Aphantasia: The People Without a Mind's Eye | 'Out of Mind' | Wired UK
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 เม.ย. 2021
- If you close your eyes and picture an apple, how clear is that apple in your mind?
Most people can visualise images in their head instantaneously - this known as the mind's eye.
But in 2015, a scientific study shed new light on the relatively unheard-of phenomenon known as aphantasia, a mental blindness where the brain is unable to call images to the mind eye.
This short documentary uncovers the root cause of a person's emotional detachment from people and events - and the unexpected advantages that come with it.
Alex Wheeler shares the story of how his experiences with aphantasia have affected his life, particularly his grieving process after losing his mum, as he seeks answers from Adam Zeman, Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at the University of Exeter Medical School.
WIRED also talks to artist and TH-camr Amy Right, better known as @AmyRightMeow, who shares their experiences with aphantasia and how it feeds their creative process.
Produced as part of WIRED Health www.wired.co.uk/partnerships/...
Director: @Simon Mulvaney
Producer: Anna O'Donohue
Featuring: Alex Wheeler , Adam Zeman, Amy Right
Field Producer: Lewis Faithfull
Studio Cinematographer: Dan McPake
Studio Art Director: Deborah Du Vernay
Animation & VFX: Run Zebra Run
Original Music Composition: Liam Hennessy and Joe Danher
VHS Digitised by EachMoment - eachmoment.co.uk
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I'm 72 years old and I cried when I watched this. Thank you for making me understand how I have lived and that I'm not alone. All my life I have done my best to hide the fact that I can't really visualize. I 'know' what an apple looks like, and could have answered those questions. But never has there been anything there but black. Thank you.
I'm 65 and so did I. All my life I wondered why my wife could describe her dreams with such vivid images in colour. My dreams are very rare and no images. In the rare cases where there might be an image it is always blurry and very dark gray. I can barely remember any images. Same when I am awake. If asked to remember an object I can only imagine the object concept and reconstruct some of the concepts of that object but no image. My mind is always working in concepts, never in real situations. Only today I now can put a word on this weird behaviour of my brain. I'm gonna have to study this aphantasia more deeply. Fascinating, I now know what is wrong with me. How do you cure this thing?
@@jimviau327 I don’t think you have to fix this like it’s something wrong with you. Just understand how you work and accept what you cannot change.
Sapphire Ninja , All I am saying is , If there is a way to enhance my human experience I'd rather go for it. To me it appear obvious that if I could see images in colour in my mind it sure would raise its efficiency. Not that I feel depleted but I see this mind feature as a plus. If there was a way to "fix" this I sure am interested. Thanks for your comment anyway. I see what you mean and I agree with you.
@@jimviau327 very good point. I know I can sort of visualize a little bit but it is very vague. Not really visual but more the concept of say an apple I don’t really see it but I can think about it. On the other hand I do dream visually but I don’t usually remember color in my dreams.
Maybe what I’m saying is that maybe there is a spectrum of being able to visualize. Like people who can imagine what the shape of things might be like in their mind’s eye but can’t quite see them.
My wife on the other hand can remember where everyone sat four years ago at her first class in college and she can see it all in her mind. That is a gift she has. But I am more intellectually aware and remember deeper concepts and ideas than her. We each have our strengths. I would love to have the ability to see things in my mind like that but I really can’t. Maybe with practice I could try to make visualization in my mind. Take the concept of the shape of something and add detail to it maybe? But likely I’ll never be able to do what my wife does.
Im glad you know now and feel less alone. I actually just asked my grandma about it and she found out she had this like I do, after living her whole life without knowing. I think for others, it’s hard to imagine the emotional impact of knowing we cannot have the pleasures of closing our eyes to the faces of our loved ones, reliving memories, picturing your childhood home, etc. God Bless you and yours, Sir❤️
I spent maybe 25 years thinking that people 'picturing' things was a figure of speech and was totally freaked out when I found out people could actually see things.
same here.
Yup, Criminal Minds and shows where they tried to take people back to the event confused me so much. I wondered why there was such a common shared delusion that this wasn't fantasy. Oops
Can You still see things in your Dreams?
@@mikemsea4086 I'm fairly certain I can't. I'm curious about others though.
@@mikemsea4086 I'm not sure. I have no visual memory of my dreams once I wake on the occasions that I do remember a few details about them. Though theres been a couple of times I've been heard saying something while asleep/just waking up that would indicate that I do have visuals while dreaming.
That moment when you realise counting sheep to fall asleep actually meant that people imagined a herd of sheep and counted it and not just randomly increment a number in their mind
omg….that makes so much sense
You’re taking it too far, most of the time it’s interpreted as counting the tiny ‘white dots’ behind your eye lids.
@@rens8664 Nah, I see sheep jumping over a fence in a green pasture.
@@Neophema Yeah I can do that too sunshine it just never made me fall asleep
@@rens8664 nobody in creation actually thinks it helps fall asleep. But can you do it? Is a good way to know whether you have Aphantasia or not..
when he mentioned his mom, a thought crossed my mind
"it`s a bit sad not being able to mentally relive uncaptured memories"
you still have memories, you just don't have it the same way. I don't find it sad ! I remember my feelings, what happend, etc... I also can describe things, I just don't see them. You may find it sad because the way you do things would miss you, but on my side I learned after almost 40 years of life that not everyone was like me and I don't know I don't find my way of perceiving thing sad, I am very happy with it. I guess you probably miss a lot of non visual things that I get, being not visual but having other ways to do it ?
Also, it is probably very relxing to only live in present... I am someone who is only in present, so if you hurted me in th past I am totally fine with you as long as you don't do it again in the present (I don't "forget", but I don't relive it), and maybe this is connected ?
Could explain while I am so simple (a friend of mine told me "people don't understand you because they think your are complicated, while you are very simple" (but they don't imagine it is possible, they are looking for a complex thing).
Before I realized I had this I once said to my boyfriend “I have a close relationship to reality” he didn’t understand. This comment led me to discover that I felt so rooted in reality because it’s all I had. There was nothing there when I close my eyes.
Totally true. You are very smart. Without reality we'd get lost! I love realistic people!
One of its most powerful uses however is the ability to envision, manipulate and even animate 3D objects almost as if they were in your hands. I can't imagine not being able to do that but all of this is interesting because it recently came up at work about its auditory counterpart, people either have that "conscious thought stream voice" they use for processing, or not. I can't imagine not having that one either, but the one guy at work says he stores everything visually and factually like a list.
So many variants and interactions of all this... I guess a balance of things is good... myself I'm not great with hard facts like numbers but I can see the trends move all day long... so it's all a tradeoff no matter what.
Out of curiosity, what do you experience when you dream?
@@KatharineOsborne Ooh, good question!! 😃
I really wonder about that, too!🤔
Oh, that sounds great! My imagination is so overpowering that it inhibits my ability to function like everyone else. My first job at the corner store, I was trying to count the change out of the till, but ALL I could think of was the customer's face, watching what I was doing. I yelled at myself, "JUST COUNT IT!" but my mind was on everything I wasn't looking at. At home, I practiced with my mum, and I could count just fine. The next day at work, the same thing happened.
Turns out, I have ADHD, where imagination takes over reality. Talking to people, I can miss whole chunks of what they say, because my mind wanders, imagining them in different circumstances, or what someone else might say or do at another place or time. It's rather debilitating not to be able to stop getting lost in your imagination.
It must be wonderful to be so present all them time!!! Although I relish imagining things and vividly remembering moments, like a movie in my head, too much of a good thing ...
We humans are fascinating, in all our differences and struggles and privileges and insights!
When I read a book, it's like watching a movie in my head. My ex could never understand it. Until the subject came up, he never knew people could do that, and I never knew there were people who couldn't.
I bet this is why there are people who despise reading
I imagine that reading would be boring if onecouldn't see images in one's mind. You have made a very interesting observation.
Agreed. Just has a similar realization as well. I cannot enjoy a comic book because the illustrations detract from my ability to generate mental images of my own, but see and experience stories vividly when reading books. My son loves graphic novels but despises reading fiction. I don't understand it. Often my imagination is so strong that it's difficult to stop visualizing my daydreams and focus on the world.
I have aphantasia but I love to read, I never realised that I was supposed to be seeing things - so it felt normal to me. But I do feel very envious now that I know other people see the things they read, it must be amazing
people always wondered why i read slowly. reading to me is like savoring the scenes in the book (yes, it's a rich taste, like butter or buttermilk), which i then paint in my mind.
what i'm interested to know is: for those with aphantasia, how do you process "scenes" in books? no, i don't feel sorry for them as there's nothing wrong with them. they are who they are, and i'd just like to know what they do with the information; a different way of seeing things.
this is so neat!
I am so glad I saw this video. I'm a 61 yr old woman who can visualize and I have an inner monologue but This may explain my daughter since she lost her fiance in a violent way. I have cried for her and could never understand why she seemed to never show emotion over certain things unless they were presented to her. She said she didn't picture things, ever. This may be the answer. Thank you for this.
She NPC
You actually haven't cried "for her", have you!
@@oneseeker2what does that mean?
They cannot relive the memories the same as we do.
@@i.ehrenfest349
I think deep emotional trauma can make you lose the ability to visualize. I used to daydream and visualize when I was younger. I went through a horrible break up where i really believed the person loved me and was heart broken when I found out they didn’t. I would imagine our life together once we were married. But it was snatched away when I realized our relationship was a lie. Our subconscious mind keeps us safe. So deep inside my psyche, to cope with the loss, I began to believe whatever I want will never work out. Now my subconscious mind will not allow me to visualize things that I feel I can’t achieve.
My daughter has aphantasia. I can’t believe the number of times she tried to explain that she couldn’t visualize or imagine things.’At 16 she was very upset telling me this and I really heard her. This, along with other things she said led to a very late ASD diagnosis. Now she’s had a lot of assistance and is thriving!
I always use to think “counting sheep” to fall asleep was just a funky way to say count in your head until you fall asleep.
Oh wow. Thats why that never worked out for me. XD
Im really confused .. so people can see sheeps or things they imagine?
@@1styonkou695 Correct. If I close my eyes and think of an apple, the apple is as visible to me as it looks in real life. I can rotate around it, zoom in, zoom out, see the details of the skin, the stem, etc.
@@JohnSmith-sk7cg WOW. That blows my mind. Especially that crucial detail you added that the image is "as visible to me as it looks in real life". That TRULY amazes me. I always thought I could "imagine" things or "picture" them, but I always thought it was a sort of figure of speech. I imagine things without visuals I can actually see. I just "know" what something's supposed to look like. Opening or closing my eyes makes no difference because I'm not truly seeing anything. I can still "remember" images though or conjure up new ones...but I don't "look at them". It's so hard to describe now that I know people ACTAULLY see things in that kind of detail. I 100% can't do that.
OMG me too dude hahaha I was like how tf do you count something that doesn’t exist aren’t I just making up the #? Lol
This is me. I always thought it was a figure of speech when people would say “close your eyes and imagine...”
It's not always a benefit to have a 3rd eye.
Especially when guilt and trauma traps you in your own mind.
@@dylanmalo2317 I feel that’s why I don’t have one. I don’t have any memories of having one but I’m sure I’m being protected from a lot of things that could otherwise hurt me
For everything you'll miss and never experience
Find comfort in knowing you're also spared on the same scale.
You're also very unique which is dope.
Stay strong and happy jersey
P.S. if you're ever curious
You can test this for yourself.
talk to a friend face to face and describe to him or her something horrifically sad.
The mind's eye builds and views it's own interpretation from whatever you just explained.
It is, in a way. I don’t think anyone actually SEES things in their mind. You just think of the colour and shape and stuff. Like when you think of food and your mouth start to water. You don’t actually taste it, you just think about how it would taste.
Being a level 1 on the Aphantasia scale, meaning absolutely NO internal imagery at all - I can totally relate to this. It took me ten years to shed the first tear after my mothers sudden death and we were very close. I recently lost my 10 year old dog that I spent every day and every night with since I got him when he was 8 weeks old. I have been single since before I got him so he was my life companion. I am SO frustrated that I can not mourn his death but after watching this video I get an idea why this is the case. Thank you so much for sharing this informative video.
Sorry to know about the loss but as long as you can remember the fact that you had a dog you loved, I think that's good enough for him/her too considering how much he/she loved you too.
Just wanted to say that, that's all.
@@Arcticanine Thank you so much for your comment. It really means a lot to me
@@Maxskinen Glad to see that it did.
I hope you're feeling better, and I'm glad this video is bringing relief to so many people. Does looking at a picture of your loved ones help process those emotions? Grief is such a personal thing, so I don't judge anyone's actions. I don't have aphantasia, but I'm glad the info is being spread to increase understanding.
@@Garanon5 I watch videos and pictures hoping to provoke some kind of emotion. It does nothing. I do enjoy watching them but somehow I can't really relate to what I am watching. That might not be an Aphantasia thing. I do however think that it is somehow caused by some of the mechanisms that can cause Aphantism. Some kind of self-preservation. I know that I was previously not an Aphant but I am yet to figure out when it started.
I have ADHD and Aphantasia, it blows my mind that people can actually see things with their imagination. I have a really hard time grasping how that even works... I can definitely relate to being able to move on more quickly than others, I've also questioned if there's something wrong with me because of that, this is the first time I've heard someone else voice exactly the same concerns as me in that regard. It's oddly refreshing...
ADHD and aphantasia is such a wild combination. Both conditions make you hyperaware of the current moment while hindering your ability to remember the past or plan your future. It made a lot of sense when I finally realized.
@@wigoow1206it's so fascinating. I dated someone with this condition. I only realized month after the breakup. It was such a difficult dynamic. He would lose object relation and forget me completely unless something reminded him of me. But we would often go days without texting each other. I already found it weird that he had to set himself a timer for the bus while standing at a bus stop. But things started making more sense when he said that he has no Internet monologue and that he doesn't 'feel' the pain of another person.
He barely remembered his childhood and his capacity to plan the future was not there. To me it felt like as if he just didn't see a future with me. But he would always say: How can I know what I want in the future if I don't know what I want and need now? I really struggled dating him and he saw that and was triggered that again isn't doing all the right things. I don't think he knows that he has aphantasia. He only found out that he has no internal monologue because I asked him if he has one. And he was so confused. I guess knowing it makes things easier, right? But I am still curious how other people manage to maintain a relationship with people with aphantasia.
WHAT!!! I've just given three comments about how different ADHD is, because I can't stop my mind from getting lost in moments away from the situation, it's so wildly addicted to imagining things. This is what I thought made it so hard to focus on anything useful for any amount of time. I'm so curious about you! I have the quiet, daydreaming type of ADHD, though, so I wonder if you have the hyperactive type. Maybe those types are far more different than I ... imagined. ;-)
@@wigoow1206 I agree that it's a wild combo, but ADHD does not make you hyper-aware of the current moment. It's the exact opposite most of the time. ADHDers struggle with feeling present and connected to the room. Which is an even wilder combo in my opinion. I have inattentive ADHD and pretty strong visualization skills. I don't know if I usually visualize when I space out though. Come to think of it... I have no clue what goes on in my head when I space out.
@@fr3ak1shh Let me paraphrase my initial comment: ADHD f*cks up your perception of time. You can't estimate how long something will take, because you can't remember how long it took last time. Also you struggle to remember if you last did said thing a week, a month or a year ago. On top of that you can't predict how much time you need, because you struggle to plan activities. This so-called time blindness is why people with ADHD are baffled by questions like "Where do you see yourself in five years?".
Now imagine having no imagination. Remembering past events becomes even harder, because the visual elements aren't there. Planning your future becomes even harder, because you literally can't imagine it. The phrase "Where do you see yourself in five years?" becomes even more ridiculous.
As a side effect people with ADHD (yes, also folks like us with the inattentive variant) and Aphantasia are much less bound to their past often more able to let themselves fall and enjoy the moment. In contrast this also means that we struggle harder when we aren't well, because we lack the connection to our past or future. That's what I meant by being hyperaware of the current moment.
my son died by suicide 25 years ago. I have never been able to have his image inside my mind, or to hear his voice. The rest of my family can. This is the biggest sadness I have. Also, the older I get, the more problems I have with memory, which I do wonder if it is linked . I am almost 68 years of age.
My fellings❤️
That's awful, I'm really sorry to hear..
@@VRTIXE Sorry for your loss. Memory is linked.❤
Over the age of 65 a person's risk of developing dementia and alzheimer doubles roughly every 5 years... You should take care of your brain. Learn a new language, do puzzles...
@@priscila632 and work out.
So proud to be a part of this, thanks WIRED UK for putting this out there!
It’s encouraging to see Aphantasia being brought into the limelight. This is something I have lived with all my life, but only realised 2 years ago that I was different. I use the computer analogy to explain how I’m unable to visualise. My minds eye is totally blank when I attempt to visualise and I will use emotions to “see” something. Unfortunately for me my Aphantasia extends into my dream world. When I dream I get quick glimpses of an image, or a fuzzy outline. I rely on my emotions to dream and depending on the nature of the dream can become quite intense and draining.
I can honestly say I never even knew that people could have something this and it certainly deserves to be put out there for more people to see. And a quick side note, I and my family used to go to the same church as you Alex I’m sorry to hear about your Mum I hope you and the family are ok
Can you see things in your mind when you dream? Isn't that the same thing? I don't see things in my mind and I realised this about a year ago.
I started crying when you described getting over tragedy so easily. I've always felt like some sort of monster because I'm functional/focused when others are debilitated by grief and I don't constantly flash to the trauma. I don't love those I've lost any less but others think so.
@@ZiggyTzardust Me too, even though I've known about aphantasia for around 2 years I feel like a weights just been lifted. I finally understand why I'm not an emotional wreck when others around me are. Thank you so much for being so open Alex, it's really helped.
It's kind of blowing my mind that I only recently found out I have aphantasia. I didn't know people really saw things playing out like a movie when they imagined. 😳
When I found out other ppl can actually see stuff in their minds rather than just knowing that it's there but seeing nothing i had a mini existential crisis 😭
This and the fact not everyone has an internal monologue blows me
...is this is why I talk to myself
Out loud
@@f.p1758 Probably
That, This, and the fact that people does not conjure up 3 Volumes of full blown 12 Chapters Novel Book in their minds for the past 10 Years. Blows my mind
Seriously! Am I the only one who does that? Making up some stories or events in my mind about my life that could happen but never did??
I have Aphantasia and no internal monologue. I want one but don't have one. I read by mouthing the words with my tongue
Internal monologue?
It reminds me of when I learned that some people don't have an inner monologue. Each person's brain may be clearer or fuzzier, faster or slower, audio or visual. We are all unique and there is beauty in that.
@@loverlei79 I swear my brain is swimming 24/7 and absolutely nothing comes of it.
I have aphantasia and no inner monologue. It’s just the way my brain is. I didn’t know I was any different until I knew about it.
@@min_tea_ Could you try to explain your thought process? I'm a bit curious now.
@@min_tea_ same!
Anybody without an inner monologue does not have a soul you are a creature of the djinn
This explains so much! I never understood why I see black when I close my eyes. People would talk of day dreaming and I would never just drift off somewhere into an imaginary space in my mind. Honestly, there were times I called BS on people referring to “minds eye” and even when I’ve made reference, I only thought it was a figure of speech. When I told my wife I see black when I close my eyes and I’m unable to visualize even with effort, she told me it was unbelievable and if anyone else told her that she’d think they were being untrue. Now hearing we’re only about 1% of the population I can understand how unbelievable it is. I’ve found a lot of comfort and understanding watching this.. thank you for getting this info out
We also see black when we close our eyes. It isn’t as literal as you think, where we close our eyes and are basically watching a movie, it’s more like you are able to imagine and visualize what something looks like while still at the same time seeing that black darkness. It’s very hard to explain. Sometimes I do get very solid images where it’s like looking at a picture when closing my eyes, but that is only on occasion usually when I am very tired.
As someone who recently learned they had aphantasia, I thought like everyone had it. Especially since I asked my brother to visualize an apple in his head and asked if he could see it and he said he couldn’t. So I thought everyone had it really. Kind of weird to explain but when I close my eyes it is just black, but when I do try to imagine how something looks I KNOW how it would look, I just don’t see it.
When you think of an object like an apple, how does it come up in your head? You say that you know how it would look so do you just imagine details of an apple? Like do u just think of the words red, round, tree, stem, leave. Cus even while reading your comment, I visualized everything from you asking your brother if he could visualize an apple, to his response. Do you have voices in your head? When reading a book, do you have voices for different characters? I typically only have one boy and one girl voice in my head except its in different tones to convey the characters personality. If they are younger, or older, then I change their voice in my head depending on that. Sorry if Im ranting but this is so mind boggling to me.
@@furankisaveron7278 for me, when i imagine an apple, its just a thought. it's so hard to describe it but it's just something i think of. like, probably the best way to describe it is if you would think of something like an apple, but just remove all senses from the thought. its just a thought that's in my head, nothing else. i know that it has a certain smell and texture and it makes a certain sound when you bite into it, but i can't clearly remember how it smells/feels/sounds like. the only way for me to know exactly how it smells/feels/sounds like, is if i can smell/feel/hear it. with the voices thing, i can't imagine/create a voice in my head. like, i know how a celeb for example sounds like but i can't make that sound in my head. i don't know how it is for everyone with aphantasia as it is a very broad term (i think), but for me i can't imagine any of the human senses in my brain. what i think about are just thoughts, like there isn't a physical realm i can just suddenly create in my head. i know how a certain perfume smells like, i just can't recreate that smell in my brain.
@@furankisaveron7278 also, i don't have an inner monolouge. i think that's one of the more common occurrences for people with aphantasia.
Bro I’m the same exact way. Complete blackness… no color. No outlines of anything. Just the thought of an apple and knowing how it looks but can’t see it.
@@ericsthoughts4657this is so weird, to think some people is not able to see things in their mind, like for me its something i have done all my life, like i can imagine my son, and see his face, even hear him, and I just notice its kind of weird because im able to see his face but at the same time I dont know where im seeing it, like Im not looking at it with my eyes, its like in my mind there is a picture, but at the same times my eyes are just looking at this video while typing this comment, but j can still see him somehow 😶
This is wild for me. It’s only been very recently that I figured out that most people could actually see pictures in their minds. I remember being asked as a child what I pictured characters in books looking like, and being quite confused about that because I was just reading the words. I couldn’t “see” anybody.
I just realized that people can see things! I only see darkness. I kinda now feel empty. Is that why I’m not doing my best in my school? I study Architicture
I can also play things out in my mind kinda like a video. I tend to have fictional characters fight for fun. And can also imagine this irl but not see it with my own eyes rather take an image of my surroundings and play it out in my mind.
@@marzouk6270 Like a script! This happens to me but if I try to focus It just became blurry and cursed. I like to draw and often do it on memory but I cant visualize like my other friends, and if I try... Well I have the feeling that the image fell apart
@@marzouk6270 Sometimes when I'm reading I stop seeing the words as I'm reading them and start seeing a movie or video of what's happening. one time I was so into a book that when someone had tried to get my attention I started trying to reach for a remote to pause the 'movie'. XD
@@Dmaster2k 😂😂
As an artist I'm really surprised to learn there are artists with aphantasia because I always assumed that a rich inner visual world was almost a prerequisite for the calling. The flexibility of the human mind is endlessly surprising.
Im an artist im noticing this has been affecting me for a long time. I always struggled being "creative". I used to focus more on realism in my paintings. Now I realize its a lot easier to just work with more surreal and abstract concepts.
I think I do have imagery .I just can't consciously access it .
I have to look at references and do rough sketches .Then suddenly it will click and I work on autopilot
Honestly I noticed that when your not focusing on what your head thinks you see, life drawings are more accurate.
I know for me, had to be careful drawing life studies since my head will often go back to something in my mind's eye rather than what I'm actually seeing.
@@venusbonjour9303 Growing up, drawing was my hobby. I could not draw from imagination. I had to have a picture of an object or a person and could copy it quite well. But in my head I had nothing
references and knowledge is the key. Its possible but it takes time. we need to see so many things in real life to be able to do it. At least I can say that for myself.
I have aphantasia. i’ve had it my whole life and truly thought it was a metaphor to picture things in your mind until i was a freshman in college. i’m an architecture student, i’ve always been creative and not being able to see doesn’t hinder me. I “picture” images with words not visually in my head. I am unable to recognize new faces and have a really hard time remembering new people, what they look like and their names. However I am a very emotional person. I get over things very quickly but think of them analytically when I need to and get sad if i need to as well. My father died when I was young and i always hated that i couldn’t remember what he looked like. Even after being in a 5 year relationship remembering what my bf looked like without seeing a picture of him was very hard. This video makes me feel not alone!
I want to say up front that I am a hyper visual person or have Hyperphantasia. Almost every thought I have has a visual component or representation for it. So getting to learn that there are other ways that the brain can process thoughts and information is really exciting to me! Especially hearing artists say that they don't visualized what they're going to make before they make it hurts my head but in a good way? Learning that for some people it's a feeling, or like translating data or facts makes a lot of sense to me even if I will never fully understand how it works.
Comments like this are the only reason my mind doesn't assume this is just some hoax and that nobody can actually "picture" things
@@FlorianWendelborn That's so wild to me! Like it's a problem sometimes that every thought I have has an accompanying image. It's like I can see what's physically in front of me perfectly fine, but then there's like a screen with a dream sequence going on in my "mind's eye" which I know sounds insane, but it feels like the thought is taking shape behind my eyes. It really can be "day dreaming" or dreaming with my eyes open.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how children with aphantasia process information before learning how to read. Like is it all feeling based? Like a phantom sensation? Or even after learning how to read, when reading fiction, doesn't a movie start to form while you're reading descriptions??? I have so many questions still so I'll likely be watching more videos on aphantasia lol
I am very visual, and have extremely vivid dreams. In fact it’s sometimes exhausting how much I dream. I have read that people who are aphantasial dream very little if at all. I’m also easily distracted by visual inputs. If I go to church, I often have to close my eyes to focus on the sermon or else I’ll get wrapped up in studying the architecture I’m seeing.
Me, too. It’s an octiplex movie theater in my mind. And the popcorn is always fresh. I see everything in detail. It came as a shock to me when an old boyfriend said he didn’t see things in his mind. We tried talking about it. He was amazed that if he said picture an elephant and couldn’t, that I would see an elephant and then ask what kind, African or Asian? One or a herd, in a zoo, in the savannah or jungle? A line drawing or photograph or video? In color or black and white? Also the word- all caps, lower case, what font? He just had nothing but words in memory. He kind of got the seeing the word concept. He had ADD and a past head injury and maybe other things going on so maybe it is all connected. Amazing to consider how other people think and process.
@amyadams2253 You may be interested, then, to hear that I’m a creative writer with aphantasia. Since I can’t visualize, I make up for it by thinking about the world in terms of narrative. The thing I struggle with most, though, is descriptions. I always thought those long, detailed settings were pointless, and I’d skip over them when I read (and often get confused later when it became relevant lol), but the main feedback I’ve gotten from editors was that they couldn’t picture things and I needed to add more descriptions. Now, I’m trying to learn how to write them to appeal to a group of people whose experience I literally can’t imagine, and none of them can really explain to me what they actually want!
I’ve been practicing, and I’m told I’m getting better, and I have literally NO IDEA WHY lol
I’m such the opposite. I can’t stop visualizing. It’s what almost drives me insane, honestly.
I feel your pain.
Same, I pretty much live in my mind's eye, but I like it. When it overrides my actual visual field, one eye goes lazy.
I’m the same, worried, scared thinking constantly if that’s the same thing
So you might just be being dramatic when saying it almost drives you insane...but just in case you're being quite literal: if you literally are having visualizations driving you towards the edge of sanity, to where you could even possibly start to lose your differentiation between things that come from those visualizations and reality, that's called schizophrenia and you could talk to a doctor about that.
@@1BeGe I think you are on to something with that. Certainly, intense compulsive mental visualization that crosses the boundary to "not desired or intended" seems congruent with those symptoms.
This is me! I'm 70 years old, was a graphic artist professionally and am an artist, creating faces on a piece of paper ..... when I try to see with my minds eye, all I get is the colors on the back of my eyelids! How the hell did I go all these years without knowing I was different in such a fundamental way?
Did you just diagnose yourself? Are you a certified doctor?
@@wb8905 i commented that I have always lacked a visual memory. I am also a trained RN, so, Yes! I had the audacity to self diagnose that lack, no dreams either!
Doctors can’t diagnose this. This is the kind of thing that can be self-diagnosed. Only the individual can see in their own mind. You sound hostile and I don’t like you.
@@wb8905 You need a diagnosis, you might be a narcissist or something.
@@edism I think you need a filter, buddy.
I have aphantasia but struggle with PTSD. Instead of visualising what happened in my minds eye, I feel the emotions (physically and mentally) that I felt when I remember the moment, which brings back the pain. So I cant relate to the people who have aphantasia and say they don't dwell on things and can let go easily. Super interesting to me.
I have aphantasia too and agree with you 100%. The doctor is putting out information that he feels is logical and of course the one person he interviews agrees with him.
@@k_DAN i have aphantasia as well and I move on extremely fast, we probably just have different forms of it.
Tactile and emotional memory is very vivid for me, and I think as far as PTSD goes I might prefer for my trauma to be a visual memory than what it is. It’s very frustrating to go to therapy and have them ask you to visualize moments and then picture other ways it could have ended to try to heal those memories. Especially when I wasn’t aware that people could do this and I was just sitting there with my eyes closed in darkness wondering how this could possibly be useful
That's interesting to me as well! I just (today) realized I have aphantasia. I was a victim of domestic violence not too long ago, some of it physical and very terrifying/traumatic. I remember expecting to be haunted by flashbacks or memories of the event, but I never was. I can kind of remember the fear I felt, but it definitely does not take over my mind the way I believe most folks with PTSD experience it. Honestly, I'm very thankful for that.
even with PTSD here I don't feel the past emotions either. This is abstract. I remember the facts, but....I remember what I thougt, how I felt (like with words) but I am not reliving it.
The past is in the past, I live only in the present.
I didn't realize it was special, but probably a gift then !
However the traumatic experience I think I forgot can repop by surprise (with fear/paralysing me if I am put in a similar situation.
41 here and a friend of mine just asked me this week if I have this ‘condition’ that I’ve never heard of, and as soon as I started looking into it, everything with how I experience the world clicked.
I’m also an artist who works remotely as a metal sculptor. While I can’t visualize a project, I work my way through it with feeling, whether is designing or sculpting, and when I close my eyes to try and visualize anything, I only see black. This is blowing my mind.
Welcome to the club.
I just heard about aphantasia today.
I’m a musician that have also been working in visual arts and I take the exact same approach to the creative process as you described that you do.
It’s quite the revelation to know why I have been thinking in a very different way, about and concerning a lot of thing compared to other people, throughout my whole life.
Zoning out with your eyes wide open staring out the window, being lost in a thought that you can see and feel it within your mind, is a gift in itself. I have not appreciated this until now and I'm extremely grateful that I have the ability to do so. Thank you for this video, it really has given me a different way of noticing something I've always had and not appreciated.
I feel the same 🙏
I can never zone out. The internal dialogue is ever present, describing my experiences.
@@BeckBockk there seems to be pros and cons to this. Vividly remembering a traumatic experiences, remembering how someone died, things you wish you could never see again but you do. There's a really big down side to remembering images.
@@imchef17 my sister just made is point to me. I have a very good memory, and can recall the strangest things from 30 years ago.
Maladaptive daydreaming?
I still find it so crazy that when people tell you to visualise something they literally mean seeing an image of it.
Same! And I can't believe I went all my life not knowing they meant.. literally seeing it?! I can verbalise and describe but not see it
I always thought it was a figure of speech like when someone told me to picture my happy place I never thought they actually were to telling me to see it in my mind if that makes sense
well it's all well and good until you're a usual artist and you get an aphantasia client....who is also rude and entitled. a nightmare to work with. But at least now I have some answers to some really difficult clients I had in the past. Maybe there's a spectrum to this condition? Do you feel it's binary or a spectrum?
Yeah, that was a surprise to me when I learned about Aphantasia last year. "I'm sorry, what? You can see an actual apple when you close your eyes?" From my POV, that sounds like they DON'T have an imagination. ;)
I've been writing for 25yrs without this "mind's eye" that everyone else apparently has, which means that I can create visual descriptions out of NOTHING.
Now, admittedly, I do have trouble writing descriptions sometimes - I'm especially not great at describing people's faces or what they're wearing. And in everyday life, I often forget how people look even when I just saw them 5mins ago.
But when my brain works hard enough to come up with the right description for what I'm imagining in MY mind, I can write something that other people say they could visualise in their minds. It's weird, but I love that I have this power. :D
So he was able to heal from his mothers death faster because he didn't see her everyday in his head?
I'm 17 years old. I found out about aphantasia 6 months ago. Whenever someone asked me how my old friends or any person or any certain object looks like I just couldn't explain it. They would make fun of me for that. I thought I just have weak memory but when I realised that people can actually picturize a person or thing they are describing I was really surprised and felt like crying because all I see is black and just my own voice in my mind. When I asked my friends and family members if they can visualise it too they were like " yes, everybody can” I said "no, I can't”. They were surprised too.
I learned about this the exact same way. Watching space force on Netflix. Before that I assumed when people talked about visualising things, or picturing themselves on a sunny beach that it was more in a metaphorical sense.
Blew my mind that people could actually see things inside their heads.
Same with the loss of a parent. After my father died I struggled to feel much of anything. Out of sight, out of mind.
I also experience this with living family members and with friends. I do not tend to miss them when not seeing them for extended periods of time.
The downside is I can come across as very cold and emotionless at times.
It's not like you see visual things when your eyes are closed but you imagine what those visual things would look like or how they used to look. Can you not do that? Like for example if you can imagine what a purple apple would look like that means you can visualise as you've never actually seen a purple apple in real life. Just like the internal monologue you don't hear a voice you imagine how a voice would sound usually in your own voice discussing with yourself. It's fascinating how many ways there are to think and all along I thought an internal monologue and visualising were the two ways everyone used to think.
Back I elementary school when the teachers would say to close your eyes and imagine a certain thing I always wondered why we had to do that. I never could see anything
I had exactly the same in meditation classes, was a Buddhist for quite a while, a lot of it involves visualising various deities and your teacher. I could not do it. I think I may be someone who acquired aphantasia, as I have am almost eidetic memory of many thinks in my childhood, and certainly had a visual memory for around half of my life. As someone else described the presence of a photo can release a pure gush of very verbal memories, but with me there is a kind of snapshot that is incredibly detailed. But no ability to explore it or be in the memory, it does not even register as an image, more as a recognition. I am 72 with a peer group to match, others I know are often staggered at my memory, for me it is normal. Just as if I catalogued the info and can still access it, completely without any inner visual references. For instance I can tell my brother exactly where various plants, trees, and other objects were in our garden when I was five. And orient where I am describing. But no visual memory. Really it had me utterly perplexed till now. And he was quite overwhelmed with my memory flood because he doesn’t do that stuff!
Me too
Same I would just think of what they were describing, but I could never see it like they said.. I actually thought we were just pretending to see it
Me, the opposite. My simpler thoughts are like .gifs
Question for those who are without images if it pleases you to discuss further. How does one perceive one's self without images? Most people experience themselves through a self-image with some worth ascribed to it. How do you experience yourself? What is the mind's language? Are memories accessed as words? Are the words experienced as though spoken, heard internally or experienced in silence? Is there perhaps some thought structure that is neither words nor describable to another without the common experience? Thank u.
My whole life, as far as I've remembered, I've thought that 'imagining' meant thinking of an image and feeling an image. I never knew people actually saw the image... Aphantasia is something I never considered for the longest time, but I really resonate with the points on grief in this video. My mother's passing elicited a similar response from me. I feel guilty constantly that I don't experience my grief like my father, who doesn't have aphantasia. Her death was somewhat traumatic, I definitely experience 'flashbacks' of emotions. But I constantly feel awful that I don't remember her voice. I don't remember 100% clearly how she looked. And that hurts my soul so deeply. I miss my mom. I miss her so much, and I know that. But not being able to remember and recall that makes me feel so awful.
Grief is unique to everyone, just as the way we experience everything else. Your grief is your's, there is no reason to feel guilty about it
I understand. I've felt very guilty barely remembering what my own parents looked like. I can visualize things, so that isn't the issue. Rather certain things seem to be just gone. Memory and visualization is a tricky thing.
There’s a flipside. All the horrible things I’ve seen, I can never ‘un make’ them in my mind, they live there, like having a photo album. Your grief is yours, but it’s not like there’s a ‘fun’ way to grieve.
I wonder if some people with aphantasia are misunderstanding what the mind's eye is. When we imagine an apple, we don't actually see it in our eyelids like a film. Yet, we can imagine it - we can turn it around and see it from different angles, see its colour, texture of the skin, we can imagine a smell, imagine taking a bit and so on. It's more like accessing a made-up memory.
@@fridaber6069what you are describing seems like a super power 😅
I can't imagine even the object in 3D
Thank you very much for this video. I always thought visualising was like a figure of speech. I love reading and not until recently, discussing books with with my husband, did I realise that our experiences of reading were totally different. He can imagine what he is reading but I can't. However, I can feel everything the characters are going through. I always wondered how people could visualise things when meditating (imagine a big balloon, for example) and I could just see black. I thought there was something wrong with me and maybe I needed to practise until I was at a more advanced level. Memories of my childhood are just feelings and I need photos in order to see my mum's face. She passed away two years ago. My siblings talk about things we did as children and they are even able to describe places and faces. I just smile but I don't remember all those details just the feeling of having been there. Sad in a way.
While reading your comment I've recalled the beautiful natural places of my childhood, it was all so vivid, colorful and even 3D (especially my favourite tree). It was the first time I didn't take it for granted and it was overwhelming as a thought, very overwhelming
This is very similar to what I feel when reading. I'm bummed that I can't *see* what I'm reading-I'd love to picture it vividly as most people can. But I think I can *feel* what I read more intensely. I don't focus on physical descriptions of characters because it doesn't do much for me, but I focus on descriptions of places, feelings, speech, because that I can translate into a feeling. I just never knew it was probably due to my inability to picture images.
@@ttisol Being able to imagine feelings makes you a partial Aphant while complete Aphants can't do that
When reading I can both visualise and understand how they feel or what they are going through it'd be weird to not to. Do you have an internal monologue?
@markmuller7962 It must be really weird not to empathise with characters as we all have feelings and I thought everyone could put themselves in a situation, or in someone else's shoes, except for people who are on the spectrum.
As a visual person I find it amazing there can be other creative people who can’t visualise. That’s a huge part of creating something new. You come up with a concept, see it in your head, then analyse it, make improvements where you think you need too. Come up with alternatives and then develop it into real life continuing the design process. Without being able to visualise there’s no planning. It’s also a pleasure to visualise something. You get excited about it and enjoy the process. They miss out on so much being unable to visualise.
There are other ways to be creative besides visuals! Writing, music, etc. I think that people with Aphantasia can have a unique creative voice because our concepts are abstract. And that’s interesting!
I like to draw, and I can't see things ! I don't think I miss something, I even find the idea quite offensive lol. I don't know how to explain things, we don't need to see "in advance" to be creative, or draw. I can see what is on the paper, and there is the movement things, the movement memory.
Like even If I can't see an apple, I know how I need to move my hand to make one @@esayers
We can enjoy the process of seomthing being reated in front of you, especially because we didn't see it before, this kind of magical ! maybe you enjoy visualizing it before, and we enjoyr doing it and seeing it after ? the surprise part is good too, and you miss that ^^
7:00 "not a disorder or a condition, its more of an intriguing variation of human experience"
Like being left handed is.
Yes! My favorite quote from this!
It's disabilities though and maybe for some you can say it is disorder. I lost my visual imagination completely for more than two years, for like few months I can't even dreaming. It started with like stop motion video before it gone completely. Now it's still gone from time to time mostly when I work nonstop, but the thing is I very often have vivid dreams nowadays, sometimes music that never exist in this world is played even with video clip.
🙏🏽
@@calfagra If it came, it can go. But it sounds as if you are suffering. It´s interesting that you mention stop motion, that would suggest stress is a important factor indeed, since people with higher stress levels are generally better at spotting stop motion effect (or worse at seeing the very useful illusion of motion) at speeds up to 240fps. You might try relaxing regularly in meditation. Hearing phantom music is a special form of tinnitis, you can do something about that in some cases, like using headphones with noise.
When I read a book, it also turns into an immersive world... It's just not a *visual* world. There are imagined physical textures, and smells and sounds.
The one thing I find the best about visualizing. Is that I can play out the scenario in my head of what on reading. And see it play out like I'm actually there. But when you watch the movie version of the book. You find yourself thinking that your imagination was cooler then what the movie did. Visualizations make book reading top tier
Like, imagine, a steaming hot beef right after the griller, imagine, the smell, the beefy smoky smell, imgine the perfect colored meat with a little bit of char on top of it, imagine that melting dripping grease, imagine you cut a slice of that tender steak and put it into your mouth, chew, then you feel that flavour explosion, the umami, sweet, a bit spicy, and smoky, that goodness, imagine🤤
But, you are vegan, so you can't really relate and imagine it, so, welp, whatever, i'm hungry, i'll just go and eat.
Y'all can imagine smells and textures? 😥
@@lisapizza5052 then how did you describe your pizza's smell?, you need to summon that memory, that experience, the image, that feel and taste in order to do that, you need to "imagine" it.
Ok, talking to you makes me imagine a lot of pizza, i'm hungry again now.
@@haze6647 it's weird, when I'm asked to imagine a smell, I kinda can. I can remember parts of a smell, but it only lasts for a blip of a moment. But when I read a book, I forget to try I guess? It's weird! I'm on one hand very happy other people can access that part of their imagination, but I'm also like super jealous 😝
My brother has this, can’t picture things, but his reading comprehension and ability to see abstract is out of this world
The last few days have been revelatory for me. I never thought anything strange about it but now that I have learned about it some things make sense to me. I remember for instance when I was at school some teachers talked about how visualizing things could help you studying and to me that seemed really bizarre. Also when I watched something about Einstein were they said that he had a very strong ability to visualize things I thought he was just great at thinking about certain concepts and they used the term "visualize" as a turn of phrase to describe that .
But now I realize I may well be part of that 1%. I do have imagery when I dream, sometimes very vivid. But when awake it's just black. When I tink about an apple it I just think of it as a list of facts about apples in general really. I can conjure up their smell more vividly then an image for some reason. Maybe I get a small "flash" of what it looks like but I certainly can't hold that image in my mind like I would see it in reality.
I've had alot of the same experiences, but i also cannot imagine tactile sensation, smell, or taste either. I only found it was a thing in ~2022, and even in elementary school i was already confused, being told that i just "need to try harder" to visualize. Was certainly an experience
Yeah when they say think of an apple I can immediately recall the taste, smell and texture of a crunchy granny smith apple. So I know its green, but I can't see it.
The thing about smell me also be an advantage in some other regard. Smell is a sense that is pretty dead for most people. It's there if you smell it. Otherwise it's absent.
I also have had certain memories and have been able to "conjure up" a mental smell. But only for a brief period. After that it because foggy.
@@phoebesales5512This is quite interesting. I'm able to visualize things in great detail. The same goes for sound, I can "play back" music in my head as if it were a recording.
But I just realized that I can't really do the same for taste and smell. It kind of there but very vague, more like the concept of it rather than actually smelling or tasting something.
That’s how the experience is for me too
I’ve been married to the same man for 35 years but I can’t close my eyes and see his face. I never knew that this was odd. I honestly thought the idea that people can see things in their mind was a metaphor. I’ve never seen anything in my mind. I can hear my voice in my head, but I never see anything. I can’t even imagine how people can see things. This is why I take so many pictures. I literally have no idea what someone looks like, except as a list of facts about their appearance, unless they are right in front of me.
This is amazing, but you know what it keeps you living in the now, and makes you more analytical, I'm an artist and I just found out most people can do it in their heads! I feel ripped off, but hey, we all have something different I guess!
Then you have Internal Monologue if you could hear your thoughts. I have both, could visualize things so clearly in my head and hear my thoughts. I just found today that not everyone could do what I could, I always thought it's normal for everyone. This is really interesting.
And here I am, trying to imagine what you feel like trying to imagine how people can imagine things. My brain hurts. I'm currently trying to figure out what's my imagination's problem, because, for example, I can read a Harry Potter book and remember Emma Watson in her Hermione image and have flickers of the scene I'm trying to imagine with the character in it, but just barely. I skip architecture and etc. descriptions cuz I can never imagine so many things in certain order whatsoever. I can't hold them in one place, it scatters. So I end up remembering my grandparents's rooms or other places I remember, to at least know how the scene must look. That's the hardest thing I face. But I can still see and remember things I saw, but just can't create something new.
But you somehow can't even see your memories... we're so drastically different. I wonder if I simply have bad fantasy... tho I use imagination for plans, stories and etc. just fine... ugh...
I can relate to everything you said here. I could sit and stare at my husband or child, knowing the goal was conjuring up a picture in my mind, and as soon as my eyes close, I can’t recall anything but a list of facts, as you mentioned.
I also wonder if this is why I could never come up with an answer to the “where do you see yourself in X years” question. Nothing - I never have been able to come up with any answer at all, which always felt so morbid.
@@KillberZomL4D42494 I can't hear my thoughts. My thoughts are just thoughts... they're speechless concepts/instincts. I can subvocalize though and say stuff in my head just like I could with my actual voice if I wanted to. Sometimes I actually need to do that if I'm trying to reason through something.
Was a pleasure to be involved in this! Spreading awareness will help a lot of people work with their differences.
It was a pleasure having you involved!
Thank you Amy and Wired for this. Amy’s video was the first time I ever realized I had Aphantasia. It was a strange thing to understand. It honestly made me sad because I thought I would never be able to draw/create character because with couldn’t picture them in my head but after this it make me feel more confident that with more work I can do Thank you!
Amy, I cannot thank you enough for making the video you did and the way you portrayed matters. I spent years thinking I was a "broken" artist because I couldn't visualize the way others did, I thought I was alone and it wasn't normal and I wouldn't be able to make it in the illustration industry... your channel and this documentary has given me the boost I needed to be unapologetically me 🧡
Amy when I first saw your video I finally realized why I struggled with so many things. I play golf and we’re often told to ‘see’ the line or arc that the ball is going to make and I’ve got nothing.
I’ve sense been trying to work on it but progress is very minimal. Thank you for making us aware.
I will say the opening of this video is interesting. I wouldn’t say that grief is inherently effected. I felt a little dirty and insulted during that segment. I grieve for a long time and sometimes it feels like I’ll never be able to let them go. I feel even worse knowing that some people can see them when I’m limited to pictures and mental descriptions. They’re gone and I’ve got to hold on to every memory I have of them.
It was actually you video that made it click that when people said to "visualize" or "imagine" something they could actually visualize things and weren't just thinking of the features that the object typically had
I’m nearly 39 and I’ve just found out tonight that I too have Aphantasia. Interestingly enough I’m also in the creative industries, as an architect. This blows my mind that people can actually see when they close their eyes. I feel like the majority of the population have super powers now.
This explanation was very helpful. After my husband died, I grieved that I couldn’t "see" his face or "feel" his arms around me. A year or so ago, I read an article about aphantasia and recognized why. It was such a relief. With more information coming out now, I see that I have additional traits. What a revelation. Thank you.
I don't have aphantasia and this was one of my questions about it (is it just visual?) it is very interesting that it extends into remembering physical sensations too.
This is crazy. I thought everyone could picture things in their head. I cant imagine not being able to do it.
@Celeste Cosimini I miss it. I've never been able to enjoy fiction books. I can't remember characters or piece together plot because there is no visualization aspect. I always would have to go back and see who is who throughout a novel. It meant that my reading comprehension was poor and teachers suggested to my parents that I get tested for a learning disability. It was found out that I have ADD, which likely also played a role but it was only when I was in university did I hear about aphantasia and it all clicked. I enjoy non-fiction though.
In drama class in middle and highschool our teacher would have us do visual meditations. I would get super anxious due to boredom and impatience. It was all internal. I would be frustrated at myself, trying so hard to try and see this beach or whatever the description was. I would open my eyes and see everyone else in the large sitting at peace and think what is wrong with me?
@@MsBhappy If you can draw, try to draw the description of the fiction novel, like a comic.
Would it help much?
"I cant imagine not being able to do it." you might have Aphantasia if you can't imagine it. lol.
I loathed creative writing in school.. they always started with imagine ..... everyone else could see stuff in their head. I thought they were just the words or numbers i was thinking 🤔 they could actually SEE things??🤯🤯🤯
i always thought thinking is 'imagining'. so i close my eyes and think in darkness
This has blown my mind, i always thought when people visualised something in their mind it was just a thought or idea of what it looked like. I never thought there was an actual image in their mind.
Put your brain back together. There is no actual image. Yes it's a thought in the head.
@@solidfuel0 Well thats not what people have been telling me now that i have been asking around. They say they can see visual images when they think of something details and colours.
@@Kilson-76 those people around you are trolls :)
@@solidfuel0 I will take their word over a random internet person
@@solidfuel0 I picture images when I think about items, people or events. Like if I say chair. My mind will picture a chair.
I love how different we all are. Always learning about each other. The mind is impressive and never fails to intrigue me
I'm so glad to see this comment. Too often I see the comments that are all negative like "if you thought everyone was like you you're so close minded" like no they aren't close minded. You can't know something you don't know, ya know?
isn't it wild that any random thing about someone's body could make them experience the world completely differently than anyone else, and neither they nor the rest of the world would ever even know! 🤯
I never understood when people got so angry because movie characters "didn't look like they imagined them from the books". I can imagine a bit, so I don't think I have 100% Aphantasia, but I never have a full image and especially people and faces are hard for me. People in my mind usually don't have faces and I have trouble remembering faces due to that. Anyway, after I learned that people can actually imagine the books they read in such details in their mind it finally makes sense that they would complain about characters "not looking like they pictured them".
Yup you're right
I identified that my wife is aphantasic a few years ago and the understanding has been transformative is so many ways. She literally can’t do things I used to expect of her. Understanding better how she is different, how she navigates the world, how present she is for people when in their presence has all been so rewarding. I’m so grateful for this pioneering work, and for human diversity.
Would you mind sharing some of the things that you think she cannot do due to her aphantasia? I have had aphantasia all of my life so it's hard to know what life would be otherwise.
Would yo mind sharing some of the thinks she can't do due to Aphantasia?
Wow, I just found out that not everyone could visualize things in their heads and could also hear their thoughts (internal monologue). I could do both, I could see a movie in my head, I could visualize every scenario when reading a book, and could actually hear my thoughts when I'm deciding something. That's why i'm such an indecisive person because my inner thoughts love fighting, "Eat that, it's good". "No, that could have negative effect on your health". "No, I read somewhere it's safe". I could hear all these crazy thoughts and even visualize myself actually saying these haha. Now I kinda feel special about it.
I’m absolutely blown away with this! I didn’t know until now that other people see pictures in their head. I just see black or brown with no pictures. I thought it was just a figure of speech when people spoke about the minds eye. I think I dream in pictures but not 100% sure about that either.
Me too!! Makes me think about a lot of things in life now lol .. like for 1 now I understand why there’s tons of pictures of people reading books with a Floating cloud with a image inside it 🤣🤣
same here... i see extremely light greys... no color, no opacity, just like really dark greys flickering
Nobody sees things in their head the same way they look at the world. Everybody sees black when they close their eyes.
@@mitchdg5303 honestly this entire subject had me thinking that these people now thinks that we live on constant hallucinatory state and are actually seeing with our eyes closed
@mitchdg5303 exactly to be able to visualise is to be able to imagine what an image would look like not being able to see an image. Just as having an inner monologue isn't hearing an audible voice (schizophrenia) but imagining a voice (usually your own) and discussing with yourself to decide what to do next or to ponder the pros and cons of an idea.
Now my head hurts from trying to think without picturing something.
my head hurts trying to visualize lol its so sad
@@cas1020 Even when I just try thinking about saying a sentence without picturing whatever the sentence is about, I just see the words written out instead.
@@lifesajoke6965 I've had this problem while trying to meditate. How do you delete what you're seeing? Just hearing the guide's voice not only do the words give imagery but the words have colour and texture and direction and form and a mood and I feel like if you don't have that it's like you're dead and your body's just wandering around.
@@lifesajoke6965 wow that's crazy!! I really never knew people could picture things like the words they speak too.
I never thought about not being able to picture things in my mind. I remember at school, a week before our exams, the school hired someone to give us advice.
The lady did a 10min meditation session and made us close our eyes. She spoke about a light starting at the core or the Earth, travelling up through the roots, the floor and into our body until it reached our mind.
She said "feel the tingle of the light reach your mind, take deep breaths and picture yourself controlling the light." All I saw was black. I tried my hardest to participate and imagine it but I couldn't. I thought everyone saw black 😂.
I could imagine that this type of meditation could be quite relaxing.
Yes, because it isn't possible. A human being couldn't functioned without imagination or the inner eye, It's impossible. It must be something else these people are "suffering" from, as they really don't understand what the imagination is or how to put words on what their inner eye sees.
I spend most of my day in my imagination, can't imagine not have visuals there.
I can't imagine what that even is like.
@@sophie1680 but when i read, i also "see" the things, kind of like watching a movie
You are so lucky !!!
I day dream but with my inner voice like a story in my head not pictures
@@beckkeyihine2205 same. I am.jealous of people who can visualise so vividly, so that they can Manifest their desires for their life aka reality when practicing the universal Law of Assumption. They get all these things and experiences that they wanted by using visualising mini movies starring themselves and in great detail . Then their visualisations manifest into real life. Boom! Lucky them. 😟😑
I must really be an odd duck when it comes to aphantasia, because I *_don't_* move on from negative experiences quickly. Quite the opposite. Like what the video spoke of about negative memories, it's almost the opposite. I can't visualize, so *_positive_* memories and experiences fade, get buried or forgotten. I can be happy "in the now", but it fades quickly.
Meanwhile, *_negative_* memories and experiences stick around. I may not be able to see them in my mind, but I sure can *_feel_* what I felt during them, *_hear_* what was said, what I was *_thinking_* at the time, etc.
You aren't the odd duck, I believe you are 100% correct because I and many other aphantasiacs feel the same way you do.
same
I’ve always struggled massively in tests and directions, because I can’t see the roads in my mind, and I can’t see the exam notes etc. I only recently found out I have this, and it’s interesting to see how differently it effects people. Unlike the gent in this vid, I’m an extreme empath, I feel emotions of people, TV shows, video games. I find it strange about his feelings regarding his mum, I greatly miss people I’ve lost, but it’s a feeling, nothing to do with visuals.
I’m glad you commented, because I am an empath too. I have the opposite of what he experienced and wondered if I have the ‘wrong’ kind of aphantasia that doesn’t protect me from PTSD. I have endured so much childhood and adulthood trauma, and I haven’t been able to put any of it behind me despite not being able to ‘picture’ any of it. I have the ability to recall and recount traumatic events factually (like they described) but I suffer from intense emotional flashbacks and have crippling depression and anxiety as a result. I’m in a psych hospital now trying to get EMDR treatment for it but I haven’t been able to even start the desensitisation and reprocessing of traumatic events, like other patients in my group, because I am unable to picture the events nor the calm place we are meant to create as part of the process. I might be good at dissociating or repressing those memories as I cannot visualise them on demand, but both my body and subconscious mind definitely aren’t being spared from the incredibly damaging impacts of the complex PTSD.
@@lilmissjoodypoody I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm actually studying to become a therapist, and I'm finding the concept of "visualizing safe spaces" difficult because it's not something I can do myself. I too am affected by past traumas and susceptible to PTSD, and much like you describe it, I'm aware of the facts and feelings associated, I just don't recall the images. I really do wish you the very best in your journey of recovery, believe you're strong enough, because you are. Anxiety and depression are not easy, and I'm sure you'll find a way to live with it to an acceptable level. Never give up, and remember, different things work for different people, so don't be defeated if you try some things that don't work first. You've got this!
Darling you’re getting photographic memory with visualising
I can hyper visualise but I’m terrible with directions.
As a kid I couldn’t have told you how to get to town (7mins away, 1 turn, went there almost everyday). Why? Because while I was looking out the window I was completely lost in fantasy land and paying attention to the images inside my head, rather than my surroundings.
Something I experience with aphantasia that I haven't really seen talked about much is the ability to get lost pretty easily. I find it hard to understand where I am relative to where I've been because I can't visualize the concept of direction. Usually I stick to very strict routes daily & I feel awkward going to new places
I don't think it is related to aphantasia. Even though I can't visualize literally anything, I'm better with directions than most people I know.
this to me would make sense. in fact its one of the first things anyone's said about this condition that seems to check out. most of these other people and their concepts fall apart, especially the visual artist because she's obviously drawing images that derive from *somewhere* in her brain
@@Walter-kn5te then you are visualizing 3d spaces and relationships in your brain, what aphantasians say they cannot do
@@jerkchickenblog Than you!
@@jerkchickenblogDomt think it’s connected at all. I am fine with directions. I often just calculate it using maths (north east south west) and knowing that I have turned left/right. Maybe it makes it harder because we cannot see it, but we can calculate it.
honestly, i feel like there is WAY MORE PEOPLE with aphantasia than 1%...many many many ppl haven't heard of this. Idk, somehting tells me it's w a y more common than we think
I just found this out by watching the video. I called my mom and sister on 3 way and told them to close their eyes and picture an apple and then a beach. Only my sister could do it. I always thought when people said close your eyes and picture the beach and the waves I was supposed to close my eyes and “think” of the elements of them beach. I think of tan sand, blue water, waves, wind, smell but all as separate elements. I cannot see a beach in my mind or with my eyes closed. Or I’d recall a moment in time where a saw a beach like me and my family at the beach and I’ll remember the memory and the emotions but not an image.
I know someone with it, it was a shocking realization to him that people can picture stuff in their minds
People are confused about whether "visualizing" means literally being able to watch a movie on the back of your eyelids, or if it just means imagining something in your head. Aphantasia means you can't even imagine something.
@@seth468 ahh I had to look up the difference. So all 5 senses even emotions are considered forms of imagination. Good going there Seth. Now I have to reevaluate.
I think it's more of a scale than you have it or don't. My wife can visualise with complete clarity. I'm at the other end of the spectrum but can still just about get vague images.
I never heard of Aphantasis before today. Absolutely incredible, I love learning amazing new things like this. Great video 👍
At 62 years old I've just discovered I have had all senses aphantasia with SDAM my whole life which has been a revelation; it's genetic, my mum also has it. From the amount of people 'discovering' they have this condition I think it's going to be a lot more than a few percent. It needs more mainstream exposure in the same way as autism, ADHD and other neurological 'disorders'.
This is similar to how blind people have thoughts and memories. I remembered watching a video of a blind person describing how they think and dream. They said they think how things feel, their shape, temperature, their smell, sounds... they just don't see an image. Very interesting.
Thank you for saying this
I can imagine that's true for someone blind since birth. I wonder if it's different for someone who once was able to see.
That makes me wonder - do people with aphantasia have problems only visualizing or do they also have problems imagining sounds, touches, smells?
@@camelCased Not all people with aphantasia are the same, but many also have problems with sounds etc.... I say this from personal experience..
@@camelCased For me I can't picture anything or hear anything, it's like formless words constantly running through my head. The computer analogy was the most accurate way to discribe it. I remember everything, even tiny details because it's like data points stored away... But I could not produce the picture or the sound inside my head no matter how detailed I remembered something.
Directing this film was such an incredible experience! Not only did I learn a lot about myself and the way I perceive my reality, but it also made me consider how different life and reality is for EVERYBODY! Hopefully, broader understanding of the complexities of neurodiversity can create a more empathetic society.
Thanks for bringing me this presentation.✌️🌹
@@WLHS No problem buddy! Thanks for checking it out! 🙏🏻
You did a really good job. Seriously stellar work 👏🏼
Do need a sequel. Lots of questions.
@@alexkingvideo Thanks Alexander! It was a hige team effort and everybody involved was super happy to help bring this fascinating topic to a wider audience. Thanks for watching!
Amy's video mentioned here is how I first found out I have Aphantasia. It was tough at first, I felt like I had been broken for 40 years and didn't know it. As an artist as well, I felt I was at a disadvantage at first (ironic since I was watching a video by someone who obviously is a very good artist) but with time I did realize that I didn't know for 40 years and while I can imagine ways it may have helped, it never STOPPED me from doing the things I was doing. I found ways. My ways. I will admit that if I could consciously pull up images in my mind, I would want to. If it never happens though, then my life will just go on as it always has, and I can happily live with that.
I believe this can be learnt.
Just imagine that you are seeing an apple right now.
This is how we all do it. We use our memory of how a specific object looked like. Simple (almost mathmatical descriptions), then we piece it all together.
Maybe, eventually you will start to see some semblence of what you usually see when looking at an apple.
The problem is that this is learned since early childhood so it might take some time to acquire it.
reading you I wonder why you felt broken ? I didn't know other people could do it, and felt perfectly normal here. oh well, I read some artist could see thing in advance, but for me, they were the one being atypical.
I don't think so. I really can't. also I read they discovered the existence of aphantasia with a guy who could see things, then had an accident, and couldn't anymore... like brain damage ? not sure. maybe you can train, but probably we just find other ways ? @@lorrainegatanianhits8331
As someone with Aphantasia and PTSD, Aphantasia didn’t stop me from getting that. What it has done is make treatment hard and it’s extremely hard to explain what an episode feels like because everything is internalised, ie I’m not running from a vision.
Strangely though I also have found that I definitely don’t behave like other family members when it comes to death, I guess when you can’t see someone in your mind it’s a lot harder to miss them
I also have aphantasia with PTSD, my PTSD is just that my body reacts with shaking, tears, and then screaming etc, if I end up in a situation alone with a male or sometimes even too close to a man in public (so I have to now avoid crowds and haven’t had a relationship or anything since 2011). Mental images aren’t required for the body to hold fear and trauma. Many people with PTSD (especially if it was acquired in childhood) don’t even remember the actual event at all. They don’t know why their body reacts the way it does but still can’t control it. No images are required.
I also have aphantasia and PTSD, and I thought that comment was rather misguided. I may not have visual flashbacks, but I most certainly "hear" and "feel" them.
When you fall asleep do you dream?
@@Wtvrflotesurgoat not often & not visual dreams no, my dreams are like me narrating a story in my head.
@@Amanda-uc5jq wow that’s soo interesting! They should make a movie about this.
To those wondering, you still dream visually like normal even if you have "Aphantasia". I can't picture anything while I'm awake but I have very vivid dreams (when I can remember them) 😁
thanks, for sharing, I was just wondering how sad it must be not to dream, I have such vivid zeiney dreams. thanks for casting light on this topic. I saw in previous comments not all ppl with aph have the same experience so now I'm curious if all can dream. I've met non aphantasiac artists who can't dream or only do it in bw.
Not everyone though. Especially when it stems from brain damage. Also how do you know if you dream like a normal person? maybe normal people dream completely different.
Not always. I 'know' that the person chasing me is Freddy Kruger (yeah, I'm gen x old) but I can't see him at all. Same with sex dreams, dreams of old houses I lived in or people that have died or redwood forests. I 'know' it but I see nothing in my dreams. Aphantasia is such a 'new thing' that's finally being studied intensely. The human brain is infinitely fascinating.
I was involved with the University of Exeter study and at the time I was the only one who was totally Aphantasic but had vivid dreams.
I also don't experience any other inner senses.
I don’t.
I remember having a conversation years ago with a work colleague, asking her to picture a past work colleague in her head and she said she couldn’t even picture members of her own family in her head. I remember thinking she must be joking. I now know she must have had this condition
Maybe she has what I have. Because I clearly don’t have aphantasia, I can picture places and scenes and the whole movies in my mind. But I can’t picture faces. I would be a terrible witness, won’t be able to tell any details of the face. I can hardly do these with people I know well. There’s just a blur something, like if I’ve seen the face with poor eye sight, like -10. I can remember clothes and sometimes hair in details though. This made me think, maybe that’s why I love and like a lot of people, but I never miss anyone.
@@anastasiaegorova440 thank you for your input. Yes, that would explain it perfectly. I feel guilty for thinking she was just being awkward x
@@eveoakley6270 I think we are just starting to understand how different our minds work. The word ‘qualia’ has been there for some time. And all this ‘try walking in my shoes’. But we actually had no idea!
@@anastasiaegorova440 I wonder if Prosopagnosia, known colloquially as face-blindness, is a better fit for you?
@@anastasiaegorova440 You have prosopagnosia.
It is really interesting. I am on the lower end of aphantasia spectrum - like I can only visualize parts of an apple (like when you zoom in) and I have to concentrate very hard to do so. I love writing and a friend of mine once said that my writing style is really minimalistic in the sense that I tend to not dwell on things like describing the scenery or focusing on the details. It kinda makes sense in retrospect. Because I can't picture this stuff so I tend to skip it if it isn't important for the plot or the characters or hasn't any function besides being there. I also tend to get impatient with books I read that focus too much on those things.
I discovered apahtansia only a few months ago, and trying, I see colors (or details,like you). And I wonder if this is why I don't like to draw lines but I prefer paint with colors and textures. (I get the texture of the skin of the apples, and the variations of color on it. The texture of the end of it, and the color
I can't imagine living with this condition (no pun intended!). The images in my head are just as real to me as the world outside my mind. I don't know how I would live without it, it is such a pleasurable experience.
I can't imagine what it's like to see things in your mind. I know what things should look like, but when I close my eyes, nothing's there
@@francophone. sorry to hear that, compadre. Does it help you to meditate? Like, are you able to focus on a thought or concept or koan, because you don't have other images crowding it out?
Do you ever fantasize sexually? I wouldn't know how that is done without mental images of some kind.
@@nadavegan I have an imagination, but there aren't any images. I don't meditate
Wow... I'm a writer. I visualise every scene of my story like I watch a movie. I could picture a place in any part of the world and see what people are doing there. I just have to write what I see.
Jealous!
I was wondering this...when I read, that’s what it’s like. I remember books far better than movies because they’re much clearer...my visualizations make better “memories” than a picture on a screen.
The first thing I thought while reading this was how sad it was that people with this condition could probably never enjoy a book on nearly the same level. I always knew it was a gift but am now even more grateful.
@@supernova11711 this is my reaction when I first heard about this condition. Reading is like watching movies in my head.
I’m a writer with aphantasia and in my experience I’ve been more comfortable writing poetry than a story but when I do write short stories they are more abstract than linear. I’ve always preferred poems over longer formats but it wasn’t until I found out about my inability to use my minds eye that I understood why. It must be cool to have a tv in your head 😂
@@luistorreshernandez766 Lol it really is amazing and I just realized how lucky I am. I try to write poetry too but it's mostly linear because I can't see or feel it, I just sort of write empty lines or verses that at least make sense. ☺
I am a reading and writing teacher. This revelation has major implications for pedagogy and differentiated learning, because visualization is a fundamental reading skill. I find this highly intriguing and of major interest to my field.
It entirely related to reading but I did one of those silly online IQ tests and SO MANY of the sections involved visualization and visual memory. Really made me think if my intelligence would be higher if I was able to visualize.
Visualization is not necessary, abstract concepts work perfectly for me.
I have aphantasia and always have. Reading was my best subject. I was always in the highest reading class and reading was my favorite hobby.
I have Aphantasia and am an artist, everything i make is from an instinctive drive, i do not visualise first what i draw or paint, it just happens. But i am visually very capable. I just don't see anything before i make it. 3d shape i create through a feeling of placement not copying from my minds eye.
I found this very interesting as well! I teach children ages 2-6. I wonder if there are any of them who can't see images in their heads
I’m 31 and just found out a month ago that I have Aphantasia. Had it my whole life. I’m such a visually perceptive person that finding this out makes me feel like I’m missing a part of myself. I didn’t expect to get emotional watching this, but I did.
I can totally relate! I'm also 31 and found out this morning that "seeing things in your mind" it not just a figure of speech. I had Aphantasia all my life, but now it's making me sad about what I'm missing and also feeling kind of disconnected.
But now it all makes more sense: Like my really bad ability to remember biographical events or the need of photographs to feel connected to deceased loved ones.
31 here and also have aphantasia
This explains why the third eye / imagination always interested me so much ...
Wow. I'm 50 and didn't realize I had this thing. I'm also an artist and seeing how other artists use the same methods I have to express myself was mind blowing. Even when I daydream, I have to focus on the words in my head, as a story, to maintain the reverie. Even when the gentleman in the video asked us to visualize an apple, my mind began thinking in words like 'curvature, smooth, green, stem, highlights'. I never really thought about my 'visualizing' something as different.
Well, then, do people with Aphantasia dream while sleeping during the night?
@@disboygotdabeat i do. And that set me thinking about all sorts of things.
@@williamhutton2126 Yes, but do you dream in moving images and pictures like those of us who visualize our thoughts? I have to assume you must too.
@@disboygotdabeat sure do. At least from what I remember of them. Or at least that's what my brain is telling me how I remember them. It does make me curious about the disconnect, though. Good question. Thanks
How people with it can draw? 😮
It genuinely makes me sad that I can't picture things like other people. It makes me feel like I miss out on so much.
I mean, the fact that only a few people know about this or take so long to find out proves you're not missing on much. It's just a different way to deal with memories, in the end.
@@LaryAk47 I can actually visualize things that I've never seen before or make up entire actioned scenes in my head (most commonly when reading stories), so I wouldn't say that it's just a different way of dealing with memories. I see it more as another dimension of imagination, especially when I'm able to let go of control of the scene in my mind to allow it to act independently of my thoughts and just watch what happens.
@@gloriaa.2109 Yeah, but I guess they can also do things we can't. Human perception is and always will be subective, no matter how much we try to be put in molds.
When I close my eyes and picture Ronald Mcdonald on a surf board I can't see a picture, but I never knew people could and never noticed I couldn't till I just watched this,so dun worry bout its no big deal.
It worries me too sometimes. Sometimes i am so desperate to remember moments with people who have now passed away, or old friends but even though i can remember what happened and what they looked like i can't actually see the people or what happened and it makes me miss people terribly. But i dream very vividly and sometimes i can keep a dream going if i start to wake and know I'm dreaming. i can then (i guess) daydream for just a few seconds, but once i open my eyes and wake completely, its all gone.
This is really interesting. I didn’t realize people actually “see” things in their mind. I know what things look like from memory, but I don’t actually see things in my mind. My mind is blown right now that there are people who do “see” things they think about in their minds. Perhaps this is why I’m so bad with facial recognition?
I can relate to your experience entirely. I'm bad at recognizing faces as well, can imagine details of facts about something in an image form from past experiences but cannot summon or create random images in my mind.
I'm so curious about this I am on the complete opposite end , I live in my minds eye as a coping mechanism , the worlds I have created are vast and intricate . I cannot get my mind around how you know what an apple looks like from memory without picturing it . Just from like repetition of being taught that an apple is round and red or green . I feel like all of us who have a minds eye have a sort of cheat , i can't imagine having to learn things as a child without being able to visualise ! You guys are amazing !!
Yes. I have the same issue, and know of many others who say the same. A host of other issues are sometimes associated with it; an inability to name colors we see even though we know what looks good together, varying degrees of dyslexia and dyscalculia, and so on. And most people seem to have this same reaction of sock and surprise to learn others see things so, that it isn't all metaphorical.
Girl. Yes! This so much,
I'm aphantasic but I'm good at facial recognition, I recognized two girl I was with in primary school 25 years later, I could even say their names, they could not lol
I can also recognize voice translator when I watch a movie, Oh.. this is gandalf voice 😂
My husband has it, one day a few years ago he asked me if visualization was probably just a figure of speech. Now I was flabbergasted because I’m a very strong visualizer myself. When I read or listen to an audiobook, it’s like a movie in my head. I’m sad he can’t do that. But it is what it is. And I’m not surprised there are a lot of artists among them. My husband is a fantastic multi instrument musician who spends many hours in his studio. It seems that the brain might just balance one thing that is not average with another talent.
I am still shook sometimes that people can see pictures in their minds. But what is even crazier to me, is that there are so many different ways of thinking and it's just very hatd to grasp as a concept when you don't think that way. I heard that some people can "imagine" smells or sounds. My best friend told me, that when she is thinking about a song, she will literally hear the song with the instruments and the voice of the singer. It's just so weird for me. I am used to my way of thinking and I dont have many problems because of it, that distinguish me from other people, but it's just such an complex topic.
It's about living with command line interface instead of GUI
And you can’t even see that.
You just think it
Actually pretty accurate description ngl
Except the command line can’t be seen either. It’s all on autopilot aka no free will. But that goes for the “seers” also.
My eldest son can't visualize graphicly and instead claims that he thinks in algebra. How weird is that?
@@michaelward9201 you can see the command line. On windows press windows key + r. Then type cmd into the box that appears and click OK
Intriguing. This reminds me of when I found out many people have no inner monologue voice in their heads. They never ever hear their own voice in their heads. It seems even more astonishing than the no imagery thing.
It is all equally interesting to me. The mind and brain is so fascinating.
I have no inner voice, no ability to do mental arithmetic. I am highly visual though. As a kid I was perplexed how other kids could not visualise like me. Now I know I have an over abundance of visualisation in my mind.
I dont have inner monologue and i have aphantasia.. i talked about it with my friends and found out it wasnt normal. I love reading books and my friends ask me how i can enjoy it when i cant picture anything or hear myself narrate the book lol. Idk i just do and its so strange to me that ppl can actually see and talk in their minds
@@najmahssn I have an inner monologue but not when I'm reading so I know what you mean ... it's like I just absorb the words
WHAT?! THERE ARE BRAIN-MUTE PEOPLE ????? HOW
@@chocolatbownie35 😂😂😂 I was surprised about that at first too, but reading other comments I'm more interested in people who see dreams but don't hear them despite being hearing like.... How?!? How do you dream with no sounds?
I graduated with a bachelor's in psychology and a master's in clinical mental health, and this condition was not in any of my books. I was shocked to read this in the last year and confirmed by a student I was teaching who said he could only "see" the words of something, but not the thing in his mind.
I can't always remember details, but those stories (whether read of or heard) are still like a movie I can play in my head. And for direction, i picture a map. I really didn't realize everyone wasn't like this.
I do wish, however, that I could remember names of things better. That memory issue has caused me MANY problems throughout life. I can remember and understand concepts, but not what they are called.
I guess we each have our own things to deal with. (Some may call them "crosses to bear."
(For reference, I'm almost 62.)
When you said trauma and ptsd I had an epiphany - my out of the blue panic attacks, even the ones that wake me at night, are a reaction to traumas I had but can’t visualize in my brain. Most ptsd patients see images over and over. I don’t. But my body will have panic attacks out of nowhere. It’s like a muscle memory ptsd instead of a pictorial memory ptsd. Does this make sense?
It makes good sense to me, I feel (pun intended) things in the same way as you mentioned, very intensely and out of nowhere.
I’m have also been dealing with depression, ptsd and anxiety for more than two decades. But always had a hard time explaining or “visualizing” what I felt. For example when talking to psychiatrist and similar professionals like that.
This genuinely blew my mind (no pun intended) when I heard about this a year or so ago. Why isn't this something that everyone is taught in school?
Because the education system is completely fucked up. I’d really wish they’d teach actually useful stuff and about things people experience and whatnot.
@@whomstami7365 it's pretty new knowledge. I'm a teacher in training with aphantasia, and my psychology professor didn't even know it existed. I mention it to my students of course, both since I think it's good general knowledge, and to encourage them to be honest with neurodiversity so that I can adapt content for them.
It both helps you and hurts you to know that you’re missing something. I feel a bit robbed but I also know why I’m different and why certain tasks, golf for example, are more difficult.
@@syber-space I didn’t know it was relatively new. I’m not all that knowledgeable on the subject, but am learning because I want to understand it better.
@@whomstami7365 It's all any of us can do!
I can't "picture" things when I close my eyes. When he was talking about the apple, I didn't have my eyes closed. I could think about a red apple with bits of yellow on it. Uneven and raised up higher on one side. But no matter how much I meditate and try to picture that apple with my eyes closed I will never see it. It used to drive me crazy with "guided meditation" videos where they tell you to put yourself in a meadow. I know what meadows look like. But when my eyes are closed, the "image" cannot be conjured at all. I still day dream. But it's more of a feeling and remembering what someone said, where we were, a joke they told that makes me laugh. And I sometimes have intense dreams, even lucid dreams occasionally. But there's only black when I close my eyes.
This is what i experienced too, but i dont thnik its a problem
Check ur pulse, maybe?
This is how I feel too! I could think of an apple in the kitchen, imagine texture under my fingers, but I couldn't visualise the apple itself. I have the same problem with guided meditations - I can't imagine myself in a forest, looking at trees and the path ahead of me, I can, however, somehow summon the feeling of being in a forest. Not to mention that the ASMR quality of guided meditations drive me bonkers...On the other hand I often have very vivid dreams - it's like my brain makes up for my loss of being able to picture anything.
That is perfectly normal. I also "see" just "black" with eyes closed. But I can imagine how it would be to see something. I can imagine things even with eyes opened, imagine how they move, rotate them, let them interact with the world. But it is all just pretended. I do not literally see anything more than the light entering my eyes and what my visual cortex makes out of it. But I can "model" an imagination of something which is not there.
@@erikziak1249 I understand what you mean, but I can't do that.
This made me feel a lot better about finding out about not having a "visual" imagination. I can imagine things in a more abstract and interesting way and actually can feel physical "presences" sometimes. It is not all bad I was worried about my meditation but I seem to have a high sensitivity of "feeling" energy in my body and "feeling" my imagination. I see it, kind of like reading a book but I don't "see" it like I am looking at someone near. Appreciate this video made me feel a lot better about this I was really bummed out for the last two hours of research I conducted.
I really appreciated this video. After learning about aphantasia this year and after seeing mostly negative coverage about it, this made my day.
My mind's eye has aways been a bit too vivid. I would daydream a lot in school.
You will make Make a good film maker
If I could turn mine off I'd be a millionaire
I still daydream no matter where I am or what I'm doing. Being shot at was one of the few times I was able to be fully mindful and in-present-moment
Same here dude ,sometimes , most the times I can't fall asleep because my mind is always making up scenarios or designs and ideas it gets frustrating to actually sleep after a while lol
might be a maladaptive daydreamer
I watched Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends as a kid and was baffled by how creative their characters were. How could people create things they've never seen before? How could they interact with the world as though there was a living being nearby that you couldn't see? Mind blowing.
I remember watching this show as a kid and think that I was supposed to have created my own imaginary friend! All my mind came with was Anne of Green Gables 😂 Thanks Aphantasia
My imaginary friend was my reflection in the oven.
I feel like I’ve always had a certain lack of mental imagery but I had enough to understand what visualization is like. Up until recent stressful events I’ve lost all ability to visualize but I don’t mind. I think it makes it easier to do things.
I first found out about Aphantasia a year or so ago, I was amazed that people could see things in thier minds, I don't and I am just learning more about it
I always wondered why I struggled to draw from my minds eye only being able to draw from reference, its interesting to read and hear more about it
I'm also an artist with aphantasia, I couldn't believe until a month ago that anyone could picture things in their mind, and that it wasn't just a figure of speech!! I'm so glad to see there are are other artists and peolpe that have this. It was very inspiring for me to watch and read the comments! Thank you all for sharing this and thank you for the video!
Something I have always struggled with in trying to draw from life is that by the time my eye gets to the paper I feel like the visual memory of the thing in front of me has faded or been distorted, so I am much slower and always looking back and forth. It probably is a type of aphantasia. I also have problems trying to think of things rotated in visual space because well my mental images are all fuzzy outlines. Are there some challenges you have faced as an artist when practicing like these?
Wow. This was eye opening. I've known I have aphantasia for a few months now, but I didn't know it was connected to how I experienced grief and longing! I've felt ashamed for so long now about not grieving my grandfather as I "should", about not grieving past relationships like my friends do, and most of all not actively missing my significant other when we're apart for long periods of time, the same way she misses me. I felt like I am just cold, and I carried so much guilt, I thought it meant I didn't care for others the way they care for me... yet when I'm with them my heart feels so full. So confusing. I can let go of that shame now. Thank you!
Yeah maybe you´re just cold
Don't know if you're aware of chakra and energetic stuff but it's related to your 3rd Eye and perhaps Crown Chakras being blocked and imbalanced. The past 18 months have created lots of energetic shaking in us all. Look into chakra meditations. Infinite blessings to you. ♥️
I've never grieved for anyone for myself. I feel grief for everyone in pain around me though.
@@federicolarosa1486 Marit has displayed a lot of empathy in her comment, where as your comment displays a distinct lack of empathy. So, between the two of you, you are clearly the person who is cold.
roasted
A reminder that every aspect of our physical and cognitive being is an amazing gift. It shouldn't be surprising when almost everyone is missing some part of this infinitely complex system
Juat realice I never said thank you for this video. I found out about aphantasia (and that I have it) thanks to it a year ago. It completely shocked me (and still does) but also helped me inmensenly to understand myself and my relationships with others. So yes, thank you, thank so much for opening my eyes.
The most interesting thing my daughter has said so far in our learning about this; "When I dream, I only hear the voices."
Interesting enough, but it's perfectly possible to have visual dreams while being unable to mentally visualize an image during waking hours. This is my experience.
@@ivstast Yeah one of the top comments, a young woman with aphantasia said she can dream visually. So I guess it's more of a spectrum.
Sounds like some horror movie shi
That is interesting. I can see everything in my dreams but nothing when I'm awake. When I try to recall what happened in my dreams I can't see anything I just know what it would look like from memory.
I rarely dream in images, but sometimes I do. Daydreams are voices. It isn't a bad life :-9
I was today's years old when I found out other people can actually see what they're visualizing 😳
I am in the same boat!
Wow I'm today old learning that some people cannot "imagine"
@@musan9079 we can imagine things and make plans in the head just not visualize it literally!
@@Regina-Phalange That's a perfect way to describe it! 💯😊👍
There are different "levels" (to hyperphantasia), as well. Some can just kind of see a vague shape or image. Others can "feel" a touch on their skin or "smell" their favorite childhood dish being cooked.
Then there's Prophantasia which is really fun. That's people who can project their imagination over reality like augmented reality or built in CGI. For example, we're building a house and I quite often extrapolate our floorplan into a 3D mockup in my head and then I mentally "walk through" this 3 dimensional house with an imaginary version of myself and do things like cook a dish in the kitchen to see if I like the planned layout. Or placing our furniture in certain spots to see if it'll fit well or maybe we need to consider moving that wall or shifting that window, etc.
Minus the super-computer, it's like walking around with Iron Man's Jarvis inside your head all day. A Heads Up Display that you can use to augment reality to test things out without having to actually get up and move a couch across a room you can just visualize "what it would look like if I deleted it there and pasted it there...." instead of having to get up and physically move the couch just to realize it was an awful idea and now you have to move it back.
The downside is that I often "see things" that others can't because I can quickly test out several different options without actually getting up and doing anything. So we might be discussing moving the couch over there and I'll say something like "Well no... if you move it there then you have to shift the thing and that other one and that'll mean that everything in the room shifts just enough the door won't open fully and you won't be able to move that widget in and out every day for the thingy." And everyone looks at me like I'm crazy for being 20 steps ahead. When really I just got bored in the last hour and started rearranging the furniture in my head out of boredom and now I know this room is pretty much in the only configuration that'll work for the needs of the room. So after everyone else spends the energy to rearrange the whole room and then arrange it back, I get those "how did she know that????" looks. lol.
I also mentally pre-do most things so that I can work efficiently and be physically lazy since my mind never shuts off. lol. So usually while I'm doing step 1, I'm mentally walking through steps 2-10 so that when I get to them there aren't any surprises. So I'll often get up during step 1 to move the thing out of the way because I realize that come step 3 we're going to knock it over. And someone will stop me and tell me we're not ready for the thing. And I'll try to explain that I'm just moving it now because if we wait till later...... and I get cut off and then we get to step 3 and the thing gets knocked over and everyone wants to know how I possibly saw that coming. lol
I also sleep about 4 hours a night because my mind is like a TV I can't ever turn off or set to mute. Sometimes aphantasia sounds like a blessing but mostly I'm glad for hyper/pro-phantasia. Even though it's crazy distracting :( Enjoy the peace and stillness your mind must be able to achieve when you try to focus or meditate. My train of thought is like being stuck watching a tv that's constantly set to channel surf. lol. Every passing phrase becomes an image and every image is a chance at distraction from anything I'm trying to focus on.
I have aphantasia, and i actually found out from Amy’s video, it’s so relieving to know that I’m not the only one who experiences this. growing up i thought that everyone saw the same blackness/darkness as me when trying to imagine anything and people were just using imagining as a figure of speech. Being a quiet child as well, i never spoke or questioned it either
I may not be able to generate a picture in my mind, but my imagination is a rich and fruitful place, where anything is possible . . .
I have aphantasia. I couldn't picture the apple at all in my mind. But when he said, "Can you feel it?" I can feel the texture in my mind. I can feel the smooth waxy texture. I just have no visual imagination... at all. But I can feel.
Yes. The sensation of biting it, etc. I think fantasy works in various modalities differently. And over some modalities we have more control.
That is very interesting. I cannot see anything in my mind but I can feel the colour and shape. But like you no visual imagination, for me it is always about ‘thinking the idea’, not seeing it. Thanks for another bit of understanding of my own condition/ability.
I feel the emotion, like last weekend, playing with my grandson, as he was launching himself into my arms with complete joy and abandon, i feel the joy!
I have no mental imagery and I can't summon a smell or a tactile sensation in my mind either. But I CAN play back songs in my head in amazing detail. So I think there's a wide variety of combinations and we're only beginning to understand.
I can't experience any of the 5 senses in my head. Sometimes it makes me sad. Sometimes it makes me jealous. But most of the time I don't even think about it. It's been like that my entire life. It is what it is I suppose
I have never heard of this.. the mind is such a maze we still are lost in
luckily the ancient gave us tools to control the mind
@@sillymesilly what sort of tool?
Yes but thats work only for people who have strong determination...
"The focus is strong; the light, aglow.
This is to know the great frame of reference.
The mind is beaming & bright -
like the light of the sun
that, unobstructed by clouds or haze,
illumines the earth with its rays."
____________
"160. One truly is the protector of oneself; who else could the protector be? With oneself fully controlled, one gains a mastery that is hard to gain.-buddha-
Wow this blows my mind!! It also makes me feel panic a little, because I'm the total opposite. If I can't visualise it I struggle to comprehend. This is why I struggle with Maths and I get excessively emotionally affected by things.
This is so scary. My entire thoughts are visual concepts. Without them I wouldn't 'be'.
I'm a painter, photographer, graphic designer, video editor and this is a whole New concept. I usually dream the pictures I'll recreate, with sounds and smells asosiated to those visuals. The idea of aphantasia is incredible to me.
I also dream, but when I awake I can no longer see the dream, just my internal voice can describe it back to me but I only see black. I'd struggle to draw it like a comic, but I could easily write it like book.