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Who here has Aphantasia / the inability to visualize imagery?

SpaceRipperStingyEyes

SpaceRipperStingyEyes

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
773
My mental visualization is OP. As a kid I would play imagination and either visualize actions scenes (like DBZ) or make up new ones. To this day as a grown man I do this but instead of running around I pace back and forth in my room usually while listening to something. I'll have like a few core thoughts and the rest just generates. For example it'll be 2 vague humanoid figures fighting until details spontaneously emerge or I think "it would be sweet if".
 
Kieli

Kieli

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,736
signal said:
Yeah it's hard to believe people can actually have a vivid image of something, that's why I think prior to this being common people just had different ideas of what a vivid image would be. Even now I can't imagine someone having any kind of sustained realistic image in their mind.
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When I read books, a movie plays in my head. I don't really hear the voices, but I do "see" the persons and movement and stuff.
 
skipgo

skipgo

Member
Dec 28, 2018
2,568
Huh, I think I fit the internal monologue thing. I'm more describing images to myself than actually seeing them in my head.
Weird.
 
Aureon

Aureon

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,819
I'm one of these people that's really baffled when someone says "That's not how i imagined this character would look like in the book"
Like, who imagines the faces of book characters?!

I do have environmental imagination, though.
 
Relix

Relix

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,219
I can imagine full blown movies in my mind I swear, all made up. I'll put on some good orchestral music and I'll think of the most epic moments of my own stories, with full blown voice acting, effects and timed to the music I am listening. It's crazy haha
 
Magnus

Magnus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,357
marimo said:
Not exactly, it's like remembering a song and "hearing" it in your head. The same thing but with images.
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That's exactly how I've thought about it. I see it or hear it as much as I can see or hear a memory or dream that I had. If you know what red looks like, for example, and can focus on what red would look like even if it isn't in front of you at the moment, I'd count that as being able to visualize it. To me, this is mostly all a function of memory.
 
Driggonny

Driggonny

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,170
The degree I have is literally called "Visualization" lol (just a fancy word for 3D animation)

I can't imagine a world where I can't just sit back and conjure images into my mind, I guess people get used to it or just never need the ability to begin with, but it's kinda the crux of my life.
 
Clefargle

Clefargle

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,120
Limburg
I can visualize very easily

I feel sorry for those that can't, but I wonder if it can be learned because I definitely used to do it as a kid
 
DrEvil

DrEvil

Developer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,628
Canada
I visualize very vividly too, to the point where I can work out an entire trailer or visual composition in my mind before I work on getting that vision to becoming a reality.

Any time I write out a shot description, or work on a piece of key art, its playing - fully realized - in my mind's eye. The real task is being skilled enough to put it on a screen as close as possible to how I saw it in my head.

Kieli said:
When I read books, a movie plays in my head. I don't really hear the voices, but I do "see" the persons and movement and stuff.
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This is me, too, but I hear the voices, and "see" it as if its being shot through a lens with proper cinematography. Its great too when you read a book that they're making a movie out of, and you've seen say, a trailer or know who's been cast, you can just imagine those people in the roles as you read it :D
 
BarrBarr

BarrBarr

Member
Oct 25, 2017
734
If you have Aphantasia can you still dream? How do psychedelic drugs work with this affliction?
 
SnakeXs

SnakeXs

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,111
Relix said:
I can imagine full blown movies in my mind I swear, all made up. I'll put on some good orchestral music and I'll think of the most epic moments of my own stories, with full blown voice acting, effects and timed to the music I am listening. It's crazy haha
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Thanks for kick me/us while we're down. :P

signal said:
Dreaming is the same as memory where details can be remembered just not visually recreated. Hallucinogens work normally I think.
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Can't say if it's "normal" or not, but can confirm CEV, kaleidoscope/fractal visuals.

I do not dream (or rather, I'm sure I do on some animal level but don't remember anything 99.9% of the time. Just close eyes, black, fade to black, and awake.
 

AlwaysSalty

The Fallen
Nov 12, 2017
1,442
Anecdotal, but when I visualize stuff it's not super clear. I did acid for the first time a few years ago and for a few months after I could visualize stuff super clearly. Kind of like going from sd to hd but with imagination. Only lasted a few months though. And it didn't happen until I had a really trippy trip. It's the kind of thing I do like once a year so I don't have a lot of experience with it.
 
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OP
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,182
AlwaysSalty said:
Anecdotal, but when I visualize stuff it's not super clear. I did acid for the first time a few years ago and for a few months after I could visualize stuff super clearly. Kind of like going from sd to hd but with imagination. Only lasted a few months though. And it didn't happen until I had a really trippy trip. It's the kind of thing I do like once a year so I don't have a lot of experience with it.
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Will try and report back (cops reading this: jk)
 
Rampage

Rampage

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,134
Metro Detriot
I can visualize like watching a movie- sound included. If I am watch some action sequence where there is no sound, my mind will fill in sound too. (ie a ball bouncing, it will hear the dribbling sound).

I did not know people could not see images in their head till this thread. Learn something new everyday.
 
Pluto

Pluto

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,416
I can visualize pretty well I think but I'm somewhere between purple and blue, I need some internal monologue to get started, I describe what I want and then it appears, once it's there I can see details that I didn't describe, then I start "editing" until it appeals to me.

I can easily get carried away, I remembered the last time we had an aphantasia thread I visualized a beautiful beach so I recreated that and went back there, then I thought about what it would be like to be part of a study on that topic so I visualized being in a researcher's office visualizing being on the beach, so now I was on the beach adding the village that's a few hundred meters in the distance on the right and also had a conversation with the researcher who kept asking questions which was super annyoing but then I felt bad because I had agreed to take part in this and knew he'd be asking questions, he was also kinda cute.

Then I realized it had been ten minutes with me wasting time on the beach and I hadn't even fully decorated the office, so I started adding some plants, stuff on his desk, pictures on the walls, curtains, a shelf full of books, his coat and a shoe rack next to the door (don't ask me why he has a shoe rack in his office, he just does).
Then I remembered I actually wanted to write a post here, I can easily spend half a day doing nothing but lying on the couch imagining things.
 
amoy

amoy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,230
Trying to focus on the apple for example, can't see it clearly. Generally, it all seems like a blur passing by. Same with trying to imagine people.

I can "modify" things to some extent, like the first time I heard that LOTR Galadriel was a powerhouse, I kept playing this sequence of Cate Blanchett kicking ass in my head, only to see the temptation scene in the first film and going "uh?" Then the Hobbit came out and the action scene doubled down on that horrible looking FX and I was like "UH!? D:"

On the other hand, I'm quite good at visualizing mechanical problems. Can work a process in my head based on an error code or a sound described by one of co-workers for example or just by being shown the damage caused by something. Helps a ton when I need to fabricate something or modify an existing part of a system.
 
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signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,182
Pluto said:
I can visualize pretty well I think but I'm somewhere between purple and blue, I need some internal monologue to get started, I describe what I want and then it appears, once it's there I can see details that I didn't describe, then I start "editing" until it appeals to me.

I can easily get carried away, I remembered the last time we had an aphantasia thread I visualized a beautiful beach so I recreated that and went back there, then I thought about what it would be like to be part of a study on that topic so I visualized being in a researcher's office visualizing being on the beach, so now I was on the beach adding the village that's a few hundred meters in the distance on the right and also had a conversation with the researcher who kept asking questions which was super annyoing but then I felt bad because I had agreed to take part in this and knew he'd be asking questions, he was also kinda cute.

Then I realized it had been ten minutes with me wasting time on the beach and I hadn't even fully decorated the office, so I started adding some plants, stuff on his desk, pictures on the walls, curtains, a shelf full of books, his coat and a shoe rack next to the door (don't ask me why he has a shoe rack in his office, he just does).
Then I remembered I actually wanted to write a post here, I can easily spend half a day doing nothing but lying on the couch imagining things.
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ElectricKaibutsu

ElectricKaibutsu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,465
If you have aphantasia and go into a room you've never been before and then later someone asks you to describe the room, can you? Like, if you can't visualize it how can you recall where things are located in the room?
 
Shodan14

Shodan14

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,410
ElectricKaibutsu said:
It seems like you would have to have a pretty good memory to remember things that way. I'm trying to describe a place without picturing it and I can't.
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I think you just wire your brain differently because the other option never existed.

Like imagine a room, but like the word "desk" instead of a picture of a desk where the desk is etc
 
FeistyBoots

FeistyBoots

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,506
Southern California
(can't remember if I already posted in this thread but)

Yes, I have total aphantasia. I'm completely mindblind and cannot imagine any of my senses such that I experience them as senses.

Aphantasia is a spectrum. From studies like the one being conducted at the University of Exeter (of which I'm a part), it's clear that yes, most people do in fact literally experience their senses when imagining things. They can see images like a picture or movie, as if they were looking at such in reality.

In my case, the best way to describe it is this way: all of the neurological mechanisms that happen when a person without aphantasia visualizes, for example, happen for me, but the final output of the sensory experience isn't delivered.

Contrary to some misunderstandings in this thread, this is not the typical experience when imagining sensory information.

I think in clusters of interrelated concepts. It's literally always black behind my eyelids. I 'feel' the shape of sensory information, but don't experience the senses except in real life (I've been diagnosed autistic with multiple comorbid neurological disorders, so I actually have sensory overload most days). I don't have an internal voice. It's all very strange; I had always thought that everyone else was the same, but that's not actually true.
 

larrybud

Member
Oct 25, 2017
716
how does this relate to memory? when you ask me to think of a steak, the easiest way for me to pull one up is to remember the one I had a couple days ago.
 
Hey Please

Hey Please

Avenger
Oct 31, 2017
22,824
Not America
I am great procrastinator thanks to day dreaming.

I can visualize living and non living objects of any share, colour, composition and size, animate them however I want including deconstruction and reconstruction (within certain limits) and audio, place them in any environment I can conjure (of course the detail in the world is inversely proportional to the effort I have put in creating and animating primary object or objects; it is like watching tv and the mind prioritizing what is most attention worthy in real time).

Sometimes my facial expression will alter depending on my imagination and at times I have said reactionary phrases to my audio visual playback of imaginary situations involuntarily.

I cannot however, properly conjure imaginary 4th dimensional objects or animate them but can recall them from references.
 
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signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,182
Shodan14 said:
You think of steak, whichever one, its shape, color, taste, smell, whatever, you just don't see it.
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Even this seems a bit too vivid. I normally wouldn't go past the abstract idea of thinking of "a steak" unless someone was asking about a specific meal I ate or something.

FeistyBoots said:
(can't remember if I already posted in this thread but)

Yes, I have total aphantasia. I'm completely mindblind and cannot imagine any of my senses such that I experience them as senses.

Aphantasia is a spectrum. From studies like the one being conducted at the University of Exeter (of which I'm a part), it's clear that yes, most people do in fact literally experience their senses when imagining things. They can see images like a picture or movie, as if they were looking at such in reality.

In my case, the best way to describe it is this way: all of the neurological mechanisms that happen when a person without aphantasia visualizes, for example, happen for me, but the final output of the sensory experience isn't delivered.

Contrary to some misunderstandings in this thread, this is not the typical experience when imagining sensory information.

I think in clusters of interrelated concepts. It's literally always black behind my eyelids. I 'feel' the shape of sensory information, but don't experience the senses except in real life (I've been diagnosed autistic with multiple comorbid neurological disorders, so I actually have sensory overload most days). I don't have an internal voice. It's all very strange; I had always thought that everyone else was the same, but that's not actually true.
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In the clear!
 

Contrite

Member
Dec 12, 2017
121
I have that. Can't visualise things at all.
My way of 'visualising' is just piling words upon words.

Add that my thinking is more or less all internal monologue. Or dialogue, kinda.

I didn't actually realise you're supposed to be able to visualise things until like.. a year ago? I figured people were always metaphorical when they talked about 'seeing' things in their mind.

I guess my preference for books would be even stronger if I actually could visualise, lol.
 
OP
OP
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,182
Was on the train today trying to imagine the station I was going to get off at so I could determine what exit to take to get to the opposite side of the street of the exit I normally take. Gave up after 11 minutes smh.
 

Deleted member 8561

user requested account closure
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Oct 26, 2017
11,284
When I read about this, I started thinking that I have Aphantasia, but then I started thinking about how I internalize things with my minds eye and I have concluded I simply have an extremely weak minds eye.

My main issue is I don't have an ability to really distinguishing internal monologue of "visualize a sunset" with the ability to imagine a sunset vs. telling myself "I know what a sunset is because I've seen one"

If that makes any sense.

I also can't visualize faces, at best I can create "blobs" of shadows in my mind and manipulate them, but the fact that I can manipulate them means I inherently don't have Aphantasia.

-Can't create colors
-Can't create complex objects
-Mainly create objects from basic shapes in my mind that can "come together"
-Can't visualize faces

It also explains why I hate/ed reading fiction books when I was younger, I could never visualize anything on paper. "Getting lost in a book" was/is impossible. Only caveat is if I watch a movie based on a book, going back to the book allows me to use the memories of the movie to actually visualize scenes within the book.

I think the sudden spike in Aphantasia knowledge is partly down to it being an internet thing and a kinda interesting self diagnosable "condition". It makes sense that the "minds eye" ability is a spectrum from person to person, but I would actually be curious how many people are self describing themselves to have Aphantasia, but don't actually have it. These type of threads could also have a sample bias as most people who don't suffer from poorly developed minds eyes simply don't reply or think about it.
 
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Ultimate Bear Cub

Ultimate Bear Cub

Member
Mar 30, 2019
9,058
This is a fascinating topic. I had a feeling people perceived the world differently, just not so plainly visceral like this.

I don't have aphantasia as far as I can tell. I have daydreamed since I was younger, perhaps to an excessive amount. I am able to visualize to a point where I have presence within the imagined world. This was how I coped with boring road trips that took hours or bus rides to school. I remember watching my favorite movies and trying to memorize them; visuals, music, and dialogue simultaneously. This was so I could replay them in my mind. I couldn't do a whole movie, but I did manage a significant amount.

However, if there are details that I find boring I do tend to omit them when I imagine a book scene or face. For my experience in books, the thematic emotions or plot interest me more so I "build" hasty approximations of described scenes. I think this is from my enjoyment of dramatic pacing from movies.
 
NaturalHigh

NaturalHigh

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,346
Ultimate Bear Cub said:
This is a fascinating topic. I had a feeling people perceived the world differently, just not so plainly visceral like this.

I don't have aphantasia as far as I can tell. I have daydreamed since I was younger, perhaps to an excessive amount. I am able to visualize to a point where I have presence within the imagined world. This was how I coped with boring road trips that took hours or bus rides to school. I remember watching my favorite movies and trying to memorize them; visuals, music, and dialogue simultaneously. This was so I could replay them in my mind. I couldn't do a whole movie, but I did manage a significant amount.

However, if there are details that I find boring I do tend to omit them when I imagine a book scene or face. For my experience in books, the thematic emotions or plot interest me more so I "build" hasty approximations of described scenes. I think this is from my enjoyment of dramatic pacing from movies.
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I am pretty confident my minds eye doesn't function at all anymore. As a kid, like you, I could visualize anything. If I thought of a song, it would start playing in my head. it was crazy.

I posted in this thread a while ago in more detail on how I 'see' things now.
 
BlackRainbowFT

BlackRainbowFT

Member
Oct 26, 2017
792
TheLostBigBoss said:
When I read about this, I started thinking that I have Aphantasia, but then I started thinking about how I internalize things with my minds eye and I have concluded I simply have an extremely weak minds eye.

My main issue is I don't have an ability to really disguising internal monologue of "visualize a sunset" with the ability to imagine a sunset vs. telling myself "I know what a sunset is because I've seen one"

If that makes any sense.

I also can't visualize faces, at best I can create "blobs" of shadows in my mind and manipulate them, but the fact that I can manipulate them means I inherently don't have Aphantasia.

-Can't create colors
-Can't create complex objects
-Mainly create objects from basic shapes in my mind that can "come together"
-Can't visualize faces

It also explains why I hate/ed reading fiction books when I was younger, I could never visualize anything on paper. "Getting lost in a book" was/is impossible. Only caveat is if I watch a movie based on a book, going back to the book allows me to use the memories of the movie to actually visualize scenes within the book.

I think the sudden spike in Aphantasia knowledge is partly down to it being an internet thing and a kinda interesting self diagnosable "condition". It makes sense that the "minds eye" ability is a spectrum from person to person, but I would actually be curious how many people are self describing themselves to have Aphantasia, but don't actually have it. These type of threads could also have a sample bias as most people who don't suffer from poorly developed minds eyes simply don't reply or think about it.
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Magnificently said.

It's always a spectrum of sorts... you can be easily distracted by things without suffering from ADD or you can be forgetful without suffering from Alzheimer's.

But people like being able to apply labels to themselves in order to better characterize their own idiosyncrasies.
 
Spacejaws

Spacejaws

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,784
Scotland
I am the bad visualizer in that picture except the apple is literally just a red blur/haze with barely any shape, sometimes a red blob and other times just everything hazy red, while I internally describe it. I've been thinking of trying some exercises to help, I love reading but some passages that are very descriptive I struggle to understand. Reading The Vohrr right now and it's full of this.

marimo said:
Not exactly, it's like remembering a song and "hearing" it in your head. The same thing but with images.
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I also can't do this. I can't hear music unless I'm listening to it. I know what songs I like and if I hear them I recognize them but I cannot play them in my head or hum them unless I hear the beat or sing lyrics. If I sing the lyrics generally the beat comes back but I couldnt tell you what instruments are playing etc. I am not very good a karaoke. That said I love music and listen to something everynight when going to sleep and whenever I do a commute.
 
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swimming

swimming

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,471
i don't understand and i'm freaking out lol

you're telling me there's people that DO NOT SEE BLACK? and have a clear picture in their head against the black of their eyelids in COLOR? like an image on the computer in front of them?

bitch WHAT
 
OP
OP
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,182
Swimming said:
i don't understand and i'm freaking out lol

you're telling me there's people that DO NOT SEE BLACK? and have a clear picture in their head against the black of their eyelids in COLOR? like an image on the computer in front of them?

bitch WHAT
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I thought it was more rare before but going by this 'viral tweet' it seems we have allies in the zero visuals camp.
 
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