Curious about Aphantasia

[AutistAcolyte]

last night i had a very interesting conversation with some friends, and i found out that when some people say "vizualize an object" or "picture in your mind's eye" they actually see the thing as if they were looking at it!

i've always just closed my eyes and thought about the thing, but just seen staticky black, and i thought thats just how people talked about thinking, but apparently not!

what is you all's experience? do you see pictures in your mind? do you see them clearly or fuzzy? or do you not see anything?

 

[Princess Viola]

Yeah I got aphantasia and thought that was just like normal and the whole 'actually picturing something visually in your mind' was just like a metaphor until I was in my late teens.

 

[Knower of nothing]

Do either of you dream? It's the same ability.

 

[Outdated]

I have a very graphic imagination and can picture things very clearly. I see them in full 3d and can rotate them and look at them from different angles. I can do this with multiple objects and examine how they do or do not fit together. This is really handy for people in a mechanical trade.

I am unable to imagine faces and I have extremely poor facial recognition. If I ran in to my own mother in the street I would have no idea who she is until she told me.

[Edit] ex girlfriends get really angry when you can't remember them.

 

[Crossbreed]

I can picture real things (and people*) but usually it is/they are black & white and out of focus, so I cannot recall fine details. I can build systems in my imagination with great detail, though.

*When it affects one's recall of people's faces, it is called prosopagnosia (a.k.a. face-blindness). That is why I maintain a head collection as an amateur artist.

Heads, Female ♀

Homepage | Figure Shots | Go to ♂ Heads

www.flickr.com

 

[Princess Viola]

Do either of you dream? It's the same ability.

Aphantasia is characterized by being unable to voluntarily visualize images in one's mind, involuntary visualizations like dreaming aren't generally affected by it (studies indicate many people with aphantasia are capable of visualizing when they're asleep and dreaming, we just can't do it while we're awake and trying to voluntarily visualize something in our mind's eye.)

 

[AutistAcolyte]

Do either of you dream? It's the same ability.

i do dream, and i can sometimes remember my dreams when i wake up, and i know that when i'm dreaming it can feel real, but when i wake up i can describe the dream but i dont visualize it, i just remember what i've dreamt.

 

[Crossbreed]

I have been in dreams that were so irrational that I thought, "This must be a dream..." and I would proceed with its premise anyway.

 

[Knower of nothing]

Aphantasia is characterized by being unable to voluntarily visualize images in one's mind, involuntary visualizations like dreaming aren't generally affected by it (studies indicate many people with aphantasia are capable of visualizing when they're asleep and dreaming, we just can't do it while we're awake and trying to voluntarily visualize something in our mind's eye.)

How does it affect things like short term visual memory such as looking at a painting consisting of simple colored shapes then closing your eyes and remembering where the shapes are?
I'd also be curious if you have no issue remembering how the people you know look like (such as when recognizing them in photos so there is only visual stimuli to go off of).
If these are both easily doable for you, then it's really interesting where the line between having functional visual memory and having these "visualizations" actually is.

 

[Princess Viola]

How does it affect things like short term visual memory such as looking at a painting consisting of simple colored shapes then closing your eyes and remembering where the shapes are?
I'd also be curious if you have no issue remembering how the people you know look like (such as when recognizing them in photos so there is only visual stimuli to go off of).
If these are both easily doable for you, then it's really interesting where the line between having functional visual memory and having these "visualizations" actually is.

It's really hard to explain, in all honestly. Like if you were to ask me to remember something like some colored shapes with my eyes closed, I can remember them but I can't picture them, if that makes sense. Say if one of the shapes was a red circle, I can easily remember that it was a red circle but I can't actually picture a red circle in my mind. It just doesn't happen.

Same thing with remembering what people look like, I know what my mom looks like and if I see a photo of her, I can recognize her as being my mom, I know that's what she looks like. Same with my grandpa and my late grandma and my late dad. But I can't actually picture what she (or anyone else I know) looks like in my mind.

It's like the knowledge of what something is supposed to look like is still a thing that I have but I just can't actually picture it if I to think about it or remember it.

 

[AutistAcolyte]

It's like the knowledge of what something is supposed to look like is still a thing that I have but I just can't actually picture it if I to think about it or remember it.

yes! this is exactly it! i was trying to explain it to my friends, like "i know my dad's hair color, and i can describe my grandparents clock, but i cant conjure them in my head if i try to."

interestingly, the guy who started the conversation has adhd and he could only visualize the movement of a clock's hands as freeze frames jumping around, not as a fluid motion!

 

[Progster]

I can easily imagine objects in my mind, and I can also manipulate those objects - trun them round, see them from a different angle. But: I have prosopagnosia and can't easily remember faces. Also, I'm not so great at imagining new, unseen objects. I'm much better at recalling objects or drawings I have seen.

This was handy at school when we had to memorize and reproduce diagrams for tests and exams. I always scored well at this kind of test, many or my classmates struggled.

There was a kind of test where volunteers were asked to draw a bicycle. Now, we've all seen bicycles and should, in theory, be able to draw one. But very many, mostly female, were unable to draw a bicycle that would actually work, but in terms of looking like a real bicycle, were very inaccurate. So I think that relatively few people can actually picture an object in their mind with any real accuracy - it's very vague for them.

 

[Crossbreed]

When I draw figures (without a reference), I can visualize their skeleton and draw reasonable features, but it is extremely difficult for me to reproduce that same character with consistent features.

 

[Kayla55]

I have a very graphic imagination and can picture things very clearly. I see them in full 3d and can rotate them and look at them from different angles. I can do this with multiple objects and examine how they do or do not fit together. This is really handy for people in a mechanical trade.

I am unable to imagine faces and I have extremely poor facial recognition. If I ran in to my own mother in the street I would have no idea who she is until she told me.

[Edit] ex girlfriends get really angry when you can't remember them.

Sounds like 3D software packages for industrial design....
I find it amazing when reading story books how the mind translates into its own pictures. I think I half switch off at times so story changes to my feelings about it, character to what I'm thinking. I find I go through stages, sometimes I just don't want to go out other times I'm ready to try tackle. At times I'm embedded in my project and my focus is there. My memory can change on my mode, I don't always remember like a photo but nothing said ever slips me even if I don't understand it.

 

[Kayla55]

When I draw figures (without a reference), I can visualize their skeleton and draw reasonable features, but it is extremely difficult for me to reproduce that same character with consistent features.

I looked at cartoons, no matter how much I try I can not create expressions, but I'll sketch my characters bodies perfectly, create movement etc. I end up copying a cartoons expressions, so I avoid this as it's not my own work.

 

[Crossbreed]

I looked at cartoons, no matter how much I try I can not create expressions, but I'll sketch my characters bodies perfectly, create movement etc. I end up copying a cartoons expressions, so I avoid this as it's not my own work.

Some of these books might help,...

Recommended Reading...

Doubtless, there are many more great anatomy books out there geared toward the artist, but these are the ones I know and can recommend.

studio-126.blogspot.com

 

[Kayla55]

I can easily imagine objects in my mind, and I can also manipulate those objects - trun them round, see them from a different angle. But: I have prosopagnosia and can't easily remember faces. Also, I'm not so great at imagining new, unseen objects. I'm much better at recalling objects or drawings I have seen.

This was handy at school when we had to memorize and reproduce diagrams for tests and exams. I always scored well at this kind of test, many or my classmates struggled.

There was a kind of test where volunteers were asked to draw a bicycle. Now, we've all seen bicycles and should, in theory, be able to draw one. But very many, mostly female, were unable to draw a bicycle that would actually work, but in terms of looking like a real bicycle, were very inaccurate. So I think that relatively few people can actually picture an object in their mind with any real accuracy - it's very vague for them.

This test photographic memory, if one has drawn mechanical objects previously then one tends to rely on conscious type of memory. So having experience drawing certain things because forced to pay attention to detail.
If you need a picture to draw from then memory is only half, and also how long you studied imagery for.
I have a puppet in house, I play short time and he just hangs there, I cannot bring him to life.

 

[Crossbreed]

When I was little, I had a photographic memory that helped me with spelling bees. I could see the word in Times New Roman font scrolling in front of my eyes. I later learned to spell using general rules which helped with words that I had never seen before (like "acquiesce").
Misspelled words still do not "look" right to me, though.

 

[Kayla55]

Having children in house was a test on me, now the sound of a baby crying drives me insane....so I had to force myself onto routine to avoid crying and like feed baby when my alert beeps. I suppose I got used to noise, but at times it was as if noises were there but in back of my mind, unprocessed and I'd be in a gaze to come back in attention and find my child had being calling my name repeatedly...
We left pool as it was too crowded, but I suppose I do switch off....but from time to time the background noise of large crowd of people echoes through my ears....strange sound where not making sense of anything said, just noise of crowd

 

[Kayla55]

When I was little, I had a photographic memory that helped me with spelling bees. I could see the word in Times New Roman font scrolling in front of my eyes. I later learned to spell using general rules which helped with words that I had never seen before (like "acquiesce").
Misspelled words still do not "look" right to me, though.

I used the sight word method to teach my asd son to read, he memorised a list instantly. My other boy doesn't, we would mix phonics and get him to write few times.
When I taught them to count small numbers I used money....so 5 coin and a 2 coin give us. 2x 5 coins give us.
Then we use beans to double and half numbers