kid by boys 3-4 years older than me. Lots of beatings and such. I was knocked out a couple times so could be that maybe.
@@jonathanvandagriff7515 I remember facts, figures, places, relative positions of things. But I also have ADHD so sometimes my recall of words and details of complex emotional things is bad
As someone who writes fiction, this is very interesting to me. I have a very 'visual' writing style because my internal vision has always been strong. It's worth keeping this in mind (no pun intended), because I want everyone to have a good experience while reading.
Oh, definitely! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been reading a book and just entirely skipped past character descriptions and setting descriptions. It never made sense to me why authors told me the exact details of an outfit; I can’t remember all those sentences! I found out in a creative writing class that detailed descriptions are intended to evoke imagery, but since I only picture vague, muted blurs of color, it doesn’t work for me. Your best bet is to describe the emotion that the imagery provokes. If you’re describing the ocean at night, tell me about how it stretches into an infinite, unknowable horizon, waves rising up and crashing down endlessly, a cycle of creation that goes on forever. Or tell me about the colors: a dark wash of barely-blue grey and lightless black, lit only by the pale silver glow of a full moon. If you’re describing a character, it’s much better to tell me about their behavior: stance sure on a swaying deck, back straight and head held confidently high, a thin smile stretched across too-tight lips as they coldly meet their stowaway’s nervous gaze. Sure, also talk about their fancy hat and salt-stained coat and close-shorn hair, but unless the details you give me establish a backstory (gold buttons gleaming proudly on a lovingly mended vest, a scar carved deep across their forearm) then I’m unfortunately just going to get bored. Bits of potential backstory or lore keep my interest because clearly the author is trying to tell me something about this character’s motives or this location’s relevance! But if I’m given two never-ending paragraphs about every detail of a busy city street, I will just skip past it, even if there are important details hidden in all the wordpainting. Because it does very little for me emotionally, it’s a bit of a slog to read through. If the appearance and the mood the setting or character evokes is that important, please just include an illustration! Those I can happily stare at for ages on end. I know you didn’t ask for a rambling reply, but I figured I’d throw my two cents in anyway. Have a nice day!
i have aphantasia and i am obsessed with books. the harry potter series has always been my favorite specifically because of the way JK describes how harry sees things in his head. it was actually how i found out i had aphantasia. i think that visual writing styles are some of the best. it actually helps people like me piece together how something really might look in our own way. good luck with your writing! hope you are well💚
That's really interesting. My husband and I only discovered he had aphantasia this past week so we've been discussion it almost constantly since! He has only read one fiction novel in his entire life as he couldn't 'see' the point of it. Just reading words. We've been stuck as to why this one single book (Pillars of the Earth 25yrs ago) captured him in the way no other book had ever done before or since. Can you please (if you happen to see this comment) explain 'visual' writing and why you think it might aid those with aphantasia to enjoy reading fiction? Cheers
As someone with strong aphantasia (if I concentrate hard, and only if, I can barely conjour up vague shapes - grey on black) I can tell you that books that tend to describe surroundings and scenes visually get extremely boring. I love reading SciFi and Fantasy but books like LOTR as much as I love it was a bit of a chore. You read the first 100 pages Tolkien describing the Shire but since I cannot see anything it gives me nothing. So I nowadays skip over these sections completely. Still love LOTR.
it took me so many years to realize that when people tell you to picture something some people could actually see it- 💀 But what I’m rlly confused abt is how I have aphantasia and yet I have the most vivid dreams and thoughts-
Yeah I can dream and see stuff in my dream. But I cannot visualize anything that's being told to me in a conversation, being read or talked about. When someone tells me a story about something they saw , I genuinely don't care. And it's not that I'm rude. I just don't care naturally without trying because I cant picture it and I only hear the words so therefore I focus on the words. And I'm like ay cool man
It seems we have (or maybe don't have) other imaginative capacities, involving taste of flavors, hearing of sounds, feeling of touches, for examples, and largely we don't realize that others are having imagination experiences we don't or can't. This is the first foray into how our own sense of reality differs and why some people are better at some things than others. Good vid.
Didn’t realize that others can actually visualize an apple. I can try to but I honestly can’t “see” it in my mind. I can think about an apple all I want but it won’t make me “see” it
It is all just words, when people say they can "see" things, it is more of a feeling. You likely have the exact same mental picture as anyone else. My dad had this, but i talked to him for a while and he realized that he actually could picture his truck, just that he thought that he was actually supposed to visually see it.
Do you know what the inside of your house looks like? Can you think of going from your room to the bathroom, where the sink and the shower is? Even if you can't literally see it, no one can unless they are on lsd or something
@@leomadero562 No I definetly can see an apple, sure closing my eyes makes it easier to make the apple more detailed and well formed but even with open eyes I can overlay an apple somewhat. If I do it with out trying the apple shows up as a picture of an apple, as if some one printed a picture of a apple on a clear paper and put it really close to my eyes. If I put in more effort I can make the apple 3D, but even then lining it up with a real world table for more then a moment is really really challanging. Most times the apple won't follow the tilt of the table and will quickly faze out.
@@asdf30111 No, you're still not SEEING it. I can picture an apple in my mind, I can picture picking it up an biting it and how it changes, I can visualise scenes and fictional movies in my head that I alone make up, every camera shot, every sound effect essentially but I'm still not LITERALLY seeing it. As far as I know, the vast majority don't actually see things. This is the issue. It's hard to describe. I can rotate objects in three dimensional space, picture colour, even changing an apple from green to purple to red, pink and yellow etc. but am I literally seeing it the same way I see with my eyes? No. This is where many people hear "You should be able to see things in your mind" and they think, oh no, I can't do that because they feel they should have to literally see it. It's not the same. It's the same way people "see" memories. No matter how much you think you can see a memory clearly, you really can't. Memories don't exist as an actual image in our brains that gets recorded. They're pieces of compartmentalised emotions and abstract thought, representative of things that happened or that we saw that our brain tries to recreate every time we "remember" that memory which is why depending on when we remember it, we may remember certain parts or forget certain parts. It's never the actual same memory every single time. More a feeling or representation of a moment in our lives than a literal snap image of that time and place. This is what it's like for the majority of people who "see" things in their head. It's not a literal sight but rather an approximation of the thing, a representation built from our visual library over years and from emotion and abstract thought, otherwise if I said, look at that tree over there, now picture that tree in your mind, now overlay it on that paper sheet and trace the tree, you'd be able to trace a perfect image which is practically impossible.
@@Jhakaro am I really getting gaslighted about the way I view things with in my head? Picturing an apple is seeing it, sure thankfully it is different enough were I don't confuse it with it being a real. However that is not true for all people, and even myself if I get a quick glance of a room I sometimes can accidently trick myself into thinking someone is inside that room only to find out on a second glance that figure was fully with in my imagination.
It’s nice that this is getting more recognition and to find out I’m not the only one who can’t visualize things. Well, I can sometimes see very faded or distorted images for either a few milliseconds or sometimes even 3 seconds at the most. It take a lot of effort so that’s not an everyday occurrence for me
What a burden it would be to close your eyes and always be able to see a clear picture of something. What a curse of having to see vividly the face of the ex who cheated on you. Or vividly being able to see that time you saw your dog get run over. It must make for a very cluttered and overly emotional brain.
That's not necessarily how it works. Maybe as a young kid I would have overactive visualizations sometimes (such as when trying to sleep), but as an adult it's a non-issue. In the same way that just because I have arms doesn't mean I have any trouble keeping them from flailing about uncontrollably.
I agree 100%. I have aphantasia, which I only just realized this year. I've always secretly felt bad that I could get over my exs so quickly and easily, I thought it meant I was heartless or didn't love them. Now I suspect it's because I don't (and can't) relive events or fixate on a face that isn't in front of me. I'm literally the embodiment of "out of sight, out of mind". It's also protected me from PTSD and flashbacks because I can't relive the day my ex strangled me. I used to wonder why that didn't haunt me, now I'm so thankful that it can't
I feel that most people are very emotional regardless, but I’m not very emotional and I don’t have aphantasia. It’s actually very useful when I need to imagine objects, rotate them and create things that would take long to draw. It’s also nice to “see time”, when I imagine the year as a huge calendar, I don’t know how to explain 😂. But honestly, I think trauma is linked to emotion, regardless of images in our minds. Sometimes a certain smell/sound could trigger people way more than an image.
I only found out about this a few months ago when talking to my mom and she explained she had a friend who had aphantasia. She explained what it was and I was like: "Wait...you can actually picture things in your mind? The minds eye isn't just a figure of speech?" I'm 46 and have never been able to actually picture images in my mind beyond just kind of remembering what things look like. I didn't realize people could really picture things.
what is the difference between recalling what something looks like and 'seeing it' in your mind? Serious question - I am trying to figure out where I land on this seeing/not seeing scale, and this seems to me to be a key. I don't 'see' an apple when asked to picture one, but I can 'see' where on a page some information was that I read 3 weeks ago, or how many windows are in the living room.
@@nancyholter5646 When "picturing" something, you're creating an image of your own will. When recalling a visual memory, you're looking for something that you didn't make but perceived at some point. You may also mix by recalling an image and then "adding" to it. Think of the mind's eye as quite literally an eye that sees what's in your mind. There's some overlap, which is why false memories are so easy to accidentally create as well. I'm somewhere in the middle, I have a mind's eye, but it requires me to focus fairly hard, even more so when imagining instead of recalling. This also made it easier to tell when I have inaccurate memories, as they become distorted or "dissolve" while I'm recalling them.
@@nancyholter5646 Yes we actually SEE what we're asked to "picture". This is why driving while talking on the phone can be so dangerous. I recall when mobile phones first came out, I was talking to my wife (who was in the supermarket) while on my way home. I found myself picturing where she was in the shop and, at that moment, veered off the road. Luckily this was onto a flat grass verge and the sound of my tyres on the dirt was enough to snap me out of it. This was simply because, at the moment I was picturing her walking around that store, I was no longer able to see what was directly in front of me. Obviously the part of my brain that processes images from my eyes, was too busy creating the image of the store layout. If I'm picturing something simple (like an apple) I can still see what's directly in front of me, but if I have to picture something more complicated, I am totally blind to whatever is physically in front of me at that moment. I'm pretty sure that's how it works for most of us.
@@nancyholter5646the question is when you close your eyes, can you still see the image of the apple clearly like u're looking at a picture, or just a description of the apple, that's the different! People who don't experience Aphantasia CAN STILL SEE the IMAGE just like looking at a PICTURE (it's called visualization) If you don't experience it, then you have Aphantasia, simple!
It's weird for me. I have very vivid dreams and daydreams. I can replay memories in my head and somewhat 'see' what's going on. When I read a fictional book, I can 'see' what's going on. But if I'm just going about my day and someone says, "Visualize an apple" all I see is blackness. It's like a muscle that I need to flex.
I wish I could "see" when I read a book. I hate stories with a lot of visual description because it's all just blah blah blah and I end up glossing over it. Much to my detriment back in high school. I wish I knew about this back then!
@@BleuSquid I used to just think people who told me "it's like watching a movie in your mind!" were lying. I enjoy reading but I'm not watching any kind of movie in my mind! I see nothing!
Involuntary visualization is probably the issue. You automatically have dreams and such, but when you are told to conjure something, your brain would struggle? Maybe instead of "thinking of red apple" you might need to think of a time you actually ate a red apple.
Well, you don't "see" the images when you imagine them. If you can imagine something and know what it looks like without having to supplement that with words, then you do not have aphantasia. However, if the only way for you to understand remembered or imagined visual imagery is through words and not the abstracted image, then you have aphantasia, if I understand this all correctly.
@Cherry Not for me. Once I spent enough time thinking about it and adding details, I literally saw a detailed apple as if it was being rendered in software with a lot of detail.
I remember people telling me they'd study by going over an important textbook page again and again until they could "see it with their eyes closed", and they'd recall that mental image during the exam. They'd actually _extract information_ from an image somehow stored in their minds! That's literally unimaginable to me. My mental "images" only contain exactly what I consciously put there.
@@Fr00stee My problem with that is that my though are too chaotic. If I try to see something, I will do it but it didn't generally take long before it turn into something else, like my though. So I can use that... but only sometime.
I've started describing the way I "visualize" things as being like proprioception. I am aware of an object, I can't see it (though I can feel it sometimes), but I can be aware of its dimensions, weight, texture, taste maybe, but if I ever see it in my mind at all, it is like someone flicked the lights on for a moment and the image is gone again.
Yeah man, I am one of those, I usually do something like photographing the pages and use it, not exactly like photographic memory but something similar
So being able to do this, I absolutely look forward to instances where I'm dreaming, but partially awake. It's usually very brief, but it's like having the ability to bend reality. Makes for some interesting experiences. As an artist, another huge advantage to it is I can imagine an item I'm familiar with like a human. I can pose them as I see fit, and visualize it directly into the space I wish to draw. After that I just maintain it as long as I can, and basically trace what I see. It is challenging to maintain the image though. You experience the same kind of fatigue you would from any other mentally demanding task.
So kinda like waking up in the morning from an alarm clock or smth and then going back to sleep? For me thats when i remember my dreams the most, but not quite lucid dreaming like you
Text scaffolding is the BEST way I have ever heard for describing how my brain 'remembers' scenes. I cannot SEE the image in my head but I can usually describe it clearly by using the text descriptors I noted when first seeing it. I knew there was something wrong with me since I was little. Live in an art family, myself included, and seeing my family able to draw free-hand, when I was only able to draw if the item was physically in front of me to see with my eyes, made me not only incredibly jealous but also made me think something was wrong with me. From an early age I have always "taken notes" of my surroundings thru words. The man was tall, had blonde hair, was wearing a blue shirt, etc. but if I saw the man again later on, without those matching descriptors I saved, I wouldn't know it was him :(
I have aphantasia but my motor memory is pretty good so I don't need to see something to draw it. Reference pictures make a better result esp if I want the drawing to look super polished. With faces I became more observant and I use a ton of text descriptions to know what someone looks like.
I completed my teaching degree in 1985. At that time I had a professor who told us that children need to learn to develop (and use) the ability to visualize shapes and turn them around (rotate) before they become adolescents, or the ability to learn this is usually lost. So as a Science teacher I have tried to get kids to develop this ability... "Close your eyes and visualize a square. Now, using your mind... rotate the square to the right... " etc. Very interesting to now learn more about this. Thanks!
Well interestingly enough I was quite good at the whole shape rotating thing at school. Better than the other kids, but I never actually saw anything in my head. You don't really need to. You can just "imagine" how it might look without seeing it. That's how I do it. ...But it does take some effort obviously, especially if it's a complex shape, because you have to remember where all its parts are and how they would look when it's rotated. You can't just instantly rotate the thing as a whole, because you don't see anything. So you'd be like, "I guess this part would look like thaaat when rotated, yes that's right, and that part like thaaatt, no like this! Yeah that would be right...". I suppose it would be really easy if you could simply see the whole thing and you just rotate it in front of you... which is why I'm now wondering why the other kids were actually doing worse at it than me. If they could see it, this should have been really basic. What's the problem with just rotating a shape?
I'd always been really confused by those meditation exercises where they tell you to imagine yourself sitting beside a river or something. I just can't picture it at all. But this difficulty in imagining things did help me become a great descriptive writer. I don't imagine things. Instead, I "see" things as words. Descriptors. I memorize things not by how they look, but by mentally jotting down words that describe them. It's kinda weird to explain. Can't draw to save my life though.
Theyre super hard, there's one guy that I like that tells you its ok if you dont see anything or if its not clear and encourages the meditator to focus on what they may or may not be able to see (emotions, feelings, colors and etc).
Edit: so I did some reading and apparently people with aphantasia have ideas they want to see, so drawing is a way to turn our thoughts into images. This is why many people with aphantasia are drawn to art. It's true for me. Honestly I don't know how but I want to find out. People said my art is really good and I have aphantasia. Not bragging here, this is just for informational purposes, but many people including my family would not believe me when I told them I have aphantasia. Some of them still don't believe me. My art sucked for the longest time, then when I healed from my eating disorder it suddenly improved a lot. Probably because my hand wasn't shakey anymore? My art looks better when I use a reference but I can still draw well without a reference.
For me a person with aphantasia, i often have to reference and combine images before i draw something. And proportions dont come naturally, I need a ruler for that.
Im 100 percent aphantasia is just misunderstandings of words and stuff, a lot of people think that "normal" people literally hallucinate things in front of them but its not like that at all. Im not trying to accuse anyone of lying or anything, just trying to discuss.
I thought for the longest time that people with visual memories were the rare ones, even after I discovered the concept of aphantasia I was once again surprised that some have a mind's ear as well and can conjure music or other sounds. I feel like I'm the normal one, people that see and hear things that aren't there sounds odd.
Minds eye is indeed spiritual gift. Not everyone is connected to the divine in such a personel level. So those who are , are responsible for getting everyone else closer to God.
If anyone is interested, AmyRightMeow has aphantasia and talks about it on her TH-cam. She's an animator and it's really interesting to see how she creates artwork.
This blows my mind... My friend who first told me he had aphantasia told me of an author who has it too.... I see everything through my minds eye so this is very intriguing to me.
I couldn’t imagine (quite literally, I must say) having aphantasia. The way I think is not through words, but audiovisual. VERY audiovisual. I _can_ still have internal monologue just fine of course, but I greatly prefer to think through actual scenes and experiences and such. Not only does it help a ton with creativity, but it also helps a lot with decision making as it allows me to effectively simulate different outcomes based on certain parameters in great detail. And often times very accurately. Oh and my favorite part is that when I listen to music, it’s like the sound gets re-routed into my visual imagination, so I can imagine something and the music I’m listening to causes that thing I’m imagining to warp and distort in very drastic ways, more often than not to the point that it’s entirely unrecognizable and abstract. I don’t know how to describe this in a way that makes sense, but it is incredibly trippy, and plays a huge role in why I listen to the music I listen to. Honestly couldn’t imagine listening to music and not “seeing” it, lol. It’s like having both an extremely strong imagination and having audiovisual synesthesia. Idk if I just lucked out when it comes to having a brain that makes awesome experiences without needing drugs or something. Won’t lie though, psychedelics do make the experience a lot more interesting
When I listen to music, it also gets somewhat "re-routed into my visual imagination." Except I'm fairly close to having aphantasia, so it's usually just a solid color or blur. When I first realized this happened (since it was so subtle) I tried blocking my visual imagination and the music felt dull or empty. Quite neat, but yeah, you got something way cooler going on.
I find that my first tendency when doing difficult mathematics of some sort (full disclosure, I’m a physicist) is to translate it into geometry or a geometric analog in my head - basically my minds eye - and turn it around and “look” at it from different angles. A lot of the time this works like a charm. But after working with many brilliant people I also realize in many cases this is limiting. I know many mathematicians that don’t fall back by default to mental geometry and have developed their other frameworks like logic, number theory and probably stuff I can’t even imagine to a very high degree. I don’t know if this is always by choice, or their educational path, or their innate make up, but in such cases I’m sure NOT having a minds eye could lead to developing some powerful alternatives, at least in the abstract realms.
This is similar to what my mind's done with aphantasia. My thoughts/memories are very spatial but have no imagery whatsoever, just a soft black polluted by whatever light is on the other side of my eyelids. I have the ability to understand and recall relative positions within complex spatial reasoning tasks but would have a hard time drawing what they looked like. I could easily draft a coordinate system and plot it though. I've found this 'thread' or 'means' of cognition is super beneficial when studying things like computer graphics and vectors/matrices, but I envy those with a functional 'mind's eye'...
For me it’s when I’m reading. When I read I almost always think of things in a series of facts rather than as images. But I can visualize something if I want to. It’s just not vivid and way more elusive than seeing something in real life, and definitely not through my eyes.
aaaa as someone with aphantasia i adore this video. the more we learn about aphantasia, the more i kind of realise what im missing out on, and that can be really upsetting. thank you for treating it with respect as usual
@@veramae4098 very true! ive since found many upsides, but i also just got turned down for a job because i couldnt comprehend measuring the walls of a room 💪 that situation is pretty rare of course but terrible timing
I saw a video about aphantasia by a youtuber a couple years back. It was a real surprise that aphantasia was a thing. As a DM for my local D&D group, I realize that this condition actually has some notable implications. For instance, a possible reason why a player isn't as into the game when playing TTRPGs using primarily Theatre of the Mind, as opposed to more physical representations (i.e., miniatures, pictures, and battlemaps), could be due to that player having aphantasia. On a related note, this could also help explain it when some people deride others for imagination intensive hobbies/activities. They might see it as people being phony (lying about this "seeing stuff in your head" thing) or just that they don't realize that they are the only ones present that can't connect with the activity and thereby get no enjoyment from it.
I realised why my anxiety is so bad. My brain makes up scenarios in my head, like how I'm going to die, and plays it out in my mind like a movie. Feels so real.
This made me realize I have hyperphantasia. My mind's eye is just as vivid as seeing. I can see and hear anything I want in my mind, any movie, any memory, I can make any scene I want, any music video, and I always thought everyone could do that.
I didn't realize this was so new to science! when I was a kid one of my friends said she couldn't visualize things but I could ( I was also very interested in optics and perception), so I ended up doing experiments on my classmates about this in when I was in middle school! Wish I knew then that it would have been ground breaking aha
considering that pelicans can and frequently do bend their spine out through the bottom of their mouth, I can comfortably say I'm not smiling when I picture that
I have a "muddled" mind's eye. I can picture things, but it's hard to keep it together and I have to focus a lot on it. This alerted me to the fact some people are better and some are worse at "picturing things", especially my mother who's always been waay worse specifically at spatial imagination (Picturing how much space an imaginary object would take up). Some friends can just conjure up complete scenarios without as much as a thought, while I spend a good while slowly building up everything. And then when I read about Aphantasia I thought it was weird to just... not know that people use their heads differently.
Spatial imagination exists? Thatd be helpful.. I mean, I think I have it to an extent, but I sort of have to measure it with my real senses and visualize really hard.
I realized I have Aphantasia because of this video, and showed it to my Dad - who realized he has it as well. I will be talking to my brother and sister and post here about their results!
This sounds similar to my experience with faces. Like when I think of family members or friends that j haven't seen in the last few hours j can't picture a particular face.
Omg Exactly. I also cant remember their faces. And Before I learnt about aphantasia I got really bummed and weirded out about not being able to imagine or remember my family's faces . I have a hard time describing them as well coz I cant bring up a picture in my head and describe them. Friends or acquaintances I havent seen in awhile are a lost cause completely. But with aphantasia I guess the inability to recall their faces can be explained.
@@ghnjhnx Actually probably not. I couldn't describe the faces of the people I live with if my life depended on it, all I have is a memorized list of distinctive features. That doesn't mean I don't recognize them, or couldn't pick them out of a group, or tell which of several similar looking people was "mine". Because their faces are just like my house, with the same level of visual memory detail and the same level of recognition and distinguishability. Or the software I work with every day, which I could not tell you from memory where a certain button is without moving my mouse hand, because I can't *see* it without actually looking at it, even though I look at it for approximately 30 hours a week.
My friend is an Aphantasiac! We discovered this when we were talking about the "Do you have an inner monologue or not" thing a few months back. Meanwhile, me, my dad, and my sister can all have multiple thought strings with voice going on all at once, but my mom, who is an amazing artist, fuzzes on people's faces the second they walk out of her sight. My Aphantasiac friend also fuzzes like that too... And while we're at it, it's very likely I have Hyperthymesia. Check the Sci-Show Psych episode with Brit for more details on that.
@@gabumonboys The only people I know that have multiple are me, my dad, and my sister. My mom doesn't, and none of my friends with inner monologues do. Though I did find 1 friend who hears voices of other people instead of her own to think. I cap out at 5. I can force 7 but then it's too hard to actually keep track of anything. When I was younger it was a lot easier to process it all. I thought it was normal and everyone had it. Same deal with my memory... I thought EVERYONE remembered minute details from conversations 2 years prior, but it was freaking people out.
I only recently realised I have this condition (after reading about it) and was startled to know I can't visualise objects as actual images but I can easily imagine these things and think about shapes and plan out a structure in my head and how things fit together and it's not really describing them with words either. Also I have vivid dreams which are just like real life with bright colours and feelings which are indistinguishable from my wakeful experience.
I go through the same thing. I can't imagine something and see it there, but I do have very vivid dreams sometimes, and I have maladaptive daydreaming too LOL, so is weird. I can imagine it but I can't see it.
This is usually how I’m able to memorize what I need to buy when I go grocery shopping. I won’t actually memorize the actual items themselves, but I’ll sort of retain a “mental walk-through” of the house before I leave that I can I guess call on for what I need
I have and have always had aphantasia. It's why I decided to learn to draw so I could visualize the ideas I had. My aphantasia doesn't apply when I'm dreaming though, only when I'm awake.
depends whether you have it or not! I do, and can't imagine actually being able to see things in my mind. What are daydreams like? Can you imagine a person's face if you think about them, or is that too detailed?
@@Bjenga It really depends on how detailed a mind can imagine things. For example, I cannot conjure up 3D images in my head that well. Even if I look at 3D images or things irl, they don't look quite 3D, they look kinda flat. I think I was able to see 3D images more easily when I was younger (unless those were straight up dreams and not daydreams) but now it's tough to focus long enough to hold any images in my head (unless they're intrusive thoughts/images, then I have a hard time reeling them in). Like I said, it's like a sighted person and a blind person trying to visualize what the other person sees lol Because I can't wrap my head around the idea of having no mental images. For example: Do you ever see things you wish you could unsee? Because I believe this concept requires having a mind's eye (but maybe I'm wrong).
@@RosheenQuynh Do I ever see things I wish I could unsee? Not really? Like once i've seen something gross or wierd i'm going to be grossed out for a while, but i'm not going to remember it later, so it won't bother me once a few hours or so has passed, if that's what you mean. Like I might be embarrassed that it happened if someone brings it up, but it's not going to bother me otherwise. That's something that I hadn't thought of before!
@@Bjenga Yeah, that's why I asked. Because generally when people say "I wish I could unsee that...", it's because they know that image of whatever will haunt them for a while - meaning they'll picture it later and feel freaked out again. Sort of like a PTSD flashback but MUCH more mild.
I've always had this - never been able to picture anything at all. I can place where things go spatially in my head, but definitely can't "see" them. Sounds like a super power. Reddit has a subreddit for r/aphantasia. Lots of people have this, but none of my friends - they all think I'm weird.
Question, when writing like for a class like language arts, do you use a lot of describing words? My teachers all say to do it but I struggle because I can already "see" them and it would be stating the obvious to me. It's why when I read, it's weird to see people describe the place or person completely different to me. I dunno this is kinda a rant cause it's my first time hearing bout this lol.
@@blackgirloffgrid1054 I know you didnt ask me but I also cant picture things and have *extremingly* vivid dreams to the point of routinely deeply disturbing me. Why, you too? I honestly wish I could tone them down.
My sister and I both have this, and I didn't know it was a thing until I saw this episode! Thank you SciShow, and the researchers who did these studies! It doesn't hinder me at all that I know of -- I can't retain complex scene descriptions while reading, but the text turns directly into meaning for me (I'm not watching it happen in my head) so I can usually follow the plot. It's so cool to know my sis and I are not alone! Where do I sign up to participate in future aphantasia studies xD
i discovered my aphantasia back in april and boy has that changed my view of basically everything lol. i see full black when i close my eyes and finding out that almost everyone else in my life has incredibly vivid internal worlds is...super not fun!! it has made me curious, though, as to whether ppl with aphantasia experience trauma in the same way as ppl without. i know ppl who have had a hard time processing traumatic experiences, even ones from decades ago, because the images from those experiences stick with them. scary/traumatic stuff doesn't tend to bother me that much because as soon as it's over, i don't see it in my head anymore.
I’m fairly certain most people “see black” when they close their eyes. It’s not as if most people have vivid imaginations, springing visual imagery in their minds as they shut their eyelids. Don’t use this discovery to lose gratitude for life.
Idk if you close your eyes and rub your palms into them, you can see the scales of a snake. At least i used to, when i was younger. Im not gonna test it out now tho bc ive been eating spices. But thats prob more of a physical thing.
Don't be envious. I spent all my energy planning how my game will look and work in my head. When the time comes to actually make something other people can see, I feel really lazy because I'm convinced that I already made it all. I burn all my motivation in a one-off like L33t. EDIT: what I'm trying to say is that we've got both good points and bad points. If I describe a visual you won't get it, but when there are instructions it will be easier for you to execute them without getting distracted.
I can't know whether I have it or not cause idk how to describe what I "see" in my head. I don't literally see something, it's like a vague picture that I... "imagine"? I do literally seen things when I dream, but when I remember it it's that vague picture again. So yeah no idea how to describe it.
Same for me. When I close my eyes I just see black. I can vaguely imagine a red apple, but it's not appearing in the black I see. It's... something else ? Dunno Edit: Yeah that's really hard to describe. Couldn't find the right words Edit 2: So apparently we're mixing phantasia (mind's eye) and prophantasia (projecting an image into physical sight).
That's really cool to know, proprioception without the vision. In physical therapy I was blind-folded and told to navigate the hospital from memory. I couldn't do it that way, but I could from sound, scent, and hearing.
@springsogourne it makes so much sense that as an artistic person with aphantasia you became a sculptor. I'm also aphantastic (?) and always thought I was unartistic b/c I can't draw. Then I discovered that I have a knack for 3d mediums like ceramics. I wonder if that's a common thread between people with aphantasia?
@@ashleyhanson1269 it very well could be, I have at least two other sculptor friends who have aphantasia as well. I have found if I close my eyes and sculpt “by feel” I can actually do very well. I do figurative sculpture and I understand anatomy, so going by feel seems very natural.
I have never seen an image in my mind my entire life I didn't know until recently that people were able to actually see things in their own mind. I always assumed it was a figure of speech. I always feel kind shitty when someone says picture it.
I'm pretty sure people aren't actually seeing things in their head. There are very few comments on this video where people claim to see literal images in their head, just a lot of surprised people mystified about what they believe others are experiencing. Seems like most of us can imagine stuff just fine, we just wouldn't choose to call it 'seeing'. For others the term feels more appropriate, but I would guess that the experiences are not that different.
@@mandrewsvideos It's just people with aphantasia get this video recommended so there's a lot more people with aphantasia commenting. The sample size is way too small and way too one sided to come to that conclusion.
@@mandrewsvideos It’s not hard to see things, and most people can. A very important example is Howard Hinton’s cubes, they are an exercise where you have to see a specific series of cubes and layer them to get a glimpse of a 4th dimensional cube, such a thing would be impossible to do or useless to write about if nobody could see them.
@@jens7757 Well, I just asked everyone here, about 50 people, and no one can actually see the image. They imagine it, and think of it, but they don’t see it like a hallucination.
So are there people with no internal monologue AND no mind’s eye? Are there people who have quiet brains? What’s that like?!
It’s like if you’re watching a show someone asks you what you’re thinking about. I say nothing. My mind is blank expect for what I happen to be watching/doing.
This is not 100% of the time. But a good majority.
@@Crootcovitz I think they're connected in the way that having one increases the chances of also having the other, but they're definitely different things.
I don't have either except when really needed. If I really need to memorize a number for example, I can say it in my head, but that's about it. I'm never talking "to myself" the rest of the time, but I can imagine discussions with others.
no thoughts head empty
I have a limited mind's eye (no colours, same with dreams) and no inner monologue whatsoever. It's quite zen tbh
"oh I don't have that"
* spends 10 min unsuccessfully trying to imagine a red apple
No way
lmao same
Same. I'm also not sure what I should expect. Am I supposed to have focus on it? It's seeing black failure?
I'm not sure I understand how vivid these people claim they can see something in their mind. Like dream clear?
Just imagination not actually real
@@MelodicTurtleMetal there is a scale 1-5 of how vivid or not at all nothingness, outline, slight colour, details, lifelike. while awake 1-2, and for me dreams are 3-4
I was shocked some years back, when my wife told me she could close her eyes and see things, like watching a movie. I always thought was just an abstract concept. She was equally surprised I could not do it.
I’m so shocked. “Don’t think of a pink elephant”. Doesn’t work for you.
I always just thought they meant think of the word
She might be having Closed-Eye Hallucinations, which is not a psychosis. I have it, and it's part of my bedtime relaxing routine. I did some research on a whim a couple of years back. Imagine my surprise, when I found that not everybody can do it.
Ask her if she can _actually_ see it like if it was outside here mind or see it _inside_ her mind (if she can actually see it she wouldn't be able to tell it apart from the actual world if she doesn't she would). Some people don't have the separation so everytime they imagine it seems real instead of a foggy non-directional unrealistic imagination
@James Taylor hahaha
I was actually shocked to learn people could see anything with their eyes shut. I only see a black screen over dark blue. Always. Nothing else.
Me tooo! I just realized i have alphantasia😢
Just to clarify, visual memory has nothing to do with your eyes. I can imagine things whether my eyes are open or closed and actually sometimes it's easier to keep them open and just unfocus them while I'm thinking of something. I don't actually see images on my eyelids when I close my eyes, I see black as well. The images are in my brain.
@@maddies757 I experience the same thing.
@@maddies757good explanation, i think some people misunderstood thinking that people can see an image on your eyelids. which (from what i understand) is not true. I see a black screen with blue/purple wave forms. but when i try to imagine a picture i "see" in my brain a faint visual of whatever. but that "seeing" is just within my brain, not within my eyes.
I recently heard about aphantasia recently and I’ve had it all my life. My brother doesn’t.
And now I have a phrase to describe the word salad that exists in my brain all the time; verbal scaffolding.
It took me 17 years to realise “picture this “ wasn’t just a metaphor 😂
I know, right?
Huh! Odd😁
Same with counting sheep. What sheep!? There are no sheep!
Yep. I took a yoga class in college to help relax and meet the requirements of taking a physical exercise course. I dropped out for several reasons, but a big one was not being able to picture anything in the mediations at the end. It was stressful vs relaxing.
45 years for me
If I were to answer how many windows are in my house I would mentally walk around my house.
If I know a place, I can re-create parts of it in my mind, but I've never actually Seen it. More like consolidating information into a mental 3d model.
I would, too, but I wouldn't see it. I would feel myself walking around it, and maybe even hear my footsteps, I could point to where I know the window would be, but I can't see it.
That's exactly what I did during the video. I had a thought checklist and I went down the list from room to room counting windows.
Dallas Rover but I’m sure you do see your house in dreams which leads me to guess that aphantasia is the lack of controlling your minds eye. Not the total lack of the mind’s eye.
Its hard to say exactly how I know it. I'd say it is definitely a memory. but it is almost like proprioception, the sense of knowing your body's position. I just kinda know. its like I sense them. I have 12, if you count the door window. I can usually learn the layout of a new house very quickly and can move around through it in the dark with what seems like above random success
As an artist who never had a mind's eye, it was heart breaking to learn that everyone else did.
do you dream in images?
I also have aphantasia and some people can cure it and develop a minds eye with a technique called image streaming
Same here...
Same here
For what it's worth, while I can imagine things quite vividly, I cannot, for the life of me, put those mental images onto a canvass. I can draw just fine, but what I have in my head acts as the storyboard and what's on the canvass is the final product. Except that the quality of the work is inverted; what I put on a canvass looks like a storyboard in comparison to what I have in my head. And it is SO frustrating! It's a big part of my perfectionism, and you probably don't deal with perfectionism quite the same way I do because you don't get overly attached to the ideas in your paracosm. Though it would be interesting to know how you might deal with perfectionism in other ways.
It actually dawned on me earlier today just how crazy of a concept “minds eye”/inner monologue, both of which I have, truly is. I can imagine my own voice, other peoples voices, songs, movies, anything. I can hear it, but I can’t hear it. The mind’s eye is even stranger to me. I can picture an apple, rotate it, turn it upside down, peel it, I can make it change from fuji to golden delicious to granny smith. I can see all of it crystal clear, while at the same time I can’t see it at all.
Exactly, that's what I was thinking, like I can see it when I want, but I don't actually see it like, I can differentiate the imagination from my mind to real world, because it's not like I have screen in my mind that have everything colored, but I can imagine what would the color look like, for example, when I start imagining a red apple, firstly I choose a place on where will the apple be, for example my home on the table, something that is familiar, is usually the option that I pick, then the apple gets placed there, outlined then instantly the 3D design of it is filled up, with it's texture and that, almost like doing a project in blender, that obviously happens in just seconds, then I try to put the color at the end, all of this I can imagine it, but then I suddenly remember what is the place of the imagination is coming from, it will be that dark pitch black background after closing my eyes or something like that, so it's still weird for me
"while at the same time I can’t see it at all"
I think this is the hardest part to explain, especially to people who lack the ability.
When you see something in your mind's eye you're not literally seeing it in a way that's indistinguishable from reality, but it's like you have the impression of seeing it.
The best way I've thought to explain it is that if literally seeing something is like eating food, then visualizing something is like smelling food. Same goes for "hearing" one's inner speech vs literally hearing actual speech.
@@Shadowmech88 a weird part of it for me that i just recently remembered was how when i was little i had it and it was still pretty strong but it was almost like i couldn’t totally control it, like if i imagined a skateboarder going off a jump and spinning (i played a lot of thps) after they landed and were supposed to stop they would just continue spinning like some strange glitch. idk if that’s weird or not 😅 have you had that or anything similar or heard anyone talk about it?
@@jamesongorman8531
I can't say I have. The closest concept that I can think of is intrusive thoughts, where unpleasant/morbid thoughts pop into one's head largely outside of their control. Personally, I've always been in full control of my mind's eye as far as I can remember.
Ironically, it's boggling to think about how complex the brain really is. Even more interesting, the idea of you, a brain, thinking about itself in a way that even makes itself confused ("you" in the collective sense).
I'm 32 and I just discovered I had this a few weeks ago. It's not like learning I have a disorder, it's more like discovering that most people have a super power that I don't have.
I found some serious benefits to Aphantasia too though. Not having to deal with reliving memories, getting to experience something more akin to seeing something the first time again, having an easier time understanding abstract concepts, being more able to "live in the moment", etc. Definitely seems like I'm missing out on something, but since I can't imagine what it is I don't let it get me down too much.
@@astersfun, I have a theory that we can't suffer from PTSD, since we can't visualize that traumatic event again.
@@Daymare_666 From my talks with others, it seems you can still suffer from PTSD, but it's physical, rather than "flashback" style. Freezing, increased heartbeat, panic, etc. but no visuals. I don't suffer from it myself, and I do suspect that it's less common for aphantatics to have, but from those I've talked to it isn't quite immunity.
@@Daymare_666 I have PTSD and aphantasia. My PTSD triggers are mostly auditory, but can be visual. Lots of PTSD treatments involve visualization, which wasn't effective for me, but EMDR, which is sensory, has been very helpful in managing my symptoms.
An overactive imagination can be debilitating. being scared of fake situations one has only seen in their head...
Aphantasia: "A life without mental images"
When people with aphantasia read novels they can't really visualize the images, but they can develop an emotional connection to the story!
yep
Ahhh, that makes sense
Can people with aphantasia be artists?
@@omghighlights1366 Definitely. just requires some trial and error to figure out what looks right since it's harder to think it out ahead of time.
Yes! This is why reading stuff with complex scene descriptions puts me to sleep. It breaks my heart because I have to rely on movie adaptations.
Someone: _"Do not think of a purple elephant."_
Me: _"Okay?"_
Someone: _[smirks]_
Me: _"Now what?"_
Me, confused but thinking about the Concept of an Elephant that is Purple: ????
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The one I saw had more red than blue pigment.
Lol at least it's not pink
@@victorclabaugh1373 I’m sorry. Elephants on Parade has to be one of the most freaky Disney animated sequences ever made. And I can’t explain why as an adult. But as a child, no likey!!
I recently discovered that I suffered from Aphantasia, even though I don't consider myself to be suffering in any way. It's hard to describe what I don't see, because my imagination uses my memory of having seen these things previously to get a vague idea of what something might look like, even though I don't see a thing. For instance, when I picture an apple I know what an apple looks like - I've seen them before. I know what red looks like, I've also seen that before. I just don't see a red apple - I see a black canvass with nothing on it - also know as the back of my eyelids.
Ш don't see a very clear picture "like in a movie" when I think about things/events; they appear as if they are very deep but close to my eyes. For example, I can't imagine someone eating an apple for a very long time; it's more like a gif. I can imagine different variations, a drawn apple or a real one, but seeing thoughts is not as pleasant as watching a real movie. But I don't know how you can live without your inner voice. If I need to swear, I swear hahaha
Exactly the same as you, I tried to explain that but you explained way batter
The space inbetween the back canvas and your memory is the minds eye. With deliberate practice your imagination can get better.
lol even I discovered that with an insta shorts
explains why my memory sucks XD
This is how it is for everyone. The people who say they “see” something see it in their imagination. Not literally right before their eyes like a projection on the back of their eyes.
I've never been able to do that, and just assumed nobody could... welp
Same
My brain graphics card is pretty weak, but still accurate. I can only render something for like a split second. I imagine visual rendering is very costly in energy
@@IanSmithKSP Maybe if you train it you would be able to do it easier after a while.
Bob Bobber I use it A LOTT. It’s as good as it’s gonna get
Do you have dreams?
My high school girlfriend told me that when she saw a movie it would get translated into a description, and when people talked it was kind of like she was reading their dialogue. Books were just the natural order of the world to her, while in my brain every book, even a dry instructional manual, gets transformed into a movie or game tutorial in my head.
This the one.
Same, it's extremely had to "imagine". My ex was the same; I wondered how she enjoyed films if the instant it was gone, she couldn't vividly recall it.
I was always say I have a DVD mind.
When I listen to a song my brain makes an entire action movie for the song.
@@Nezha_Main bruh
When i try to imagine for some reason its like a color blur, i know i could do it way better in the past
But when im daydreaming, shits vivid asf.
Sometimes i even catch myself playing songs in my head louder than my surrounding. Now not so much becausebi have earphone all the time
It took me until i was 29 years old last year to realize that when someone said "Now picture this..." they were being literal and telling me to ACTUALLY visualize something.
After a while of reading on the subject i came to learn I have Aphantasia less than a year ago.
I doubt that, not due to anything you said but because i believe many people have a misunderstanding resulting from words like "picture this" and people "seeing things" in their head. Can you imagine going from your room to the kitchen and grabbing something from the fridge? I don't mean like a movie playing in your head, just the fact that you can think about going from your room to the kirchen. Normal people don't actually see things, despite what many people say, it is all just a misunderstanding from the double meanings of words. I can just see darkness with my eyes closed, nothing else, but i "know" what an apple looks like for example. A lot of things like "turning the apple over in your hand" are just metaphors that try to make it easier to imagine
@@leomadero562 you picturing an apple in your head sounds like me, but most people apparently can actually see an apple, almost like a dream figure.
I think as a young child I could somewhat do this, as I remember imagining and actually visually seeing a motorbike weaving between trees, poles, etc while driving. I think it got so bad that at one point I was frustrated that I couldn't look out the window without seeing that, and it was distracting.
... I think that happened 😐. Other than that one memory, I can't recall 'seeing' something when I shut my eyes.
@@leomadero562 You have aphantasia.
I am 58 years old and just realized this year that other people could actually see something when they closed their eyes. Mind blown.
@@kscg2993 yeah, but can picture your mind being blown?
They can...
As someone with aphantasia, one of the things I've had to learn is that I have to be mindful of what I describe or say, especially when telling a story. This comes up in regular life sometimes, but I really discovered it when playing rpgs with friends. It had never occurred to me that they could, and would, literally visualize something if I described it. This could lead to much more visceral reactions than expected, and took me a little while to figure out why, because for me it was just an amorphous concept on a checklist.
yea some peoples minds can imagine the worst stuff, so people should always watch how they say things
like they will say something like poop and even before describing something else, we have a bad immage in our head of you pooping till you continue the descriptions...its kinda the main reason people read books, if you can't imagine it, then theres no point
@@ravinraven6913I read books all the time without being able to imagine it, I also love writing fiction, so there is absolutely a point in reading books even without the ability to visualize
I visualise everything without input on my part, so whatever someone says my brain will conjure a mental picture of regardless of how sweet or gross, kind or absurd, pretty or objectively horrific.
@@dreadsndogs4406I'll take your word for it, I wouldn't see a point to reading if I couldn't visualise. Like ok, I read a description of something; now what? Without the ability to visualise it's just ink on a page.
@@TheRealMycanthrope I always wondered why books spend so much time describing in detail scenes and how people look or dress... until I learned that many people can actually picture that in their minds :-).
I could never figure out why my parents were grossed out at dinner when I’d bring up roaches, or dog poop, or other such things. It took a long time to find out that they involuntary “saw” those things when I talked about them. To me, they were just words.
OH! Is that why people freak out so much about gross topics when eating?! That has always confused me.
@@catbeara It would seem so. At least there’s two of us. 😏
Yeah, I guess that does make sense. Never really thought about that...
My little brother has aphantasia and he said cheese boogers. And after that day I didn't want to eat cheese for days. K I just grossed my self out imaging people eating boogers. Skdjwbfjdj bye
Also I was eating cheese macaroni so I was so grossed out
Everyone watching shows and movies made after a book: "That's not how imagined the characters!!"
Me: "Imagined? :o "
Well sometimes they even just change the characters appearance. You can still tell the difference if a character was described as blonde and ends up with brown hair. But even though I have aphantasia I can still select features of people I've seen and attribute them to a book character. It's clunky and I often do google searches of people discriptions to fill my memory banks. So when I read I get an idea, but the visual adaptation is always never what I construct and it throws me off. 👁️👄👁️
@@Vaith I believe I have slight aphantasia(self diagnosed so take that as you will) for me my mind always glosses over visual details like they are completely unimportant when I read
In addition to that my imagination is very much non-visual and is more concept based to the point where anything I imagine is more a concept than anything
(actually writing this down I'm starting to wonder if I actually have aphantasia or if I just don't find visuals important)
Right!? I can 'deduce' what the character may look like, but it's a chain of logic based on experience... not mental imagery.
I've always wondered why authors described characters. I always attributed it to humans being really superficial. It never occurred to me that most people need to simulate a picture in their brain. Every time I got to the point in a book where they were describing how people looked I was always thinking, okay weirdos.
@@danieldeelite This is so interesting to hear
Sounds well trippy to me that most people can see things that aren't there just by closing their eyes and imagining!
It’s very comforting to hear that other people struggle with visualizations as well. I have to work extremely hard to visualize anything verbal and always need to use an physical image to draw from. When I do visualize it’s only for a fleeting second before it’s just darkness again.
This seems to be my experience I didn’t know others had more
I totally hear you, that's exactly what happens to me
I remember i had that when i was in 5th grade i was really good in geometry but now im 20 and i cant really see like that anymore or im having a Bad time seeing things in my thoughts
When I read a book for me it’s like a movie playing, I no longer see the words or pages, but when doing artwork I still need a physical image or object to draw from. I think that it is two separate abilities.
It's like a quick image for me sometimes I can imagine it more than once and can only sorta visualize things with my eyes open allot harder with my eyes closed, just thought I'd share.
Wait wait wait.... people can see stuff? In like their head?
you guys are seeing things in your head?
@Medicinal Blood Do you literally see things that you imagine? Like are they overlaid on your field of vision, blocking your view of the objects behind the one you're imagining?
Yes! Welcome to the club!
@@SilentBudgie Nope, literally I can imagine anything I want in as much detail as I want. Kinda like having a dream. I've had dreams so realistic and so detailed I thought they were real momentarily after waking up. I can still see, kinda like having both at the same time but you can't 100% focus on both. Sight and imagination don't overlap, but generally, you can't focus on both in detail at once.
@@SilentBudgie No, it's about whether or not images are involved in the sensation of thought. If you can mentally move around your house to count the windows in each room by remembering how the room looks you don't have aphantasia. Otherwise you probably do.
I always thought sayings like "minds eye" and "imagine" were metaphors. Like sure, imagine an apple. I know what an apple is. I can conceptualize an apple in my mind. I just can't see anything that's not physically, actually in front of my eyes. I had no idea people actually visualized it - "saw" it in their heads.
Suddenly, mind palaces made more sense to me. As did the meditation sessions I had to take in PE class in school. "Imagine you're on a beach. Hear the waves crash on the shore" etc, I was never able to do that. There was no beach, no waves, so how was I supposed to hear them?
Oddly enough, I do dream visually. I can also get earworms and manipulate their volume to an extent.
On one hand, I feel as if I'm missing out. On the other, I'm used to the way I am..
@Some_Guy_632 I don't know what the OP of this comment experiences, but for me things are stored in my head with a list of attributes, so an apple is "roundish, green red or yellow, has a stem on top, sometimes is a gradient between two colors" but there is no like, visual of an apple, it's all just words
@Some_Guy_632 It's kinda hard to explain. I have a "feeling" of what an apple looks like, if that makes any sense, but there's never any imagery at all. I don't really have a list of words like Quincy, just this feeling.
If I'm asked to imagine a blue apple, well, I have a feeling of what an apple looks like as well as what blue looks like, but for me to actually fully get the concept, I'd have to see a picture of a blue apple. That's what I mean by conceptualize. I can "imagine" a blue apple insofar as I know what those two concepts are seperately and I can kind-of-but-not-really smash them together, just non-visually.
I hope I'm making any sense at all 😆
Earworms? You mean tinnitus (ringing in the ears)? I have tinnitus, and Mother of various deities does it ever get loud sometimes!! It’s multi-tonal, too, which is extra annoying. XP
@@luminalsaturn2 An earworm is music that gets "stuck in your head".
Wait, you can manipulate the volume of earworms? So can you quiet it down and think about something else at the same time? I think for most people, earworms are just a bit louder than normal thoughts so we can't hear anything else when we get an earworm, which is why they're so annoying.
I only realized that I thought, memorized and "visualized" things differently well into my thirties. When people told me to visualize something I never knew they meant it literally. "You actually see a stuff in your head? What did you smoke? You're all tripping!". I was never good at recognizing faces and I always thought I had a shitty memory as I never seemed to be able to remember my past as vividly as everyone else. I have extremely vivid visaual dreams but it's "lights out" as soon as I wake up. It is fascinating to me that most people experience the world differently. The interesting part is that I am creative and work with visual design and I have an eye for colors, architecture and interior. But when I construct a creative idea in my head I imagine the abstract concept of it intead of visualizing it with my "minds eye". I have an internal verbal discussion regarding how something should look, act and feel instead of visualizing it. This always worked fine for me so it never put a stop to my creativity. I guess we all learn to compensate especially when we are born this way. Fascinating stuff!
Just wait for the comment section to be filled with people realizing that they have aphantasia
Hahah, right? I'm in a couple fb groups on the topic, and there's someone joining pretty much every day going through this realisation. It's fun to watch. (And they even sometimes still surprise me with a realisation I hadn't yet made myself)
I can see it all in my mind's eye.😂🤣
Perry Dowd y’all mind see’ers be out braggin today 😂
@@michaelposey3321 If you got it, flaunt it.💃🤭
I mean, I've known about this since the late 90's... actually came about because a Wiccan was trying to describe to me how they did a spell: "picture yourself sitting under a tree, then slowly have a bubble expand outwards from you..."... I was like hold up, you lost me at that first part. Started asking everyone else if they could actually see an apple when they thought about it, and they got really confused when I told them I couldn't. Wonder how many thought I was just lying O.o
"Picture a red apple."
Literally picturing the cover of a random Twilight book even though I've never read one.
Actually a Macintosh came to mind
Newly discovered I have aphantasia. When I read where you wrote "Twilight book," I didn't picture the book, but remembered it in my memory. Previously, I would've said I "pictured" it - but I now know that most people ACTUALLY PICTURE IT🤯 Lol, mind blowing.
This was incredibly exciting for me to watch. My whole life, my every thought was connected to visual imagery. I loved creative writing because it played out in my mind like a movie. That was until 2003 when I was in a car accident and received a severe concussion. Among other side effects, I lost my visual imagery. After 20 years, I have found "work-arounds" to be able to write again. But it is very difficult. The movie screen is forever dark. No doctor has understood this. But now I know it's real and I'm not alone. Thank you.
That's wild dude. Maybe you have a superpower now you just haven't realized yet.
@@Starkl3t had*
Please explain, because I don't get the whole minds eye thing, especially when you're reading a story...
Cos if you already see a whole place inside your mind from just like one sentence, like say the inside of a candy store, but then you continue reading the description and it describes it in more detail, doesn't it continually have to change? How does that work? and like let's say it was nothing like you at first thought it was... then what? Like the whole place flies out of your vision and you get a whole new thing altogether? I don't get it. For everyone else like me, you have to build up the idea step by step. You don't get a whole thing straight away
What about tasting the candy inside the store? Is the whole visualisation in 3D at all? If you can see it, can you also use your other senses like tasting it or smelling it? Or do you "suffer" from atastia and asmellia?
@@Starkl3t LOL the superpower of adaptation.
@@marioluigi9599 HI. Well I can only speak for myself and my own experiences. I have never been able to imagine or recall the precise taste or smell of something. So I can't speak to that.
As for the visual, of course it would change with additional information and context. Working with your example of a candy shop. My favorite shop is small, quiet, dimly lit, offering mostly chocolates and brittles, giving it an almost monochromatic feel. So that would be my first image. Today I can't close my eyes and see it. But I can give a general description because memories are a thing. Now let's say the next line describes the candy shop as a large open space, bright and airy, with an explosion of colors. Obviously my mental image would change to incorporate the writer's desired vision.
These days, since I can't "see" what I'm talking about, I tend to describe things more by the feelings they evoke in me, or the tone or vibe, if you will.
I hope that helps.
Wow! I just turned 59, and this was the first time I realized this is an actual condition. I have a really hard time picturing things. It also means I don't have a very good sense of direction. My sister can find her way somewhere if she's been there once, but I have to have a map almost every time. Even to somewhere that I've been many times, I can get anxious when I have to go there alone because I don't remember where it is and can't "picture" where to go in my mind. I think this is also one of the reasons I have a hard time with meditation practices. It's just amazing to figure this out! If someone says "picture an apple," I can remember seeing an apple, but I'm not actually picturing it in my head. Who says you can't learn something new every day!
Its not bad for you. For some people, if their inner voice too powerful, they will end up as crazy people who lose complete control of their sorrounding.
I want to say I don't think aphantasia contributes to a lack of direction. I definitely can't picture things in my mind, but I am probably one of the few people out there on the road that isn't reliant on a GPS. I can tell you where I am at any given point in my state capitol - however there are a few spots that will throw me for a loop. I always say there's something weird about those spots - either entire blocks that my brain just refuses to acknowledge... or roads that I swear I'm facing west, but I'm actually facing south. I had friends test me with a compass when we were in the woods one summer when we were working on a movie. They'd blindfold me, turn me around and around then face me some random direction and I could accurately point out north. Every. Single. Time. I was never wrong.
(and before anyone tries to say "you could tell where the sun was, etc" - Nope. In the woods, lots of tree coverage, blindfolded, spun around. They did everything to try to put me at a disadvantage. Did it at night a few times too. I know which way north is because when I'm facing it, I have this weird feeling in the bridge of my nose. It's strong enough that I can't sleep if my bed is aligned east/west - because I'm a side sleeper and when I'm on my side facing north, it bothers me.)
@@CaffeinatedTigress Wow, that is really impressive! I guess my sense of direction (or lack of it) doesn't have anything to do with it then. Darn - I thought I had a good excuse! 🙂
@@CaffeinatedTigress Our noses have a concentration of iron. My husband is like that , too.
@@CaffeinatedTigressDon't pigeons and other homing avians have some sort of calcium/magnesium substance above their beaks for this purpose ?
I always thought I was weird or misunderstood when movie characters would say stuff like “I can barely remember her face, it’s all blurry now” because I just couldn’t picture someone’s face and actually see it.
I’m able to like create something in my mind and remember it’s features for building it later, but I don’t visually create it, just kinda feel it
Same, wtf lmao
I'm so confused
isn't that the same for everyone?
@@EnderElectrics no. Turns out people think differently. For example some people can't here their inner voice.
@@klounpound6945 so you can physically see an apple in front of you?
@@EnderElectrics I think with my inner voice. Tho if I focus on something hard enough I can visualize things. But I have to focus on it to see anything
And there are some like me who cant figure out whether I have aphantasia or not .
I dont see anything ,but I feel like I am looking at a very hazy cloaked image of what an apple looks like
that's it, you have it.
That’s still visualization, I would say you don’t have aphantasia.
Just because you don’t see a vision in the physical world of an apple doesn’t mean you are not visualizing. I’m not sure anyone can do that. I don’t claim to be an expert, take it with a grain of salt
@@JonathanMartinez-eh8zt @Masterplan79th all right the polls are in . Alas it is a tie.
Let's see if someone else weighs in and can end my confusion once and for all 😂
You and I have partial aphantasia I think
There is such a thing as partial blindness so I think partial aphantasia would be the equivalent term
Anyone else find out that they have this like me, I thought minds eye was just a metaphor for something. Didn’t realize people are actually walking around with pictures in there head all day
Kind of? For me it was just I never really considered it. I assumed that the feeling/sense/idea of the thing being thought about was the same thing as imagining.
Yes, finally when I was 78. I was married 51 years but it is impossible to picture my wife. She used to get annoyed if she came home having gotten a different hair style because I had no reference image in my mind of her hair earlier. This also made my education all through pharmacy school terrifying. As soon as an instructor said anything it seemed to be instantly gone, so I took notes like mad till my hand cramped.
Yeah, it's like the whole "Get that image out of my head!" Or "Why'd you have to put that image in my head?" They say it cause they automatically started picturing it once it was mentioned
That's scary though, you can't remember words after they've been spoken?
@@astersfun same
Yes we do... Also music. I can play a song, not brand new but a song I have listen to 20 time or more and play it back in my head, skip to the chorus or isolate the vocals. Then play the song on my guitar... not always exact until I play along to the actual in the real world recording but enough to get the gist of it. Same thing with images, movies. I can recall images of my childhood, what people have said to me and emotions and create phantasy worlds in an instant. Things that are repeated or memorized are easier to bring up in my minds eye. I am a building manager currently and I know where almost exactly (except for when someone moves something and doesn't put it back where it was designated by me or tells me or shows me the new location) everything is in regards to janitorial and maintenance tools, location of said tools is photographed and placed in my brain for instant recall. I am asked where something is located and most of the time it's exactly where I last remembered it. Unless some else didn't put it back where they found it. PUT THINGS BACK WHERE YOU FOUND THEM, PLEASE! Just saying, finding things is a waste of time and money.
I realized I had aphantasia prior to 2010 in high school when someone would quickly say’ “Don’t think of a purple elephant!” And most people would say it was impossible. For me, all I thought of was the term “purple elephant”, but I didn’t imagine one at all.
I can spend hours with someone, and unless I made a specific observation related to their hair for example, if you asked me their hair color afterword, I wouldn’t know.
Yeah, I would suck at giving the police someones description 😂.
@@AneenvwOn the otherhand I think there are suggestions that people with aphantasia make better witnesses of events. They don't "see" things that weren't there; either they saw and remembered something that happened or they didn't.
I'm so glad this is being talked more about now. I'm an art major, and you'll hear people go, "oh, visualize this as blue instead of gray, does it have the same effect?" (this happened last week, and the closest explanation I can think of rn) and of course I don't know since I have no idea what it would look like because, I can't visualize it.
What kind of art do you make and/or study?
@@michaelkaminski1166 right now I am just taking printmaking, but I've done drawing, painting, and photography. I'm mainly seeing what medium/tools I like to work with best
Maybe aphant is one reason I am terrible at drawing.
I have a pretty decent minds eye and inner monologue and I have zero artistic ability. It's not from a lack of trying though
Sounds like art might not be the career for you
Wow... I've always known that some people have vivid visual imaginations, but I never even considered that I was odd for *not* having one
Same!
Same and I think it also explains why most people are not exactly "sharp".
Instead of conceptualizing and working with that directly, they tend to work with internal visualizations instead.
@@TheEVEInspiration I also don't get distracted by any imaginations which is why I can work or study for hours on end.
@@TheEVEInspiration your claim is that NOT being able to visualise stuff makes you smarter?
Sure.
@Jason 🤓🤓🤓
I remember my freshman year of hs my drama teacher told everyone to imagine a green sweatshirt. Then asked everyone who saw a green sweatshirt in their mind to put up their hands. When I was the only one in the class that didn't out my hand up she told me I was just joking around and that everyone envisions things in the brain
that's tough..
Ah, the wonderful world of insensitive teachers thinking they know it all :/
@@g.m.2427 Especially a failed actor.
i'm curious tho. why would they ask people to raise hands if they thought it wasn't possible not to see it?
@@eliannam.5700 I'm not sure. It was so long ago I don't remember the context. I only remember then saying that there was no way I didn't see a green sweater in my mind
I remember reading this meditation book, and it said something like, "Imagine you're descending a ladder". No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't imagine anything. Some time after that, I realized I simply cannot visualize images. It's nice to see that there are others like me. I'm strong in math and logic but weak in creative things. I've wondered if having aphantasia has anything to do with that. I do dream though and I can hear my own thoughts. The way I remember images and events is I remember information about them. For example, "He was wearing a red hat" might be something I remember. But there's no visualization of a person wearing a red hat. It's simply a piece of information that I remember.
Can you remember what you look like without a mirror?
@@CardboardProphet I have kind of like an intuitive sense and understanding of what I look like. Then again, sometimes I look at myself and see practically a stranger. So maybe I'm not good at remembering what I look like. Honestly, I've never really thought much about it.
When I did landscape design I worked with someone who did amazing planting design - her combinations were great and appropriate for the spaces. I asked her one day, and she said she closes her eyes and imagines the space, the way the wind blows and the lighting, and tries out how different plants look and respond in that space. I was blown away. I have some minds eye but not like that! I can imagine about 3 or 4 plants together before I can't hold it all, and can't put the combo into the space being designed in my minds eye. Sigh. I'm slower and not as good at it.
I can’t imagine anything. It’s just fuzzy black when I close my eyes. But I have very vivid dreams when I’m asleep. I can even lucid dream. But I can’t picture anything in my head. So to think how I want something to look I move it around. And I usually take notes or pictures to help me visualize stuff.
Vajrayana practitioners (they do a LOT of visualization) seem to think that you can get better with practice. Their visualizations are quite complex.
So what is a "normal" mind's eye? Being able to see a vivid, lifelike image of an object in the mind? Or just a vague representation of that object? Because I can only see vague representations.
The wild thing is, we don’t really know! I mean, we seem to expect vivid descriptions from writing and massive visual effects in our movies… does that mean we’re great at reliving all that detail later? Or do we crave it from creative media because we don’t make so much of it ourselves?
@@itslexactually I can definitely create scenes in vivid detail. I wouldn't have a clue how to recreate them using real life. If the scene I'm creating is complex I won't even be able to see using my real eyes at that time because my visual input is totally replaced with the images I'm creating. So if I was imagining a scene where a house is collapsing into a stream of molten larva, you could walk up to me and slap a custard pie in my face and I wouldn't see it coming. Whatever I'm "picturing" is literally what I'm seeing. So I'll be oblivious to anything my eyes can see at that time. I'm pretty sure that, anyone watching my eyes at that time, would notice that they're not focusing on anything in particular. If I see a glazed look in someone's eyes, I'll naturally assume that they're "picturing" something in their mind.
This has explained so many things I’ve struggled with my entire life. Things people would always say that “I’m not trying hard enough” or “I’m not listening” even though I am racking my brain trying to find any compensative way to attempt to visualize what I imagine people are able to see but I never really knew it was actually a difference. I just thought I was an idiot.
Well this just means you’re biologically designed to be an “idiot”; but of course one shouldn’t judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree.
My mind's eye is weak. I see only vague, hazy things. This especially plays into memory. I remember the emotions of a situation, but I can only visualize brief glimpses. It always baffles me when people can recount a memory as though they're reliving it. On the flip side, my inner monologue is strong. I'm constantly having conversations with myself.
Edit: It's been a real pleasure reading everyone's responses. I used to think maybe I was weird. But it goes to show that, for all the ways in which we're similar, we're also all very different. Inevitable really, given that we're hyper-complex organisms, evolutionarily fuelled by random, genetic mutation.
I think I'm the same as you. I see vague, hazy things as in, if someone told me to visualise a red apple, I'd see a red apple but there's no solid outline and it's pretty blurry. It's not like the way it's shown at the beginning of video where a 3D apple turns into 2D. It's kinda like watching things in 144p except worse. When it comes to memories, I don't see slides in the sense that it's a static image but rather, a few seconds of a situation. And yes, my inner monologue never seems to end. Despite a weak mind's eye, I daydream and imagine situations a lot, although it's mostly focused on conversation.
Same here.
I do have some hazy images too, but they are like lighting strikes in the middle of the night. A split second of a vage impression, not more
Yeah, my mind's eye is there, but not very detailed. When I dream it's often lacking in details or very dark. I have had vivid dreams before, but they are the exception rather than the rule. I remember one dream where it was as vivid as real life, I was wandering around a crowd of people at my high school and everything was in vivid detail. It was a lucid dream, so I knew I was dreaming, and I was just astonished that there was so much detail, as if I were seeing things in real life. It's really rare my brain can conjure up such detailed images.
Oh don't worry, I have no problem feeling the cringe from past situations even without seeing them!
I am just learning about this today, and it has thoroughly blown my mind. I have never, to my knowledge, had a mind's eye and learning that it isn't the default setting to just ping back with vague concepts of a graphic description is huge. The whole 'picture an apple' thing keeps coming up and there's no image, but if you ask me what an apple looks like, I can tell you in pretty vivid detail - because an apple is round, red or green, often slightly glossy, has a stem - the details are all linked in a mind file somewhere under 'apple'.
In the same way, I enjoy creative writing and the arts, but I don't *see* anything. For writing, or things like TTRPGs I can focus and become aware of an abstract conceptual space but it's liminal, like voidstuff, there's still no visual; it's like an extradimensional awareness of a space I am not in where concepts exist and become solid fact for that moment - for instance if I were told that I find myself in a forest, that space now has trees. I know it has trees. I do not see the trees. I can't tell you the colour, the species, the smell or the feel or the height or the distance, there is just an awareness that the space I am thinking of has trees.
It is legitimately hard to think of how it must be to experience life differently. My first instinct is a little jealousy - I mean, what have I been missing out on my whole life? At the same time, I don't know any other way to be.
"Verbal scaffolding" THAT'S EXACTLY IT 😂😂 that's such a good description of how my brain works
Bet you didn't See that one coming.
@@gabumonboys Eye-
I called it my idea fence. It is a metal fence and all my ideas kinda link together in a weird fence way. If that makes sense.
@@smoothe14 I describe memorized information about my hobbies similarly!
@@seanathanbeanathan Me too, but I think of it as more of a verbal checklist or decision chart.
ive always been fascinated by how different we all perceive reality. how none of us will never truly know whats going on in another person's mind and why they think the way they do.
One of my new friends has this, but she makes beautiful art and still memorizes visual images, which double confused me and shows how smart the brain is to adapt in other ways.
It's the motor memory and she might use references 👍
Yup! I do 3D work and drafting with it. I like to think of it as imagining vs recognizing. Instead of imagining what I will create, I algorithmically generate it. I can see when something is "wrong" and fix it, despite not imagining the corrected version. The paper becomes the imagination in a sense.
@@astersfun that's really cool!
@@astersfun exactly. Recognising is the right word....
Memory and imagination are different lmao
I live so much in my head that I can’t imagine not having a minds’ eye. Simple example-everyday I wake up and imagine what I’m going to wear and how I’ll look going to work. Sometimes I also make stories in my head by visualising characters, locations, scenes. If I want to chill out I can even replay my favourite movie scenes. So finding out other people can’t do this is mind boggling.
Same.
I just found out about Aphantasia a few days ago and I definitely have it and have my whole life. I clearly remember when I was competing in gymnastics as a kid, my coaches would have me visualize my routines and I always thought they just meant to think about each skill in order. I am just floored that people can actually see pictures in their minds!! I actually have a very good long term memory including minute details but it’s more like my brain creates a log of that experience in a detailed list that I can bring back up. But my short term memory is not that great, I loose things easily because I can only focus on so much at a time.
Interesting, maybe you have a stronger verbal memory because your brain isn't using resources on visual memory?
@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 I don't think verbal memory is actually the thing at work, its more general for me, more abstract and I think in concepts much of the time.
Many processes I treat analogous to how one would treat heat/pressure.
Those are emerging properties and their behaviors are quite natural to us, making predictions about them and similar processes easy to make.
I always wondered why others cannot see what is so obvious to me, I do not even have to spend time thinking about it (actions & consequences of software design choices).
Describing "why" choices to others is much harder than making the choices.
Simply because they cannot grasp the concepts before they become realizations (in mind or otherwise).
Even then, with all the irrefutable facts on the table, they cling for dear life to their own initial foundationless position that has been proven to not work.
Like my way, I think there are many ways people experience the world and think.
Which in a way is good, it gives us aptitudes for different things and specialization does have a lot of societal benefits.
But it does make it hard to work with peers in the same job that are missing the right machinery so to speak.
If I lost the ability to use my mind's eye it would feel like someone chopped off my legs. As someone who's always daydreaming and drawing, it's just too important to me.
It's so integral to my day to day life I can't imagine what it's like without it.
I can daydream without pictures just fine
It's not like we lose our imagination we just don't picture pictures
For example for me my daydreams consist basically entirely of stories
I still have a hard time believing this isn't just a miscommunication. Like I can't just see something in my visual field if I Imagine it, but I can render 3d objects in my head, and "see them" in my mind's eye; I just find it hard to believe there are people that can't. Can people with Aphantasia remember a 3d object as something akin to a rendered image image at all, how does that even work with memory?
@@pl8827 I think I have it, acquired 23 years ago. It never worked well for me anyhow. I don't recognize faces and can't picture specific people accurately. Each time I see someone again they don't look like what I thought they did. , I use people's voices more to recognize them. I use the "verbal scaffolding" that was mentioned to put images into my memory, like the way you would describe what you see to someone else. I add placement info , like "to Right"; 10 feet away. Otherwise what I see is gone from my mind as soon as I stop looking at it. I usually don't remember seeing things at all. I CAN remember words I see in print, but no numbers. To answer your question, no I don't really picture things in 3D. I totally fail neuropsych visual, spatial, and sequencing testing. My imagination isn't affected. I imagine in concepts and mixed senses and emotion and logic. I've talked with people blind from birth but without cognitive visual impairment. They do have the ability to see in their mind's eyes quite well (blindsight). This is all mostly limiting in situations where you meet multiple people and need to recognize them again. Like, when you can't remember what your waitress looked like or what she said her name was, for most people.
Day dreaming for me is more remembering conversations, books, ect, but not actually seeing anything it's more just re experienceing the emotions and the story behind it. At the same time I don't see anything it's kind of weird and I don't really know how to describe it
After I found out about aphantasia, I realized I would be a zero or one on the spectrum. I started asking my parents about how they visualized things, and my mom was dumfounded at how I couldn't conjure up an image well at all, but how I could draw and sculpt so well. It's like I know what I want to draw looks like, and I know what elements of what thing will fit together how to conjure my image, but I rely heavily on reference photos.
I also notice, when I think, I don't use images at all, but I don't quite use words either, it's just that, a thought. A feeling. A collection of things I subconsciously now.
I'm exactly the same way. And I noticed that I stopped having fun playing pretend as a kid way before other people the same age as me. My friends and siblings couldn't understand why I didn't want to play anymore.
I also stopped pretending very early and never had any imaginary adventures or imaginary friends when I was little. An imaginary friend is a very foreign thing for me because I can't grasp the thought of conjuring up an image of a being that which I can talk to myself with. It's the same thing with how I never really grasped drawing or art in general, I can't imagine a thing that I want to draw. I have to describe it to myself and draw it out with a HEAVY amount of trial and error before I am satisfied with how something looks.
But the weirdest part is that I do have dreams that I can remember and describe at times because they are visually and audially in my head. Though if I become too self-aware of my dream, it's instantly gone and I wake up.
One thing I’ve been really advocating for ever since I learned about aphantasia is MORE REFERENCE IMAGES in creative classes, K-12 and beyond.
If we teach visual art using lots of reference, it would be helpful to teach creative writing or even music composition with more shared information given to the students.
Not only would it be an excellent accommodation for those with aphantasia, but it would show students that you can have the same starting point and end up somewhere different. :)
Me to if i close my eyes I just get black buy if I know what something looks like I can draw it. Or if I want to take a photo I know how I want it to look before taking it but I can't see it in my head I can't explain how its not words I get nothing in my mind I just know
@@MrJpilcher yes exactly!
As someone who sees just darkness when trying to imagine an apple, and has been that way his whole life, I felt this too much
I can't visualize anything when I close my eyes, I thought this was normal!
Just so you know, it's not even necessary for people to close their eyes to visualize - it tends to make it easier to focus on/see clearly, though, as you have no actual visual stimuli to focus on. "Open-eye visualization" isn't extremely fancy, though.
When you say that, do you mean a visualization appearing on your closed eyelids or you close your eyes to focus and visualize in your mind?(imagination i suppose)
@@didyougetanyofthat It's not really overlayed directly on reality. It's like a double sight, your normal vision and visualized vision existing at the same time. Though it's far easier to focus on just one at a time, you _can_ visualize with your eyes open. Most people prefer to have their eyes closed, though many don't see much difference, because it's not too hard to filter out what your eyes are seeing/not focus on it.
@es vee wait really? I’m part of the 2-3% :oooo
@@EZboyrocks i read that it was 1 out of 50...so it's a much higher percentage. and im having a hard time grasping the concept.
i can watch whole movies in my head, i dont even need to close my eyes
Same but it's not perfect. Hard to picture maybe like every detail of a shoe for example of if I'm designing art maybe it can hard to think of all the details. Like if I had to create a shoe Id have an overall design but would have to create it in parts to start picturing the details as I go.
@@sirsir9665 Exactly, for me they look like one of those AI generated images based off of an actual photo.
@@sirsir9665 man, i can imagine stitching, laces, buckles, the soles, literally everything, i can make them as elegant as i want, even with open eyes. god thats sad others cant do this.
Those are cartoons😆😆
I can listen to entire albums in my head
I'm so happy you've done a video on this! I've got aphantasia and first found out about it a couple of years ago. It was such a weird realisation that the "mind's eye" isn't just a metaphor and other people can actually "see" what they imagine! This video explains exactly what its like for me.
for me the image i see is usually really blurry if I try to force it
I'll sometimes get a really faint blurry image of something if I don't think about it (like if someone mentions a place I've been I'll get a quick gist of it but it'll disappear immediately) and if I try to hold on to the image or make one it just doesn't work or disappears even faster.
I felt the same way. "Wait. You can actually see things when you close your eyes?" It was surreal finding out people actually could do that lol.
Do you dream?
@@SrValeriolete yes! And I dream in images. I know when I've woken up that I saw images in my mind that are often as realistic as actually seeing something, but I can't "see" the dream again after waking up. Some dreams are less clear but most are as clear as real life.
It's odd that my brain can make pictures inside it but just not when I'm trying to make them!
I watched a video the other day about inner speech, I can visualize anything even going from the micro to macro scales of an object all while having an inner monologue about what I am looking at in my mind. This is constant with me, 100% of the day, I really couldn't image how folks go through life without both. I would never have thought that being able to visualize and discuss thoughts within your mind is only available to some. I just always imagined that's how people and the majority of animals think.
I remember when I learned that people could actually ‘see’ stuff without seeing it. I was shocked and in disbelief. I dont dream, I dont picture things, I never have. This is probably why I have always been such a fan of books, I loved the words and the stories they told, but I never saw any images or imagined the story in my head. Nowdays I am a writer and have been told that I give very vivid descriptions for things. I guess its because I have always been describing things in my head and have gotten quite good at it. This is quite informative. Though I knew a lot of this already I didnt know the emotional part.
if I’m not mistaken, every sentient being dreams and it’s one of the phenomena that connect all the higher members of the Animalia Kingdom together.
@@graxxor Im sure my brain has all kinds of activity while I sleep. But dreams? No, I don’t dream mate. I think I would know if my mind was creating fantastical or horrific worlds of fantasy while I slept. I am an expert on myself after all
@@graxxorhe just wants to feel special. Most people who "don't dream" just forget their dreams.
I actually dream in black. I don’t see anything but I know what’s going on.
I was amazed when I found out that the term minds eye was not just a thing people said. I literally can not see pictures in my head and have to use words, only in my head, to describe them to myself. I also love reading an am always amazed at authors that an describe things succinctly with words.
I've never had a visual imagination. Sounds like it would be fun to be able to literally see stuff in my mind. Would make the death of loved ones ever so slightly less awful because I could see them again somewhat.
It's about interpretation. In another video about this subject they say that people with aphantasia suffer less the loss of a loved one, precisely because they don't have a vivid memory of them, so they can move on easily. There are no images to hurt them as the common people.
some people also theorize that traumas causes you to lose it, maybe you could lose it during an event without realizing
What are memories like then? When I have memories of loved ones I remember them as they happened. As they looked, sounded, smelled, as if it happened again before me, in my mind. Is it not common to be able to do this?
@@asdfsadfasdf2419 I was hurt a lot as a kid by boys 3-4 years older than me. Lots of beatings and such. I was knocked out a couple times so could be that maybe.
@@jonathanvandagriff7515 I remember facts, figures, places, relative positions of things. But I also have ADHD so sometimes my recall of words and details of complex emotional things is bad
As someone who writes fiction, this is very interesting to me. I have a very 'visual' writing style because my internal vision has always been strong. It's worth keeping this in mind (no pun intended), because I want everyone to have a good experience while reading.
Oh, definitely! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been reading a book and just entirely skipped past character descriptions and setting descriptions. It never made sense to me why authors told me the exact details of an outfit; I can’t remember all those sentences! I found out in a creative writing class that detailed descriptions are intended to evoke imagery, but since I only picture vague, muted blurs of color, it doesn’t work for me.
Your best bet is to describe the emotion that the imagery provokes. If you’re describing the ocean at night, tell me about how it stretches into an infinite, unknowable horizon, waves rising up and crashing down endlessly, a cycle of creation that goes on forever. Or tell me about the colors: a dark wash of barely-blue grey and lightless black, lit only by the pale silver glow of a full moon. If you’re describing a character, it’s much better to tell me about their behavior: stance sure on a swaying deck, back straight and head held confidently high, a thin smile stretched across too-tight lips as they coldly meet their stowaway’s nervous gaze. Sure, also talk about their fancy hat and salt-stained coat and close-shorn hair, but unless the details you give me establish a backstory (gold buttons gleaming proudly on a lovingly mended vest, a scar carved deep across their forearm) then I’m unfortunately just going to get bored.
Bits of potential backstory or lore keep my interest because clearly the author is trying to tell me something about this character’s motives or this location’s relevance! But if I’m given two never-ending paragraphs about every detail of a busy city street, I will just skip past it, even if there are important details hidden in all the wordpainting. Because it does very little for me emotionally, it’s a bit of a slog to read through. If the appearance and the mood the setting or character evokes is that important, please just include an illustration! Those I can happily stare at for ages on end.
I know you didn’t ask for a rambling reply, but I figured I’d throw my two cents in anyway. Have a nice day!
i have aphantasia and i am obsessed with books. the harry potter series has always been my favorite specifically because of the way JK describes how harry sees things in his head. it was actually how i found out i had aphantasia. i think that visual writing styles are some of the best. it actually helps people like me piece together how something really might look in our own way. good luck with your writing! hope you are well💚
That's really interesting. My husband and I only discovered he had aphantasia this past week so we've been discussion it almost constantly since! He has only read one fiction novel in his entire life as he couldn't 'see' the point of it. Just reading words. We've been stuck as to why this one single book (Pillars of the Earth 25yrs ago) captured him in the way no other book had ever done before or since.
Can you please (if you happen to see this comment) explain 'visual' writing and why you think it might aid those with aphantasia to enjoy reading fiction? Cheers
As someone with strong aphantasia (if I concentrate hard, and only if, I can barely conjour up vague shapes - grey on black) I can tell you that books that tend to describe surroundings and scenes visually get extremely boring.
I love reading SciFi and Fantasy but books like LOTR as much as I love it was a bit of a chore. You read the first 100 pages Tolkien describing the Shire but since I cannot see anything it gives me nothing. So I nowadays skip over these sections completely. Still love LOTR.
it took me so many years to realize that when people tell you to picture something some people could actually see it- 💀
But what I’m rlly confused abt is how I have aphantasia and yet I have the most vivid dreams and thoughts-
Yeah I can dream and see stuff in my dream. But I cannot visualize anything that's being told to me in a conversation, being read or talked about. When someone tells me a story about something they saw , I genuinely don't care. And it's not that I'm rude. I just don't care naturally without trying because I cant picture it and I only hear the words so therefore I focus on the words. And I'm like ay cool man
It seems we have (or maybe don't have) other imaginative capacities, involving taste of flavors, hearing of sounds, feeling of touches, for examples, and largely we don't realize that others are having imagination experiences we don't or can't. This is the first foray into how our own sense of reality differs and why some people are better at some things than others. Good vid.
Didn’t realize that others can actually visualize an apple. I can try to but I honestly can’t “see” it in my mind. I can think about an apple all I want but it won’t make me “see” it
It is all just words, when people say they can "see" things, it is more of a feeling. You likely have the exact same mental picture as anyone else. My dad had this, but i talked to him for a while and he realized that he actually could picture his truck, just that he thought that he was actually supposed to visually see it.
Do you know what the inside of your house looks like? Can you think of going from your room to the bathroom, where the sink and the shower is? Even if you can't literally see it, no one can unless they are on lsd or something
@@leomadero562 No I definetly can see an apple, sure closing my eyes makes it easier to make the apple more detailed and well formed but even with open eyes I can overlay an apple somewhat. If I do it with out trying the apple shows up as a picture of an apple, as if some one printed a picture of a apple on a clear paper and put it really close to my eyes. If I put in more effort I can make the apple 3D, but even then lining it up with a real world table for more then a moment is really really challanging. Most times the apple won't follow the tilt of the table and will quickly faze out.
@@asdf30111 No, you're still not SEEING it. I can picture an apple in my mind, I can picture picking it up an biting it and how it changes, I can visualise scenes and fictional movies in my head that I alone make up, every camera shot, every sound effect essentially but I'm still not LITERALLY seeing it. As far as I know, the vast majority don't actually see things. This is the issue. It's hard to describe. I can rotate objects in three dimensional space, picture colour, even changing an apple from green to purple to red, pink and yellow etc. but am I literally seeing it the same way I see with my eyes? No. This is where many people hear "You should be able to see things in your mind" and they think, oh no, I can't do that because they feel they should have to literally see it. It's not the same.
It's the same way people "see" memories. No matter how much you think you can see a memory clearly, you really can't. Memories don't exist as an actual image in our brains that gets recorded. They're pieces of compartmentalised emotions and abstract thought, representative of things that happened or that we saw that our brain tries to recreate every time we "remember" that memory which is why depending on when we remember it, we may remember certain parts or forget certain parts. It's never the actual same memory every single time. More a feeling or representation of a moment in our lives than a literal snap image of that time and place.
This is what it's like for the majority of people who "see" things in their head. It's not a literal sight but rather an approximation of the thing, a representation built from our visual library over years and from emotion and abstract thought, otherwise if I said, look at that tree over there, now picture that tree in your mind, now overlay it on that paper sheet and trace the tree, you'd be able to trace a perfect image which is practically impossible.
@@Jhakaro am I really getting gaslighted about the way I view things with in my head? Picturing an apple is seeing it, sure thankfully it is different enough were I don't confuse it with it being a real. However that is not true for all people, and even myself if I get a quick glance of a room I sometimes can accidently trick myself into thinking someone is inside that room only to find out on a second glance that figure was fully with in my imagination.
It’s nice that this is getting more recognition and to find out I’m not the only one who can’t visualize things. Well, I can sometimes see very faded or distorted images for either a few milliseconds or sometimes even 3 seconds at the most. It take a lot of effort so that’s not an everyday occurrence for me
What a burden it would be to close your eyes and always be able to see a clear picture of something.
What a curse of having to see vividly the face of the ex who cheated on you.
Or vividly being able to see that time you saw your dog get run over.
It must make for a very cluttered and overly emotional brain.
I can't possibly imagine having a brain without imagery. It's incredibly entertaining!@@Shayron1989
That's not necessarily how it works. Maybe as a young kid I would have overactive visualizations sometimes (such as when trying to sleep), but as an adult it's a non-issue. In the same way that just because I have arms doesn't mean I have any trouble keeping them from flailing about uncontrollably.
I agree 100%. I have aphantasia, which I only just realized this year. I've always secretly felt bad that I could get over my exs so quickly and easily, I thought it meant I was heartless or didn't love them. Now I suspect it's because I don't (and can't) relive events or fixate on a face that isn't in front of me. I'm literally the embodiment of "out of sight, out of mind". It's also protected me from PTSD and flashbacks because I can't relive the day my ex strangled me. I used to wonder why that didn't haunt me, now I'm so thankful that it can't
I feel that most people are very emotional regardless, but I’m not very emotional and I don’t have aphantasia. It’s actually very useful when I need to imagine objects, rotate them and create things that would take long to draw. It’s also nice to “see time”, when I imagine the year as a huge calendar, I don’t know how to explain 😂. But honestly, I think trauma is linked to emotion, regardless of images in our minds. Sometimes a certain smell/sound could trigger people way more than an image.
@@jacklukasewycz1316I also have this “out of sight, out of mind” thing, but I don’t have aphantasia. I can get over things quickly too.
I only found out about this a few months ago when talking to my mom and she explained she had a friend who had aphantasia. She explained what it was and I was like: "Wait...you can actually picture things in your mind? The minds eye isn't just a figure of speech?"
I'm 46 and have never been able to actually picture images in my mind beyond just kind of remembering what things look like. I didn't realize people could really picture things.
what is the difference between recalling what something looks like and 'seeing it' in your mind? Serious question - I am trying to figure out where I land on this seeing/not seeing scale, and this seems to me to be a key. I don't 'see' an apple when asked to picture one, but I can 'see' where on a page some information was that I read 3 weeks ago, or how many windows are in the living room.
@@nancyholter5646I think that's memory
@@nancyholter5646 When "picturing" something, you're creating an image of your own will. When recalling a visual memory, you're looking for something that you didn't make but perceived at some point. You may also mix by recalling an image and then "adding" to it. Think of the mind's eye as quite literally an eye that sees what's in your mind.
There's some overlap, which is why false memories are so easy to accidentally create as well.
I'm somewhere in the middle, I have a mind's eye, but it requires me to focus fairly hard, even more so when imagining instead of recalling. This also made it easier to tell when I have inaccurate memories, as they become distorted or "dissolve" while I'm recalling them.
@@nancyholter5646 Yes we actually SEE what we're asked to "picture". This is why driving while talking on the phone can be so dangerous. I recall when mobile phones first came out, I was talking to my wife (who was in the supermarket) while on my way home. I found myself picturing where she was in the shop and, at that moment, veered off the road. Luckily this was onto a flat grass verge and the sound of my tyres on the dirt was enough to snap me out of it. This was simply because, at the moment I was picturing her walking around that store, I was no longer able to see what was directly in front of me. Obviously the part of my brain that processes images from my eyes, was too busy creating the image of the store layout. If I'm picturing something simple (like an apple) I can still see what's directly in front of me, but if I have to picture something more complicated, I am totally blind to whatever is physically in front of me at that moment.
I'm pretty sure that's how it works for most of us.
@@nancyholter5646the question is when you close your eyes, can you still see the image of the apple clearly like u're looking at a picture, or just a description of the apple, that's the different! People who don't experience Aphantasia CAN STILL SEE the IMAGE just like looking at a PICTURE (it's called visualization) If you don't experience it, then you have Aphantasia, simple!
It's weird for me. I have very vivid dreams and daydreams. I can replay memories in my head and somewhat 'see' what's going on. When I read a fictional book, I can 'see' what's going on. But if I'm just going about my day and someone says, "Visualize an apple" all I see is blackness. It's like a muscle that I need to flex.
I wish I could "see" when I read a book. I hate stories with a lot of visual description because it's all just blah blah blah and I end up glossing over it. Much to my detriment back in high school. I wish I knew about this back then!
@@BleuSquid I used to just think people who told me "it's like watching a movie in your mind!" were lying. I enjoy reading but I'm not watching any kind of movie in my mind! I see nothing!
Involuntary visualization is probably the issue. You automatically have dreams and such, but when you are told to conjure something, your brain would struggle? Maybe instead of "thinking of red apple" you might need to think of a time you actually ate a red apple.
@@thesuccessfulone it takes effort to imagine something on the spot
I don't really day dream or remember my dreams, but well written stories usually invoke a emotional response in me rather than a visual one.
I recently learned aphantasia was a thing. Never realized that people saw actual images in their mind.
same here
This whole time I thought it was some wishy washy metaphor lmao
Well, you don't "see" the images when you imagine them. If you can imagine something and know what it looks like without having to supplement that with words, then you do not have aphantasia. However, if the only way for you to understand remembered or imagined visual imagery is through words and not the abstracted image, then you have aphantasia, if I understand this all correctly.
It isn’t always like an image it can also be like being in a space
@Cherry Not for me. Once I spent enough time thinking about it and adding details, I literally saw a detailed apple as if it was being rendered in software with a lot of detail.
I remember people telling me they'd study by going over an important textbook page again and again until they could "see it with their eyes closed", and they'd recall that mental image during the exam.
They'd actually _extract information_ from an image somehow stored in their minds! That's literally unimaginable to me. My mental "images" only contain exactly what I consciously put there.
i cant do that either even though I dont have aphantasia
@@Fr00stee My problem with that is that my though are too chaotic.
If I try to see something, I will do it but it didn't generally take long before it turn into something else, like my though.
So I can use that... but only sometime.
I only had to write it out by hand and then I could remember it no problem because I could "see it." Same as how you described.
I've started describing the way I "visualize" things as being like proprioception. I am aware of an object, I can't see it (though I can feel it sometimes), but I can be aware of its dimensions, weight, texture, taste maybe, but if I ever see it in my mind at all, it is like someone flicked the lights on for a moment and the image is gone again.
Yeah man, I am one of those, I usually do something like photographing the pages and use it, not exactly like photographic memory but something similar
I don’t even need to close my eyes to picture something
Of course I have a mind's eye. It's right where it should be in the middle of my forehead.
So being able to do this, I absolutely look forward to instances where I'm dreaming, but partially awake. It's usually very brief, but it's like having the ability to bend reality. Makes for some interesting experiences. As an artist, another huge advantage to it is I can imagine an item I'm familiar with like a human. I can pose them as I see fit, and visualize it directly into the space I wish to draw. After that I just maintain it as long as I can, and basically trace what I see. It is challenging to maintain the image though. You experience the same kind of fatigue you would from any other mentally demanding task.
So kinda like waking up in the morning from an alarm clock or smth and then going back to sleep? For me thats when i remember my dreams the most, but not quite lucid dreaming like you
I don’t have aphantasia at all but I can’t draw anything from my imagination, I think that might be two separate abilities.
my guy is rendering a scene xd
and of course, it consumes large amounts of processing resources
Text scaffolding is the BEST way I have ever heard for describing how my brain 'remembers' scenes. I cannot SEE the image in my head but I can usually describe it clearly by using the text descriptors I noted when first seeing it. I knew there was something wrong with me since I was little. Live in an art family, myself included, and seeing my family able to draw free-hand, when I was only able to draw if the item was physically in front of me to see with my eyes, made me not only incredibly jealous but also made me think something was wrong with me. From an early age I have always "taken notes" of my surroundings thru words. The man was tall, had blonde hair, was wearing a blue shirt, etc. but if I saw the man again later on, without those matching descriptors I saved, I wouldn't know it was him :(
I have aphantasia but my motor memory is pretty good so I don't need to see something to draw it. Reference pictures make a better result esp if I want the drawing to look super polished. With faces I became more observant and I use a ton of text descriptions to know what someone looks like.
I completed my teaching degree in 1985. At that time I had a professor who told us that children need to learn to develop (and use) the ability to visualize shapes and turn them around (rotate) before they become adolescents, or the ability to learn this is usually lost. So as a Science teacher I have tried to get kids to develop this ability... "Close your eyes and visualize a square. Now, using your mind... rotate the square to the right... " etc. Very interesting to now learn more about this. Thanks!
Well interestingly enough I was quite good at the whole shape rotating thing at school. Better than the other kids, but I never actually saw anything in my head. You don't really need to. You can just "imagine" how it might look without seeing it. That's how I do it.
...But it does take some effort obviously, especially if it's a complex shape, because you have to remember where all its parts are and how they would look when it's rotated. You can't just instantly rotate the thing as a whole, because you don't see anything. So you'd be like, "I guess this part would look like thaaat when rotated, yes that's right, and that part like thaaatt, no like this! Yeah that would be right...".
I suppose it would be really easy if you could simply see the whole thing and you just rotate it in front of you... which is why I'm now wondering why the other kids were actually doing worse at it than me. If they could see it, this should have been really basic. What's the problem with just rotating a shape?
@@marioluigi9599I had this same experience in college with spatial reasoning experiments
@@murdey yeah so why can't the kids who can see the shape rotate it easily?
I realized I have aphantasia last year. Since then, exploring the differences in aphants and non-aphants has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me.
Non-aphants feels like an unnecessary double negative. Can we just be phantasians or phants for short?
It's crazy right! Had no idea people could actually imagine, or that I want doing it.
I'd always been really confused by those meditation exercises where they tell you to imagine yourself sitting beside a river or something. I just can't picture it at all. But this difficulty in imagining things did help me become a great descriptive writer. I don't imagine things. Instead, I "see" things as words. Descriptors. I memorize things not by how they look, but by mentally jotting down words that describe them. It's kinda weird to explain. Can't draw to save my life though.
That's very cool! I'm glad you found that skill :)
yeah, i call it my ''daredevil'' sight, like it's an echolocation hitting something that i can briefly get an idea of.
My grandma tried to get us to do one of those once and I just pretended that I could see.
I've never been able to get into guided méditations... Now I know why lol
Theyre super hard, there's one guy that I like that tells you its ok if you dont see anything or if its not clear and encourages the meditator to focus on what they may or may not be able to see (emotions, feelings, colors and etc).
As an Artist, I can't imagine not being able to see things in my mind. How do those without it create any kind of art? Brains are weird.
Probably by reacting and iterating on what they create rather than planning it first.
Edit: so I did some reading and apparently people with aphantasia have ideas they want to see, so drawing is a way to turn our thoughts into images. This is why many people with aphantasia are drawn to art. It's true for me.
Honestly I don't know how but I want to find out. People said my art is really good and I have aphantasia. Not bragging here, this is just for informational purposes, but many people including my family would not believe me when I told them I have aphantasia. Some of them still don't believe me. My art sucked for the longest time, then when I healed from my eating disorder it suddenly improved a lot. Probably because my hand wasn't shakey anymore? My art looks better when I use a reference but I can still draw well without a reference.
We look at what we are creating. There's definitely artists out there that should do that.
For me a person with aphantasia, i often have to reference and combine images before i draw something. And proportions dont come naturally, I need a ruler for that.
Im 100 percent aphantasia is just misunderstandings of words and stuff, a lot of people think that "normal" people literally hallucinate things in front of them but its not like that at all. Im not trying to accuse anyone of lying or anything, just trying to discuss.
I thought for the longest time that people with visual memories were the rare ones, even after I discovered the concept of aphantasia I was once again surprised that some have a mind's ear as well and can conjure music or other sounds. I feel like I'm the normal one, people that see and hear things that aren't there sounds odd.
I can " play" whole concertos in my head.
Interesting. I always thought “mind’s eye” referred to intuition or something related to spirituality
It talks about imagery Imagining in this video, More on how Imaginative some people and some are not.
Minds eye is indeed spiritual gift. Not everyone is connected to the divine in such a personel level. So those who are , are responsible for getting everyone else closer to God.
Me too. I guess I have limited visual imagination …
@@AntilleanConfederation If you could see what I sometimes use mine for I don't think you'd be saying that haha.
@@yewtewbstew547 spiritual doesn’t just mean God. The bad ones can manipulate you also. If you let them in.
If anyone is interested, AmyRightMeow has aphantasia and talks about it on her TH-cam. She's an animator and it's really interesting to see how she creates artwork.
Wow, being an animator with aphantasia sounds like drifting a car which doesn't have a steering wheel LOL.
Mah-Dry-Bread also has it. He's a gamer.
This blows my mind... My friend who first told me he had aphantasia told me of an author who has it too.... I see everything through my minds eye so this is very intriguing to me.
oh my goodness, yes! her video on aphantasia was what made me realize i had it lolol
How? I first time hear about it now. I am also Artist and draw things from my mind for living. But I can not "see" apple in my mind vividly right now
I couldn’t imagine (quite literally, I must say) having aphantasia. The way I think is not through words, but audiovisual. VERY audiovisual. I _can_ still have internal monologue just fine of course, but I greatly prefer to think through actual scenes and experiences and such.
Not only does it help a ton with creativity, but it also helps a lot with decision making as it allows me to effectively simulate different outcomes based on certain parameters in great detail. And often times very accurately.
Oh and my favorite part is that when I listen to music, it’s like the sound gets re-routed into my visual imagination, so I can imagine something and the music I’m listening to causes that thing I’m imagining to warp and distort in very drastic ways, more often than not to the point that it’s entirely unrecognizable and abstract. I don’t know how to describe this in a way that makes sense, but it is incredibly trippy, and plays a huge role in why I listen to the music I listen to. Honestly couldn’t imagine listening to music and not “seeing” it, lol. It’s like having both an extremely strong imagination and having audiovisual synesthesia. Idk if I just lucked out when it comes to having a brain that makes awesome experiences without needing drugs or something. Won’t lie though, psychedelics do make the experience a lot more interesting
When I listen to music, it also gets somewhat "re-routed into my visual imagination." Except I'm fairly close to having aphantasia, so it's usually just a solid color or blur. When I first realized this happened (since it was so subtle) I tried blocking my visual imagination and the music felt dull or empty. Quite neat, but yeah, you got something way cooler going on.
I find that my first tendency when doing difficult mathematics of some sort (full disclosure, I’m a physicist) is to translate it into geometry or a geometric analog in my head - basically my minds eye - and turn it around and “look” at it from different angles. A lot of the time this works like a charm. But after working with many brilliant people I also realize in many cases this is limiting. I know many mathematicians that don’t fall back by default to mental geometry and have developed their other frameworks like logic, number theory and probably stuff I can’t even imagine to a very high degree. I don’t know if this is always by choice, or their educational path, or their innate make up, but in such cases I’m sure NOT having a minds eye could lead to developing some powerful alternatives, at least in the abstract realms.
This is similar to what my mind's done with aphantasia. My thoughts/memories are very spatial but have no imagery whatsoever, just a soft black polluted by whatever light is on the other side of my eyelids. I have the ability to understand and recall relative positions within complex spatial reasoning tasks but would have a hard time drawing what they looked like. I could easily draft a coordinate system and plot it though. I've found this 'thread' or 'means' of cognition is super beneficial when studying things like computer graphics and vectors/matrices, but I envy those with a functional 'mind's eye'...
For me it’s when I’m reading. When I read I almost always think of things in a series of facts rather than as images. But I can visualize something if I want to. It’s just not vivid and way more elusive than seeing something in real life, and definitely not through my eyes.
aaaa as someone with aphantasia i adore this video. the more we learn about aphantasia, the more i kind of realise what im missing out on, and that can be really upsetting. thank you for treating it with respect as usual
i know right! i never knew people could really see in their heads and now i'm kind of upset that i'm not able to :/
The ability to use text as memory is something I'd love to have. There are payoffs each way.
@@veramae4098 very true! ive since found many upsides, but i also just got turned down for a job because i couldnt comprehend measuring the walls of a room 💪 that situation is pretty rare of course but terrible timing
I saw a video about aphantasia by a youtuber a couple years back. It was a real surprise that aphantasia was a thing.
As a DM for my local D&D group, I realize that this condition actually has some notable implications. For instance, a possible reason why a player isn't as into the game when playing TTRPGs using primarily Theatre of the Mind, as opposed to more physical representations (i.e., miniatures, pictures, and battlemaps), could be due to that player having aphantasia.
On a related note, this could also help explain it when some people deride others for imagination intensive hobbies/activities. They might see it as people being phony (lying about this "seeing stuff in your head" thing) or just that they don't realize that they are the only ones present that can't connect with the activity and thereby get no enjoyment from it.
Very good observations.
I love tabletop but yeah, require at least markers for where things are.
At least I’m the DM and have control over that.
I have maladaptive daydreaming so this concept just feels more alien than aliens.
Not me having maladaptive daydreaming and aphantasia and no internal monologue 👁👄👁
@@simabe5067 ughh I would give anything to have no internal monologue. My brain never shuts up
@@tacobelle69 be thankful. It makes you smarter than the average person. And more reflective of your actions!
@@endorkugo I am thankful. My mind still never shuts up lol
Same..
I realised why my anxiety is so bad. My brain makes up scenarios in my head, like how I'm going to die, and plays it out in my mind like a movie. Feels so real.
This made me realize I have hyperphantasia. My mind's eye is just as vivid as seeing. I can see and hear anything I want in my mind, any movie, any memory, I can make any scene I want, any music video, and I always thought everyone could do that.
You should look into Neville Goddard:)
I can kind of do that, but I have terrible memory so it's harder to visualize memories. I can to a select few I remember tho
@@alicedodobirb2808 start exercising your brain.
@@thewanderingartistshow would one do that
@@jonharrison3114 there are many imagination exercises you can find on TH-cam.
I didn't realize this was so new to science! when I was a kid one of my friends said she couldn't visualize things but I could ( I was also very interested in optics and perception), so I ended up doing experiments on my classmates about this in when I was in middle school! Wish I knew then that it would have been ground breaking aha
Yeah, you should have tried to publish your results.
Mental exercise for hank:
Imagine a pelican.
That's it. There's nothing more. I just wanted to make you smile
considering that pelicans can and frequently do bend their spine out through the bottom of their mouth, I can comfortably say I'm not smiling when I picture that
@@compositeembryo7186 oof.
I...
Hank likes pelicans
My last name is peliKan, so thank you, I appreciate it :D
I imagined a Pelipper
Oof
@@handa6748 lol same I can imagine a wingull but don’t remember what a pelican looks like
I have a "muddled" mind's eye. I can picture things, but it's hard to keep it together and I have to focus a lot on it.
This alerted me to the fact some people are better and some are worse at "picturing things", especially my mother who's always been waay worse specifically at spatial imagination (Picturing how much space an imaginary object would take up). Some friends can just conjure up complete scenarios without as much as a thought, while I spend a good while slowly building up everything.
And then when I read about Aphantasia I thought it was weird to just... not know that people use their heads differently.
Spatial imagination exists? Thatd be helpful.. I mean, I think I have it to an extent, but I sort of have to measure it with my real senses and visualize really hard.
I realized I have Aphantasia because of this video, and showed it to my Dad - who realized he has it as well. I will be talking to my brother and sister and post here about their results!
Lies everywhere
This sounds similar to my experience with faces. Like when I think of family members or friends that j haven't seen in the last few hours j can't picture a particular face.
Omg Exactly.
I also cant remember their faces.
And Before I learnt about aphantasia I got really bummed and weirded out about not being able to imagine or remember my family's faces .
I have a hard time describing them as well coz I cant bring up a picture in my head and describe them.
Friends or acquaintances I havent seen in awhile are a lost cause completely.
But with aphantasia I guess the inability to recall their faces can be explained.
@@ghnjhnx Actually probably not. I couldn't describe the faces of the people I live with if my life depended on it, all I have is a memorized list of distinctive features. That doesn't mean I don't recognize them, or couldn't pick them out of a group, or tell which of several similar looking people was "mine".
Because their faces are just like my house, with the same level of visual memory detail and the same level of recognition and distinguishability. Or the software I work with every day, which I could not tell you from memory where a certain button is without moving my mouse hand, because I can't *see* it without actually looking at it, even though I look at it for approximately 30 hours a week.
damn i cant really remember either even though i dont have aphantasia it takes a lot of effort to remember
This is prosopagnosia, there's a specific region of the brain that processes faces and if it's underdeveloped, remembering faces is harder.
@@LucyXuCovers it's the thing that Chuck Close has, right?
My friend is an Aphantasiac! We discovered this when we were talking about the "Do you have an inner monologue or not" thing a few months back. Meanwhile, me, my dad, and my sister can all have multiple thought strings with voice going on all at once, but my mom, who is an amazing artist, fuzzes on people's faces the second they walk out of her sight. My Aphantasiac friend also fuzzes like that too... And while we're at it, it's very likely I have Hyperthymesia. Check the Sci-Show Psych episode with Brit for more details on that.
I have one internal voice, I never have multiple???
@@gabumonboys The only people I know that have multiple are me, my dad, and my sister. My mom doesn't, and none of my friends with inner monologues do. Though I did find 1 friend who hears voices of other people instead of her own to think. I cap out at 5. I can force 7 but then it's too hard to actually keep track of anything. When I was younger it was a lot easier to process it all. I thought it was normal and everyone had it. Same deal with my memory... I thought EVERYONE remembered minute details from conversations 2 years prior, but it was freaking people out.
@@Varizen87 Is your mental imagery really good too? It seems like you have really developed language centers in your brain.
I am fully aphantasiac, but I talk to myself all the time. Only one voice, though
I have aphantasia and I definitely have some face blindness like your mom. My dad has hyperthymesia.
I only recently realised I have this condition (after reading about it) and was startled to know I can't visualise objects as actual images but I can easily imagine these things and think about shapes and plan out a structure in my head and how things fit together and it's not really describing them with words either.
Also I have vivid dreams which are just like real life with bright colours and feelings which are indistinguishable from my wakeful experience.
I'm pretty much like that too - except putting things together - I have to draw it out to understand it.
Fascinating. If you were to juxtapose these experiences, what components would you say demonstrate indistinguishability
I go through the same thing. I can't imagine something and see it there, but I do have very vivid dreams sometimes, and I have maladaptive daydreaming too LOL, so is weird. I can imagine it but I can't see it.
Same
This is usually how I’m able to memorize what I need to buy when I go grocery shopping. I won’t actually memorize the actual items themselves, but I’ll sort of retain a “mental walk-through” of the house before I leave that I can I guess call on for what I need
that seems like a superpower to me
I have and have always had aphantasia. It's why I decided to learn to draw so I could visualize the ideas I had.
My aphantasia doesn't apply when I'm dreaming though, only when I'm awake.
Same thats what I find extremley weird.
Aphantasia is when you don't see things
Yes, I can't imagine an image when awake. But my dream is like a movie with color...
What about daydreaming?
@@yewtewbstew547 Can't conjure an image while daydreaming. It's all just aspirational inner monologue.
The question is not whether you can _pronounce_ aphantasia,
but whether you can *_imagine_* aphantasia.
That's like asking a sighted person to imagine what blindness is like lol
depends whether you have it or not! I do, and can't imagine actually being able to see things in my mind. What are daydreams like? Can you imagine a person's face if you think about them, or is that too detailed?
@@Bjenga It really depends on how detailed a mind can imagine things. For example, I cannot conjure up 3D images in my head that well. Even if I look at 3D images or things irl, they don't look quite 3D, they look kinda flat.
I think I was able to see 3D images more easily when I was younger (unless those were straight up dreams and not daydreams) but now it's tough to focus long enough to hold any images in my head (unless they're intrusive thoughts/images, then I have a hard time reeling them in).
Like I said, it's like a sighted person and a blind person trying to visualize what the other person sees lol Because I can't wrap my head around the idea of having no mental images. For example: Do you ever see things you wish you could unsee? Because I believe this concept requires having a mind's eye (but maybe I'm wrong).
@@RosheenQuynh Do I ever see things I wish I could unsee? Not really? Like once i've seen something gross or wierd i'm going to be grossed out for a while, but i'm not going to remember it later, so it won't bother me once a few hours or so has passed, if that's what you mean. Like I might be embarrassed that it happened if someone brings it up, but it's not going to bother me otherwise. That's something that I hadn't thought of before!
@@Bjenga Yeah, that's why I asked. Because generally when people say "I wish I could unsee that...", it's because they know that image of whatever will haunt them for a while - meaning they'll picture it later and feel freaked out again. Sort of like a PTSD flashback but MUCH more mild.
I already knew I couldn’t see anything i think but I just learned today people actually hear their thoughts too. I’m bewildered.
I've always had this - never been able to picture anything at all. I can place where things go spatially in my head, but definitely can't "see" them. Sounds like a super power. Reddit has a subreddit for r/aphantasia. Lots of people have this, but none of my friends - they all think I'm weird.
Question, when writing like for a class like language arts, do you use a lot of describing words? My teachers all say to do it but I struggle because I can already "see" them and it would be stating the obvious to me. It's why when I read, it's weird to see people describe the place or person completely different to me. I dunno this is kinda a rant cause it's my first time hearing bout this lol.
U can't see what? The fact u said u can't means u already did or u wouldn't know what we're talking about
@@marcwhite6596 uhhhh what are you talking about? lol
I can't picture anything either ! Do you have vivid dreams ?
@@blackgirloffgrid1054 I know you didnt ask me but I also cant picture things and have *extremingly* vivid dreams to the point of routinely deeply disturbing me. Why, you too? I honestly wish I could tone them down.
My sister and I both have this, and I didn't know it was a thing until I saw this episode! Thank you SciShow, and the researchers who did these studies! It doesn't hinder me at all that I know of -- I can't retain complex scene descriptions while reading, but the text turns directly into meaning for me (I'm not watching it happen in my head) so I can usually follow the plot. It's so cool to know my sis and I are not alone! Where do I sign up to participate in future aphantasia studies xD
i discovered my aphantasia back in april and boy has that changed my view of basically everything lol. i see full black when i close my eyes and finding out that almost everyone else in my life has incredibly vivid internal worlds is...super not fun!!
it has made me curious, though, as to whether ppl with aphantasia experience trauma in the same way as ppl without. i know ppl who have had a hard time processing traumatic experiences, even ones from decades ago, because the images from those experiences stick with them. scary/traumatic stuff doesn't tend to bother me that much because as soon as it's over, i don't see it in my head anymore.
I’m fairly certain most people “see black” when they close their eyes. It’s not as if most people have vivid imaginations, springing visual imagery in their minds as they shut their eyelids. Don’t use this discovery to lose gratitude for life.
Idk if you close your eyes and rub your palms into them, you can see the scales of a snake. At least i used to, when i was younger. Im not gonna test it out now tho bc ive been eating spices. But thats prob more of a physical thing.
Don't be envious. I spent all my energy planning how my game will look and work in my head. When the time comes to actually make something other people can see, I feel really lazy because I'm convinced that I already made it all. I burn all my motivation in a one-off like L33t.
EDIT: what I'm trying to say is that we've got both good points and bad points. If I describe a visual you won't get it, but when there are instructions it will be easier for you to execute them without getting distracted.
I really thought picturing something was a metaphor my whole life. I literally can't even imagine a color.
I can't know whether I have it or not cause idk how to describe what I "see" in my head. I don't literally see something, it's like a vague picture that I... "imagine"? I do literally seen things when I dream, but when I remember it it's that vague picture again.
So yeah no idea how to describe it.
That sounds about like how my brain works. Like I can think and understand a red apple. But there isn’t one floating in my mind as I “look at it”.
This! Exactly this! Like, I am “imagining “ the red Apple, but I’m not “SEEING” it in my mind...
Yea, I'm in the same boat. Like I don't actually see an apple, but I kind of have the thought of the concept of an apple.
Its nice to not be alone in this.
Same for me. When I close my eyes I just see black. I can vaguely imagine a red apple, but it's not appearing in the black I see. It's... something else ? Dunno
Edit: Yeah that's really hard to describe. Couldn't find the right words
Edit 2: So apparently we're mixing phantasia (mind's eye) and prophantasia (projecting an image into physical sight).
When I found out you could actually see something in your minds eye, it blew me away. I’m a sculptor so it doesn’t affect my ability to produce art.
That's really cool to know, proprioception without the vision. In physical therapy I was blind-folded and told to navigate the hospital from memory. I couldn't do it that way, but I could from sound, scent, and hearing.
Wow! I doubt I could do it no matter what. My proprioception's always been impaired.
@springsogourne it makes so much sense that as an artistic person with aphantasia you became a sculptor. I'm also aphantastic (?) and always thought I was unartistic b/c I can't draw. Then I discovered that I have a knack for 3d mediums like ceramics. I wonder if that's a common thread between people with aphantasia?
@@ashleyhanson1269 it very well could be, I have at least two other sculptor friends who have aphantasia as well. I have found if I close my eyes and sculpt “by feel” I can actually do very well. I do figurative sculpture and I understand anatomy, so going by feel seems very natural.
I have never seen an image in my mind my entire life I didn't know until recently that people were able to actually see things in their own mind. I always assumed it was a figure of speech. I always feel kind shitty when someone says picture it.
i always thought it meant something like, think of this. Like a metaphor
I'm pretty sure people aren't actually seeing things in their head. There are very few comments on this video where people claim to see literal images in their head, just a lot of surprised people mystified about what they believe others are experiencing. Seems like most of us can imagine stuff just fine, we just wouldn't choose to call it 'seeing'. For others the term feels more appropriate, but I would guess that the experiences are not that different.
@@mandrewsvideos It's just people with aphantasia get this video recommended so there's a lot more people with aphantasia commenting. The sample size is way too small and way too one sided to come to that conclusion.
@@mandrewsvideos It’s not hard to see things, and most people can. A very important example is Howard Hinton’s cubes, they are an exercise where you have to see a specific series of cubes and layer them to get a glimpse of a 4th dimensional cube, such a thing would be impossible to do or useless to write about if nobody could see them.
@@jens7757 Well, I just asked everyone here, about 50 people, and no one can actually see the image. They imagine it, and think of it, but they don’t see it like a hallucination.
I can see it with my eyes closed and even with my eyes open!