Aphantasia ???

[Terrywoodenpic]

Has anyone heard of Aphantasia.
I have always had it...
I did not even know it existed.
Or that most people could visualise images in their minds eye.
If you had suggest that they could, I would have though it was just science fiction.
Though it seems to at least sometimes with the extreme disadvantage of not being able to put names to faces... which is my problem
Any one else suffer from it?

Aphantasia - Wikipedia

 

[Revoltingest]

Bummer.

 

[Yerda]

I heard about this recently. I'm still amazed that it's possible to be human and not have a mind's eye (or ear or nose). What a strange world.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I heard about this recently. I'm still amazed that it's possible to be human and not have a mind's eye (or ear or nose). What a strange world.

If you can recall images, can you also recall smells , tastes, touch and sounds.
I can only remember them not replay them.

 

[Yerda]

If you can recall images, can you also recall smells , tastes, touch and sounds.
I can only remember them not replay them.

I hear music almost all day every day and recall sounds clearly at will. Tastes, smells and touch are more shadowy.

I read recently Aldous Huxley had real difficulty visualising until he tried mescaline.

 

[Nakosis]

Has anyone heard of Aphantasia.
I have always had it...
I did not even know it existed.
Or that most people could visualise images in their minds eye.
If you had suggest that they could, I would have though it was just science fiction.
Though it seems to at least sometimes with the extreme disadvantage of not being able to put names to faces... which is my problem
Any one else suffer from it?

Aphantasia - Wikipedia

I read a lot of science fiction when I was young. It required a lot of visualization. I read that some people have limits to what they can visualize. Like what they visualize has to obey the laws of physics. I've always tried to be as creative as possible when I visualize something.

 

[sun rise]

Interesting. This is a new one to me.

 

[Polymath257]

Has anyone heard of Aphantasia.
I have always had it...
I did not even know it existed.
Or that most people could visualise images in their minds eye.
If you had suggest that they could, I would have though it was just science fiction.
Though it seems to at least sometimes with the extreme disadvantage of not being able to put names to faces... which is my problem
Any one else suffer from it?

Aphantasia - Wikipedia

I just took the quiz. I appear to have it. I only have vague mental imagery and usually none.

Note: I also rarely have dreams with visual imagery.

 

[Polymath257]

I distinctly recall being in elementary school and the teacher talking about having an imagination. I got very upset at that point because I simply didn't get the images that she was talking about.

I can get outlines. But I almost never get anything 'colored in'.

 

[icehorse]

I've worked hard over my life to try to improve my ability to visualize. I think it's a skill that can be improved. I wonder if those with this condition could do the same?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I read a lot of science fiction when I was young. It required a lot of visualization. I read that some people have limits to what they can visualize. Like what they visualize has to obey the laws of physics. I've always tried to be as creative as possible when I visualize something.

To see someting in your minds eye is not just creative visulisation. It is equivalent to a real image.
It is a process that can be tracked with an mri scan.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I've worked hard over my life to try to improve my ability to visualize. I think it's a skill that can be improved. I wonder if those with this condition could do the same?

It seems not, we do not have the necessary connections.

 

[icehorse]

It seems not, we do not have the necessary connections.

Brain scientists are discovering that adult brains can rewire themselves. Not always, but more than previously thought possible.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Brain scientists are discovering that adult brains can rewire themselves. Not always, but more than previously thought possible.

Seeing with your minds eye is like playing back a recording of an image. For some people it is vivid for others shadowy.
like ordinary sight hearing taste or touch it can not be taught.
it is a normal human ability. A normal brain function,
I can not do it at all.

 

[Polymath257]

Brain scientists are discovering that adult brains can rewire themselves. Not always, but more than previously thought possible.

The rewiring they have found so far, though, is limited to supporting extra connections in specific regions, not the large scale rewiring that would be required to 'fix' aphantasia.

 

[icehorse]

The rewiring they have found so far, though, is limited to supporting extra connections in specific regions, not the large scale rewiring that would be required to 'fix' aphantasia.

Everyday we find out more and more about how our brains and bodies work and how they can repair themselves.

What I can tell you anecdotally is that I have practiced my visualization skills, and over time they've gotten better.