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Anyone else have Aphantasia on here?

Do you have Aphantasia?

  • Yes

    Votes: 11 47.8%

  • No

    Votes: 12 52.2%
  • Total voters
    23
B

Blade2.0

Member
A lot of you might be asking yourselves, "What the fuck is Aphantasia?". Well, aphantasia is a term used to describe people that can't picture things in their "mind's eye" or if they can picture something, it's very vague.

Another term for it is "blind mind's eye". Growing up I was always confused when people were like "picture the ocean". I couldn't see shit. I thought everyone was like me and it was just a sort of euphemism, but as I got older I asked friends and family if they can picture things in their heads and, well, I cannot but they could. When I think of an apple, instead of seeing anything in my head, I just think of words describing the thing I'm thinking of. I know what an apple is, it's probably red, has a brown stem, a round shape, etc. but I do not see red in my head, i do not see a round shape, I do not see the stem, it's just black or at best like vector graphics in my head.

Does anyone else "suffer" from this in here? I don't think it's such a big problem. I've been good at school and other things even with this affliction. It's just different. Like I said, I thought everyone existed this way.
 
Lunarorbit

Lunarorbit

Member
I thought I recognized that word. I think I have this. I saw a chart that had several interpretations of what seeing an apple in your minds eye looked like and I was about a 3 out of 5 on that chart.

Sometimes, actually most of the time, when I visualized directions when I'm driving I say fuck it and use the "force". I have the general idea of where to go but it's like I'm looking through a porthole on a boat and standing 10 feet back. My brain interpets the visual, in this case Google maps, and then unconsciously/consciously follows the directions.

I don't know if any of that will make sense to everyone
 
Jennings

Jennings

Member
Blade2.0 said:
A lot of you might be asking yourselves, "What the fuck is Aphantasia?". Well, aphantasia is a term used to describe people that can't picture things in their "mind's eye" or if they can picture something, it's very vague.

Another term for it is "blind mind's eye". Growing up I was always confused when people were like "picture the ocean". I couldn't see shit. I thought everyone was like me and it was just a sort of euphemism, but as I got older I asked friends and family if they can picture things in their heads and, well, I cannot but they could. When I think of an apple, instead of seeing anything in my head, I just think of words describing the thing I'm thinking of. I know what an apple is, it's probably red, has a brown stem, a round shape, etc. but I do not see red in my head, i do not see a round shape, I do not see the stem, it's just black or at best like vector graphics in my head.

Does anyone else "suffer" from this in here? I don't think it's such a big problem. I've been good at school and other things even with this affliction. It's just different. Like I said, I thought everyone existed this way.
Click to expand...
I've known people (online) that also claimed to have this condition. I didn't interact with them much about it so I've always been left with certain questions like, can you recognize a person for who they are by looks alone if you are unable to recall them independantly in your mind's eye? And what about a similar-looking person disguised as another person, could they fool you?

And also, is it just a "visual" issue in your mind, ie, can you recall songs okay even though you couldn't picture the video?
 
Esca

Esca

Member
I don't but a friend of mine does. She didn't learn about it til a few years ago. That's when I learned about it from her. She thought it was a figure of speech when people say picture it in your mind.
 
Last edited:
Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Jennings said:
I've known people (online) that also claimed to have this condition. I didn't interact with them much about it so I've always been left with certain questions like, can you recognize a person for who they are by looks alone if you are unable to recall them independantly in your mind's eye? And what about a similar-looking person disguised as another person, could they fool you?

And also, is it just a "visual" issue in your mind, ie, can you recall songs okay even though you couldn't picture the video?
Click to expand...
Looks alone yes. My memory still works, I just can’t really conjure up visual representations of objects or faces. Similar looking people don’t fool me.

I can remember songs without problem. Again, my memory is fine.
 
B

Blade2.0

Member
Jennings said:
I've known people (online) that also claimed to have this condition. I didn't interact with them much about it so I've always been left with certain questions like, can you recognize a person for who they are by looks alone if you are unable to recall them independantly in your mind's eye? And what about a similar-looking person disguised as another person, could they fool you?

And also, is it just a "visual" issue in your mind, ie, can you recall songs okay even though you couldn't picture the video?
Click to expand...
Songs are easy. Most things in my mind are through words. I would say I'm actually much better at recalling lyrics than the average person. I can still sing songs I learned in highschool with no sweat. It's not like you can't see people. When they're in front of you, the picture is fine in your head. It's when someone wants you to imagine something that the mind is blank. But it isn't really blank. You recall words that describe the thing in your mind.

Like my best friend. When I think of him I don't see him in my head, but I think of things that remind me of him. Like average height, build, brown hair, he likes drawing, he's been my friend since fifth grade, bigger noise than most. Shit like that.
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
the description of Aphantasia applies to my experience in some ways but not others.
I find it hard to say definitively if I have it or not because the whole thing is so deeply subjective that it's just not easy to grasp.

like wtf do they mean "see in your mind", that in itself makes no sense to me.
in a way I would describe what I "see" as "picturing" the object I'm thinking of, but after further evaluation I also kinda wouldn't call it "picturing" something.

I was a big fan of the early DnD shows by the Gametrailers and later Easy Allies crew,
and I always had a pretty clear image in my mind of how the environments they are in look like based on the description...
but I wouldn't call that actually "seeing" them.

so it's weird to me to say yes or no to this since I have zero idea how other people define "picturing" or "seeing" something in their minds. it's just like we can't really be sure that we all see colors the same.

This is how you see colors
Qbk2PiA.png



but maybe for me this image looks like this
1p8XpqL.png



for someone else still it might look like this
wfdJind.png



in the end we all agree that that Subway sign on the right is orengey-yellow, but we all see what we call yellow in a different way...
there is literally no way to check if we all see colors in the same way or if we all see them slightly hue shifted.


in the same way I can not check what you or anyone else means by "picturing" or "seeing" something they think of.
so yeah... that's why I'm not sure if I would say I have it or if I would say I can absolutely picture stuff in my mind, on one hand I'd say yeah I clearly see stuff in front of me, but then I think about it and I'm like "well I didn't really see it... I did not like see see it"
 
Last edited:
wondermega

wondermega

Member
This stuff has always been so fascinating to me. I haven't got aphantasia, but I believe I have a friend who does - one of the smartest people I ever met (literally genius-level programmer), yet he has facial blindness - I constantly remind him of some mutual friends and he can never recall their names because he'd see them infrequently enough to associate their names & faces. On the (literal) other end of the spectrum, I knew a guy (another literal genius) who could visualize complex geometry in his mind and rotate it to imagine different angles. I mean, I can picture something in my head, and I can picture different "templates" of how it might look from different angles, but obviously I cannot tumble an object like if it was in a 3D program, whereas this second person could. There's been other documented cases of this (Temple Grandin for one, probably Samuel Slater). Of course, Grandin had some major autistic issues (as a child, would scream when being touched in the slightest) and my friend mentioned earlier.. well, if you met him in person you'd obviously know there was something up with him for sure. The point is, "you've got to give something, to get something.." (perhaps not all the time, but still)

Also not directly related, but as I've got older I've noticed that my brain works differently, visually, while asleep then when I was younger. Used to have elaborate, very vividly (visually) detailed dreams. I still do in certain cases, but my brain's ability to process how mechanical things work & look seems to not work quite the same/as well anymore. Machines, some cars etc just look all malformed and crazy sometimes, like my brain just doesn't know how to "draw it properly" or something. A little more unrelated, but in a dream my brain doesn't know how to properly replicate driving as well - I will get behind the wheel and start driving, but I will see "my car" in the street in front of me and the faster I drive, the further away it will get from me (if that makes sense) followed by a ton of anxiety "I can't see where I am going, I am gonna hit something!" Anyway, pardon my tangents.. like I said, fascinating things to think about..
 
noonjam

noonjam

Member
I have it as well. everything's a mostly black/grey swirling void when I close my eyes and try to visualize something.

lacking the ability to generate imagery in one's mind eye does mean the same thing as lacking an imagination.

While I'm sure I dream I almost as rule do not recall them, sometimes when waking up at the right moment or if something wakes me I seem to think I catch my mind narrating dreams? to me before I fully awake and my conscious mind takes over. I don't recall having imagery in my dreams either if I do it's very weak and fleeting just a foggy impression of what something is if anything.
 
Last edited:
bitbydeath

bitbydeath

Member
For me you have to kind of get in the zone for it to work, like if someone were to say picture an apple in your mind, well my mind is lazy and filled with shortcuts, I may get a silhouette at best, but reading or more commonly writing a book I can get into the zone, for writing I need to get there to ensure I capture all the details of a scene.
 
Irobot82

Irobot82

Member
Weird. I remember once being able to picture things easily. Now it seems I cannot. Have I always been this way? Am I imagining I am this way?
 
B

Blade2.0

Member
01011001 said:
the description of Aphantasia applies to my experience in some ways but not others.
I find it hard to say definitively if I have it or not because the whole thing is so deeply subjective that it's just not easy to grasp.

like wtf do they mean "see in your mind", that in itself makes no sense to me.
in a way I would describe what I "see" as "picturing" the object I'm thinking of, but after further evaluation I also kinda wouldn't call it "picturing" something.

I was a big fan of the early DnD shows by the Gametrailers and later Easy Allies crew,
and I always had a pretty clear image in my mind of how the environments they are in look like based on the description...
but I wouldn't call that actually "seeing" them.

so it's weird to me to say yes or no to this since I have zero idea how other people define "picturing" or "seeing" something in their minds. it's just like we can't really be sure that we all see colors the same.

This is how you see colors
Qbk2PiA.png



but maybe for me this image looks like this
1p8XpqL.png



for someone else still it might look like this
wfdJind.png



in the end we all agree that that Subway sign on the right is orengey-yellow, but we all see what we call yellow in a different way...
there is literally no way to check if we all see colors in the same way or if we all see them slightly hue shifted.


in the same way I can not check what you or anyone else means by "picturing" or "seeing" something they think of.
so yeah... that's why I'm not sure if I would say I have it or if I would say I can absolutely picture stuff in my mind, on one hand I'd say yeah I clearly see stuff in front of me, but then I think about it and I'm like "well I didn't really see it... I did not like see see it"
Click to expand...
TqWEKnV.png



I'm 1 or 2. Maybe 3 on a good day. I cannot see color at all, though. At best it's an outline.
 
Kenpachii

Kenpachii

Member
Blade2.0 said:
A lot of you might be asking yourselves, "What the fuck is Aphantasia?". Well, aphantasia is a term used to describe people that can't picture things in their "mind's eye" or if they can picture something, it's very vague.

Another term for it is "blind mind's eye". Growing up I was always confused when people were like "picture the ocean". I couldn't see shit. I thought everyone was like me and it was just a sort of euphemism, but as I got older I asked friends and family if they can picture things in their heads and, well, I cannot but they could. When I think of an apple, instead of seeing anything in my head, I just think of words describing the thing I'm thinking of. I know what an apple is, it's probably red, has a brown stem, a round shape, etc. but I do not see red in my head, i do not see a round shape, I do not see the stem, it's just black or at best like vector graphics in my head.

Does anyone else "suffer" from this in here? I don't think it's such a big problem. I've been good at school and other things even with this affliction. It's just different. Like I said, I thought everyone existed this way.
Click to expand...

Do you dream ever? It's like that

Ah already asked it seems.
 
Last edited:
mxbison

mxbison

Member
Yes, just recently learned this is a thing.

I only see black when I close my eyes. I'm actually really glad though, already so much wild shit going on in my head when trying to sleep, I really don't need images added to that.
 
Tams

Tams

Member
Sort of, but not really?

It's not literally 'seeing', or at least not for me. It's kind of quite real, but just beyond your grasp thing that sort of feels like seeing? I'd say it's closest to dreaming?

That said, while I can 'see' or 'imagine' something, I can't transfer it to paper as it's nowhere near vivid enough. I can copy something just fine enough, but to draw or even really write it down... just doesn't work.
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
Blade2.0 said:
TqWEKnV.png



I'm 1 or 2. Maybe 3 on a good day. I cannot see color at all, though. At best it's an outline.
Click to expand...

yeah, that's the next thing, I can absolutely not do this on command.
if I'm immersed in a story I somewhat vividly see the world described in sometimes great detail as I imagine how it might look.

but telling me "picture an apple now!" that just doesn't work for me at all.

so I can picture sometimes detailed images but absolutely not on command.
so I think there's more to it than some of the tests I've seen people post online.
 
Thaedolus

Thaedolus

Member
I think I’m where most people are where it’s not like I can literally see the thing I’m thinking but I can visualize it. What people have told me is weird is I associate numbers and music with colors…like 3 is a blue number to me, so is anything starting with it like 30 or 350. 7 is red, 8 is orange, 9 is black. Master of Puppets is an orange song, Stairway to Heaven goes from black to green.

I dunno man
 
Wildebeest

Wildebeest

Member
For people trying to understand it, it is not that the person has "no imagination". It is just that what is being imagined is not consciously visible, as if a blind person was imagining it.
 
jufonuk

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Depends how relaxed I am. If distracted it’s difficult if I’m chilled or zoned out I can get vivid almost movie like scenes in my head.
 
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