Film, Media & TV4 mins ago
Aphantasis
20 Answers
I just found out recently I'm aphantasis. I can't get visuals images of anything I think about, places, faces etc. I know what they look like and can describe in detail using words but I don't get any visual imagery at all. I've been told one in 50 has this condition, do you, are you able to mentally visualise?
I feel I'm missing out.
I feel I'm missing out.
Answers
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Snap!
I can only remember what my best friends look like by recalling specific thoughts I've had about them. (e.g. "Joe really ought to watch his waistline" or "I wonder if Fred knows that he's getting a bald patch?"). I can't directly picture them in my mind at all. I've always been that way. (For example, I could never picture my parents in my mind. I could recall incidents when they were present and 'feel' that presence in my my memory but I couldn't picture them).
I'm on the autism spectrum; perhaps you are too (even if you've not been diagnosed as such)?
I can only remember what my best friends look like by recalling specific thoughts I've had about them. (e.g. "Joe really ought to watch his waistline" or "I wonder if Fred knows that he's getting a bald patch?"). I can't directly picture them in my mind at all. I've always been that way. (For example, I could never picture my parents in my mind. I could recall incidents when they were present and 'feel' that presence in my my memory but I couldn't picture them).
I'm on the autism spectrum; perhaps you are too (even if you've not been diagnosed as such)?
Just an aside:
Your reference to price in dollars (in your previous question), and the timings of your posts, suggests that you're in the USA. This website is UK-based and, while we most definitely welcome members from all over the world, you shouldn't expect too many immediate responses to your posts when you post in (what to us are) the early hours of the morning!
If you'd prefer to try a US site, this might be of interest to you
https:/
but, once again, I stress that you're extremely welcome here!
Your reference to price in dollars (in your previous question), and the timings of your posts, suggests that you're in the USA. This website is UK-based and, while we most definitely welcome members from all over the world, you shouldn't expect too many immediate responses to your posts when you post in (what to us are) the early hours of the morning!
If you'd prefer to try a US site, this might be of interest to you
https:/
but, once again, I stress that you're extremely welcome here!
Re Jackdaw's post:
While I can't visualise faces at all, that doesn't mean that I don't recognise people when I see them.
However, just like him, I can struggle with names. For example, when I was teaching I could see the same teenager at morning and afternoon registration every school day of the year, as well as teaching them maths and having them participate in the school teams which I ran. If I met them after they'd left school (whether that be just a few months later or a decade further on) I could remember everything about them, such as the times that they'd got into trouble, the grades on their reports, the pop groups that they'd been infatuated with, etc, etc, with just small omission - their name!!!
While I can't visualise faces at all, that doesn't mean that I don't recognise people when I see them.
However, just like him, I can struggle with names. For example, when I was teaching I could see the same teenager at morning and afternoon registration every school day of the year, as well as teaching them maths and having them participate in the school teams which I ran. If I met them after they'd left school (whether that be just a few months later or a decade further on) I could remember everything about them, such as the times that they'd got into trouble, the grades on their reports, the pop groups that they'd been infatuated with, etc, etc, with just small omission - their name!!!
I find this fascinating. I took for granted that everyone has a visual memory and the ability to imagine what places look like before you've actually been. It wasn't until I was almost 40, via conversations with Mrs Zacs, that I realised that some people, including her, don't have a picture pop up in their head when talking about people and places.
I'm kind of the opposite, being dyslexic I often think in pictures. If I need to recall an instance concerning another person for example, I need to conjure up that picture in my minds eye before I can fully relate to that person or remember any detail.The problem being, if I don't know that person well, it will often make it very difficult to get that picture in my head, but until I do, I can't recall any detail of anything concerning that person.
Jackdaw
what you have is 'nominal aphasia' which is kinda very different
I hadnt realised that some people's visuo spatial ability could be zero (aphantasia)
http://
the only thing I could suggest is mental exercises on the lines of 'memory men'. They do exercises in order to remember packs of cards and other useful things in order to win memory olympiads ....
you might try Yates - Art of memory
free copy here
https:/
but if you have nothing to work on - then you cant develop it ....
what you have is 'nominal aphasia' which is kinda very different
I hadnt realised that some people's visuo spatial ability could be zero (aphantasia)
http://
the only thing I could suggest is mental exercises on the lines of 'memory men'. They do exercises in order to remember packs of cards and other useful things in order to win memory olympiads ....
you might try Yates - Art of memory
free copy here
https:/
but if you have nothing to work on - then you cant develop it ....
-- answer removed --
I once tried to explain to my wife a memory-system I had used for decades, which involves the creation of absurd images...eg a gorilla sitting on a golf-tee. She couldn't do it! My attitude was, "How could anyone conceivably NOT be able to picture such a thing?"
I had never heard of this condition, but she really could not create mind-pictures, however memorable or ridiculous. It's a comfort to know via this thread that she is far from alone!
For my own part, I once went to answer the doorbell and found myself speaking to an attractive young woman to whom I said, "How can I help you?" She looked at me askance and no wonder; she was our next-door neighbour and had been for years! Fair enough, we didn't have that much to do with them, but of course I KNEW her.
I subsequently learned that this form of face-blindness has the grand name of 'prosopagnosia' and it troubles me often. I regularly get told off for 'ignoring' or even 'snubbing' people, when that is the last thing on my mind. I just don't see them.
I had never heard of this condition, but she really could not create mind-pictures, however memorable or ridiculous. It's a comfort to know via this thread that she is far from alone!
For my own part, I once went to answer the doorbell and found myself speaking to an attractive young woman to whom I said, "How can I help you?" She looked at me askance and no wonder; she was our next-door neighbour and had been for years! Fair enough, we didn't have that much to do with them, but of course I KNEW her.
I subsequently learned that this form of face-blindness has the grand name of 'prosopagnosia' and it troubles me often. I regularly get told off for 'ignoring' or even 'snubbing' people, when that is the last thing on my mind. I just don't see them.
Quizmonster, I'm just the same. I didn't recognise my own son once! I'm often accused of snubbing people because I just don't recognise them.
Chanel5, it sounds like you have synaesthesia.
LorryB, my son has no visual imagery, like you. I thought it quite odd when he told me, but it seems it's not that rare, going by some replies here.
Chanel5, it sounds like you have synaesthesia.
LorryB, my son has no visual imagery, like you. I thought it quite odd when he told me, but it seems it's not that rare, going by some replies here.
To be honest I suspect most have some degree of that. Visual detail requires a lot of data to store, bring forth and use in a mental image. Creating an image that might be sufficiently like a known individual to fool oneself, requires less.
I think that is why many folk don't recall, say, the eye colour of a partner. It is something that has to be stored specifically somewhere and the information added to any image, in order to avoid flak when asked.
I can imagine most things, but details are vague unless I know them separately, which is why I think the image is created from scratch.
So can you not imagine something relatively simple like a standard white cube for example ?
I think that is why many folk don't recall, say, the eye colour of a partner. It is something that has to be stored specifically somewhere and the information added to any image, in order to avoid flak when asked.
I can imagine most things, but details are vague unless I know them separately, which is why I think the image is created from scratch.
So can you not imagine something relatively simple like a standard white cube for example ?
I think I may be on the autism spectrum, undiagnosed.
I've read that there is no 'cure' for aphantasis, no amount of exercise or meditation is going to help, it's like asking a blind or deaf person to practice seeing or hearing, it's just not going to happen.
No, Buenchico, I'm not in the USA, I was using the $ sign as I can't find the pound sign on the keyboard I'm using. Lol. I'm in the same time zone as the UK, just insomniac.
Appreciate all the interesting replies, thanks. :)
I've read that there is no 'cure' for aphantasis, no amount of exercise or meditation is going to help, it's like asking a blind or deaf person to practice seeing or hearing, it's just not going to happen.
No, Buenchico, I'm not in the USA, I was using the $ sign as I can't find the pound sign on the keyboard I'm using. Lol. I'm in the same time zone as the UK, just insomniac.
Appreciate all the interesting replies, thanks. :)
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