Aphantasia

Here is some visual tests in case your curious where your at on the spectrum.

and one for hyperphantasia

Wikimedia links used:

Music by David Vitas

[tailedDrps]

this feels like a video that SHOULD have thousands of views but doesnt. Great informational video and good luck

[clinclin]

Fantastic and concise! You really explain this thing well.

Whenever I would read athletic advice about "Picture yourself lifting the weight" I was always so confused. Like, I'm already thinking about how much I want to lift the weight, why is thinking about it some more going to help me? It's finally dawned on my that the advice was not a metaphor, and since I've found out my mind has been blown. I also have been trying to build up some sort of imagery through exercises.

[AlecJamesFigueroa]

Hey! Kudos! Great video! Super concise, clear, and just great overall. Well done!


About memory palaces, it is possible to build these without the use of mental imagery. Anthony Metivier, of Magnetic Memory Method, actually USED to experience aphantasia, and was able to do some work arounds to the visual aspect of a memory palace and become successful enough at memory techniques that he wrote some books, and has a memory coaching practice. He explains it on his YouTube channel!


Also, my vanity wants to mention I came up with the term "prophantasia", haha! We just really needed a term as a community on what the difference was between "thinking of an image" and "seeing an image on the black space when you close your eyes"!

[PawStreetProwlers]

I'm hyperphantasia, so mostly I've watched a few videos on this out of interest of the other side of the coin. I can actually step in and out of other worlds, which feel to me as realistic as this one. True, I sometimes fade in and out and miss stuff, but honestly, I can control it and keep focus when I need it. I wouldn't trade it.

[beebabes_]

Great video! However Aphantasia and hearing an inner monologue are actually different! I cant see anything when I close my eyes but I do have an inner monologue!

[troelspeterroland]

I have recently come across the concept of aphantasia. I find the neurodiversity in humans quite interesting and since I'm interested in metaphor and conceptualisation, I find it intriguing how phantasic and aphantasic people can probably enlighten each other about the workings of the mind. Allow me a few comments: 1:05 I would say that the visualisation is not necessarily behind your eyes. But since it's in the brain, it's apparently easiest to imagine it somewhere near your head, maybe because you might tend to move your eyes while visualising. If I visualise something complicated like a map in order to find my way (this cannot be done nearly to the same degree as physically seeing the map but it can give you a rough idea about which way to go), then I actually prefer to visualise it in front of my (open) eyes because it somehow makes it easier that you can track the way with your physical eyeballs. 1:45 Yes, and it probably would be a sign of illness if you weren't able to control it or if it weren't relevant in the situation. Maybe it's actually a trait of mental illness with hallucinations that you can't completely control visualisation (and other ”inner” senses) even while awake, like a phantasic person who is sane can. 2:20 This is very fascinating, and I would love to know more about the creative process in an aphantasic person. Maybe some use strategies that we can't imagine. 2:45 This is very interesting because I have never thought about what I do. Do I decode details from the visualisation (converting images to language) or from my memory (converting concepts to language)? Maybe a bit of both, I think. I will have to think more about that. 4:24 Yes, this is fascinating. How does it work for an aphantasic person (maybe you know as little about it as I know about what I do). 4:49 Well, I would say that visualisations don't pop up completely randomly. They are motivated by the context and more controlled. 5:00-5:06 I actually don't know. It may be a bit of a mixture, as I was speculating above. 5:20 This is an interesting way to depict a mixture of a narrative and a visualisation. I would probably say that for a phantasic person they play out on different levels (maybe not completely separate but not merged into a linear string of text either). Visualisation may incorporate some action but if it turns into an elaborate narrative it has probably turned into a daydream (cf. 5:35) which is different (probably quantitatively) from a bare visualisation. 6:05 I would love to hear more about lucid dreaming because I have never experienced it myself.

[janebredendick]

Thank you for your reply.
I have read the scenario of the ball rolling before. Like you, I can imagine it, but don't "see" it. The thing is, if, as some claim seeing the ball as red, that is just made up. Conjecture. (Maybe it was "supposed to be blue with yellow dots. No one knows to see what color it is!) It really doesn't point to Aphantasia.

[maddiem]

you need more views and subs! your channel is so good

[nothanks]

I am visually aphantasic but I have very strong audiation skills so it's like my mind's eye got exchanged for another mind's ear

[janebredendick]

I still don't understand. I'm an artist (with Aphantasia, maybe?). When people say they literally see images in their mind, we have no way of knowing what that is. I'm skeptical because I can't find clear definitions of terms about Aphantasia, especially on the main sites. It sounds like anti-scientific word salad. I can imagine things, but I don't "see" them unless they are real. Isn't it possible that we are just caught up in semantics?

[basak]

I wonder so much about how phantasics see, i just cant understand! Do they really see? Awesome video btw, loved your style!

[abjoern]

I have a minds eye, but I'm unsure whether I have prophantasia. I can imagine things in front of me and put them into the real world (sorta like Augmented Reality), but it's not even remotely close to being as vivid as the what I'm actually seeing. Is this prophantasia or just part of being able to conjure images?

[janebredendick]

Reply Part 2
And lucid dreaming is something else again. I remember images from dreams occasionally, and I've had (rare) dreams of knowing I was dreaming and could control a little bit.
I appreciate your honest approach. Unfortunately, I am no closer to understanding. understanding

[crybabielucifer]

i have aphantasia and prophantasia what im nsje8j

[MexieMex]

Mostly good, but you are COMPLETELY wrong about using a Memory Palace, I'm zero on the visualisation scale and make extensive use of them.