Aphantasia poll

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I think the problem is not knowing what people actually mean by the words "seeing an image in one's mind's eye." Especially, if one has spent a lifetime assuming that nobody actually meant it in anything other than a figurative sense.

Have you seen an alien? How do you know you haven't if you don't know what one is supposed to look like?

For a start, what is a "mind's eye"? Can you be more explanatory?

I find it quite odd to be so sure you are or are not experiencing something in the same way someone else is, especially when the descriptions of mental imaging I've seen are diverse and often contradictory. In fact I would have thought that was especially the case amongst autistic people.

Last edited by thewheel on 19 Oct 2017, 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm kind of the opposite of that - if anything, I can picture things more vividly than most people. I also have extremely vivid dreams that often involve all my senses. I can feel pain in dreams, and feel objects I'm holding/touching, and even taste things when applicable. On occasion I won't even be able to remember if an image in my head is from a movie I've seen or a book I've read - sometimes I could've sworn I'd actually seen something but then later realize it's something I've read, although that only happens after the fact - recalling images and imagining things are the same for me, but in the moment, seeing things and imagining things are different. Sorry, I can't really come up with a better or more detailed way of explaining it - I'm not very good at explaining things.

I've never even heard of aphantasia before. And when I looked it up, I know I must be the opposite of it.
I think would be kind of hard to be a cartoonist who draws freehand if I couldn't imagine the characters I draw in my head.

Don't know whether I have aphantasia, but based more on reading comments in this thread than the test, I think I'm gradually getting convinced that I do.

Very definitely, I do see images in my dreams. And very definitely, I can't do anything like it when I try to imagine something when awake.

I do have an imagination for all respects but am facially blind.

I also have face-blindness, but definitely not aphantasia.

https://www.quora.com/What-does-in-my-minds-eye-mean

I have emailed Adam Zeman , who heads the research about aphantasia at Exeter university, for his definition of the 'mind's eye'. If I hear from him I will post it here.

Ditto. I think. According to this article, that's not uncommon:


https://www.newscientist.com/article/20 ... -my-brain/

I had never heard of aphantasia before, but neither have I ever been able to visualize someone very clearly in my mind's eye -- certainly I can't visualize my husband when talking to him on the phone, for instance. I don't think I'm seriously faceblind, but I do have problems there and tend to recognize people more by how they stand and move, however that could be because I was legally blind for some time before they figured out I desperately needed glasses, and recognizing people by other traits was just easier.

Even though I know full well that I don't actually create pictures I can look at in my mind, it seemed odd to me that I would have aphantasia because I am aces at the rotating shapes part of an I.Q. test (where they give you a two dimensional image and you figure out which of the three "3-d" shapes would match it, or vice versa). But the article I linked to also says this:



I could not visualize the guide image at all, however I could easily tell which of the three "rotated" items fit it, because two of the three were identical and so it had to be the third! But maybe I'm quicker through that part of an I.Q. test because I'm doing that sort of thing?

I am particularly intrigued by this articles' speculation that at least some people with aphantasia actually do visualize something, it's just that they can't consciously access that visual image. The last time I got my driver's license, at one point in the vision test, the guy told me to read him off a list of letters in the box, and I could not see any. It was when they were testing only one eye, and I could see the light and the box I was looking into just fine -- but no letters. I figured he'd put the letters on the unlighted side or something, but he insisted it was set up right, and told me to recite the letters I thought were there -- which I did, and I passed. Even though I could consciously see not one letter. Obviously, the information was in my brain somewhere, and I could technically access it, but I could not access the visuals.

Here is his reply.



Adam Zeman
Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology,
University of Exeter Medical School,
St Luke's Campus,
Magdalen Road,
Exeter EX1 2LU

OK, I'm officially self-diagnosing and changing my vote from "Not Sure" to "Yes".

The point above totally describes me. I think there have been times, even when awake, where I have seen things almost as vividly as if I were looking at them, but I definitely can't do it at will.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/20 ... n-my-brain[/quote]

That is fascinating; I had never seen this stated before, and yet it is exactly what I have, occasionally, experienced. I never see images when fully conscious, but I have the impression that, on rare occasions, I see some sort of fleeting image when falling asleep or waking.

That's really cool! I draw a lot of characters as well, but I can never "see" them properly until they're out on the paper. And if I'm drawing the same one several times, then I'm not really imagining what they look like while drawing them. I just have to remember their proportions. Maybe this is why I'm having such problems with character consistency?

So can you imagine a picture, and then make it turn out the same on paper as it is in your mind?
For me it's always a surprise how it turns out.

x 8.8 above the rate(2.5%) of aphantasia for the general population . A poll is currently being conducted for a NLD facebook group and stands at 26% rounded down(9/34) ie x 10.4 above the rate of the general population.

Posted not sure because... I don't really know how to check lol. Counting sheep was always a ridiculous idea to me, I could never visualise a sheep and certainly never make it jump things in my head, plus even when i tried really hard I would get confused in 5 seconds xD doing math in my head was always better ahahha.

I can be very imaginative, but in words and thoughts I never really see anything. I just did an exercise of trying to see if I could visualize the shape --> https://www.newscientist.com/article/20 ... -my-brain/, and well I failed ahahha.

I guess I can see things vaguely, like I have pretty severe dissociation issues, so I must have some kind of visual imagery or how would I get snapshot images. They are very vague though, not something I could draw, more of a feeling and knowing I was in a place with things, then I think I make up the rest. Its like a construction of sensations... humm I dunno defs walking in circles, just tried to draw one of the memories and it failed ahah.

I contrast I can have very very vivid dreams, again largely to do with PTSD *shrugs*.

Just did the cambridge face blindness test and I scored 75% so I don't have that, but visual imagery I may be doomed with ahah.