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[dr_octagon]

Are you able to visualise stuff such as a drawing, photo or 3d model in your mind?

There was an interesting thread talking about this, it is known as Aphantasia.

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/aphantasia-or-how-i-dont-think-in-pictures.1108685/

I cannot do this, I wanted to poll Gaf to see how many can do it.

Thank.

 

[I_D]

There are various levels to Aphantasia, so a y/n poll might not be detailed enough.

Close your eyes and imagine an apple. Which one do you see?

The level of quality isn't the only factor to consider either. The ability to rotate the object is also something only some people can do, as well as the ability to alter the object in some way (like cutting it in half).



In terms of image-quality, I'm a 1. In terms of rotation and alteration, it depends on how many distractions are around me; but I'm usually pretty good.

I find myself often needing to re-read something, because I get too distracted by the image of it in my mind and then stop reading the words.
Otherwise, it's a fairly useful ability; especially when I need to design something to build.

 

[p_xavier]

How do you think then? It blows my mind that people can't visualise. Based on the chart I would be at a level 2. I don't see much details.

 

[dr_octagon]

I_D I've updated the poll option with partial. I cannot visualise anything at all.

 

[GymWolf]

Is there people on this planet who can't visualize 3d coloured objects in their mind?

 

[dr_octagon]

How do you think then? It blows my mind that people can't visualise. Based on the chart I would be at a level 2. I don't see much details.

I know the concept and characteristics of an apple because of seeing it in person or a photo. I have it as a reference point but would not be able to see it in my mind.

I don't think in pictures in that respect.

 

[Zeroing]

I’m number 1 now you guys know why I’m always horny when someone talks about male body parts!!! I can visualize everything!

Also I was really good at description geometry at school. Visualizing planes and how they crossed, angles etc

I don't think in pictures in that respect.

I see it as a 3D model?! I can rotate it on my mind zoom in and out, of course details are 100% correct or visible!

 

[dr_octagon]

I find it fascinating when people have a photographic memory. I know someone who would be able to recall every word from a book.

 

[Haemi]

I have Aphantasia(5). I think this is the reason i'm a very structural thinker. It would be great to be faster with creative stuff, but i always need to draw things before i can tell, if it looks good or not. But practice helps.

 

[Zeroing]

I find it fascinating when people have a photographic memory. I know someone who would be able to recall every word from a book.

That is more related to memory! What we are talking is about imagination and visualization!
That is associated to creativity.
I think those who have it often pursued creative jobs.

From what I can tell so far it seem all of us do that!

 

[AJUMP23]

I try to visualize an apple, but I see a peach because of how much better they taste.

 

[Zeroing]

I try to visualize an apple, but I see a peach because of how much better they taste.

Let me close my eyes….
Peach… emoji peach… bum… sexy guy showing off his bum!!

Thanks!!!

 

[dr_octagon]

This explains why people will explain things visually and I cannot relate in any manner.

I'm thinking they have the serial killer mind of Ted Bundy and I'm the normal one.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I'm having a hard time determining which one I am but I'm definitely not comatose #5.

The apple in my head is like a combination of #1-4 blinking at different levels of quality and not a steady image.

 

[Haemi]

I'm having a hard time determining which one I am but I'm definitely not comatose #5.

The apple in my head is like a combination of #1-4 blinking at different levels of quality and not a steady image.

This is also a form of Aphantasia. You can't focus on the whole image. Just parts of it.

Also, a video BrainCraft about Aphantasia:

 

[kraspkibble]

umm yeah i can see shit when i think about it lol i guess based on the image in the 2nd post i would be #3 but if i think a bit more about it then it's #2. if i'm really studying something then #1 isn't impossible.

i also have Synesthesia which i find more interesting and doesn't seem to be as common. it's when you think of something and see colours. for example, the number 1 to me is white, 2 is blue, 3 is yellow, 4 is red, 5 is purple, 6 is green, 7 is black, 8 is also purple, 9 is orange, 10 is white. the letter A is blue, B is blue, C is yellow, D is grey, E is yellow, F is orange.

 

[dr_octagon]

i also have Synesthesia which i find more interesting and doesn't seem to be as common.

does this apply for shapes and sounds as well? do you get different shades or intensity of colour?

 

[kruis]

There's this method to remember things by imagining a house with lots of rooms and every room contains something you want to remember. When you want need to recall those things, you just picture yourself walking through those rooms and noticing the things you see in your mind's eye. Well, that memory game isn't going to work for people with aphantasia.

 

[dr_octagon]

There's this method to remember things by imagining a house with lots of rooms and every room contains something you want to remember. When you want need to recall those things, you just picture yourself walking through those rooms and noticing the things you see in your mind's eye. Well, that memory game isn't going to work for people with aphantasia.

Memory or mind palace.

What if all the rooms in your house are filled with potatoes?

 

[nkarafo]

I envy those who can also draw what they can picture in their mind.

I draw very well but only things that i practiced already and remember well. But i can't draw something new out of my mind, even if it's a very known person or common object.

 

[Lunarorbit]

How do you think then? It blows my mind that people can't visualise. Based on the chart I would be at a level 2. I don't see much details.

Ah I love threads about this. I can see the apple but in varying detail. I can rotate and cut it but when I visualizer things I want to draw its difficult.

Sometimes it feels like my mind is detached from my body. Not in a bad way but it's like I'm thinking but it feels quasi abstract even if it's concrete thoughts ie if I was writing a paper for college. It's kinda hard to put words to it.

 

[John Bilbo]

How do you think then? It blows my mind that people can't visualise. Based on the chart I would be at a level 2. I don't see much details.

I think in spoken words as in I hear a voice or my inner voice in my head thinking.

Also I've noticed I sometimes mimic the words with my tongue while thinking in a somewhat similar way as if I was speaking out loud.

On the visual scale I'm somewhere between 3 and 4.

 

[protonion]

Eh?

I can visualize whatever I want.

I can also play music in my head and any speech I want in any voice I have heard.
Sometimes I have people I know exchange very bad insults in my head!

I cannot draw a single thing though...

 

[DeafTourette]

I've always been imaginative so it's easy for me to visualize just about anything.

 

[Wildebeest]

I don't know why people are so obsessed with picturing apples, what good does it do anyone.

 

[dr_octagon]

I don't know why people are so obsessed with picturing apples, what good does it do anyone.

Keeps Dr Fauci away.

 

[nush]

I_D I've updated the poll option with partial. I cannot visualise anything at all.

So I guess you can't have an imagination wank then?

 

[dr_octagon]

So I guess you can't have an imagination wank then?

I use an etch a sketch as compromise.

 

[nush]

I use an etch a sketch as compromise.

 

[Mistake]

I’m a 1 or more as I daydream quite often, even while I’m driving so I have to focus more than usual

 

[BigBooper]

Yea, I'm about a 2-3. I get very distracted sometimes and very focused at other times. I can be reading a book and actually read the words on a full page, but I'm thinking about something else or working out another problem in my head so much that I have no clue what I'd just read and have to read the page again.

But if there's something that needs hyper attention to detail, I'm the guy for that too. Sometimes I just have to make the call that I'm not focused enough to make a decision and wait until the next day.

 

[FunkMiller]

I’m picturing you naked right now OP.

 

[dr_octagon]

I’m picturing you naked right now OP.

 

[Jeeves]

Can you imagine sounds or music in your head or is that out too? While we're at it, can you imagine (create) a song you've never actually heard before? If you can do those things, that's probably the closest I can get to describing to you what it feels like to visualize.

Here's something else that could possibly be surprising to you: people can visualize things without even closing their eyes. I can look right at something and cease thinking about whatever I'm looking at, instead focusing on my visualization. I can switch back and forth seamlessly. Or I can superimpose what I'm visualizing over my field of view, augmented reality style.

Until I recently heard about aphantasia, I would have never guessed that anyone might find any of that impressive.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

It's not that hard, it's a squishy grey/off pink mass of jello meat. I'd be more concerned for anyone that couldn't.

Edit: God damn it, reading comprehension.

Answer is still yes.

 

[01011001]

the thing is, I can not see stuff in my mind on command. every time I see that "imagine an apple" thing I literally only see black and nothing at all.
but I know that I can visualize stuff if I'm not pressed to do so.

like listening to a story, I visualize sometimes detailed towns in my mind based on the description given... it's weird

 

[poppabk]

Nope. Although being able to see things that aren't there doesn't sound like a good skill to me.

 

[Punished Miku]

I feel like self-rating is going to be nearly useless here. We should all play the new Brain Age where you have to visualize the 3D objects at different angles under strict time limits and compare our scores.

 

[Soodanim]

Going by the OP's guide, I'm an easy 5. If I close my eyes and try to visualise an apple, I get nothing. All knowledge exists strictly in the archive and does not get loaned out to the visual department.

like listening to a story, I visualize sometimes detailed towns in my mind based on the description given... it's weird

I like to think of it as my brain using something like templates. When someone says town, you draw on the idea of "Town", which is an amalgamation of various memories of towns. Then as other details are added, you draw on those. When bricks are being described, you have a default brick you'll think of until specificity places it. Okay, red bricks in this town. It still isn't seeing it, for me it's just... knowing it, I guess. You can build a complex mix of memories, but they are still memories.

To switch metaphors, it's like programming code. You write it all down and you know what it will look like, but the jpegs you reference aren't loaded. You know what it will be, but you can't see it.

Whenever I talk about this with people, it's always related to an "inner voice", which I also don't have. If I need to do something, there's no inner voice. No narration, no thinking a thought out, no acknowledgement of the processing. It's just complete thoughts in an instant. I don't think "I need to get up, walk across the room and turn that light off", I just... do it.

What it's also related to is how we visualise things. For example, if you and a friend look at a glass bottle. I don't process the extraneous information about the bottle unless I make a point to, so I'm not going to pay attention to the shade of it, how the light reflects off it, or any of that. All I see is bottle. There's basic visual information like colours and writing, but I filter out everything that isn't important to the task. And that's why I'm terrible at art. My brain doesn't care about visual details like that by default. I'm also bad at descriptions of people.
"What colour was his hair?"
"I am almost certain he had hair"
Unless for some reason I paid attention to it, it didn't go in

 

[Mossybrew]

I remember first hearing about this years ago and it's one of those moments where you realize other people don't interpret existence the same way you do. Anyway this is at least the second thread on this on GAF but yeah I'm a very visual thinker, when I read books I almost always "cast" actors in my head for the main characters to better visualize them as I read, I mean it's not like I'm viewing an HD movie in my head but it's detailed enough to benefit from visual references like real people in roles.

 

[Sidney Prescott]

There are various levels to Aphantasia, so a y/n poll might not be detailed enough.

Close your eyes and imagine an apple. Which one do you see?

The level of quality isn't the only factor to consider either. The ability to rotate the object is also something only some people can do, as well as the ability to alter the object in some way (like cutting it in half).



In terms of image-quality, I'm a 1. In terms of rotation and alteration, it depends on how many distractions are around me; but I'm usually pretty good.

I find myself often needing to re-read something, because I get too distracted by the image of it in my mind and then stop reading the words.
Otherwise, it's a fairly useful ability; especially when I need to design something to build.

I'm 5 on this.

Was pretty blown away when I learned people can actually see things in their head. I always thought it was silly at school way back when teachers asked me to 'picture something' because I didn't see anything when I closed my eyes. So I was just pretending all the time.

Now I realise most of the class actually was seeing things. I ended up reading up on this a bunch, and I feel like maths would have been easier for me growing up if I could do this.

 

[dr_octagon]

I feel like self-rating is going to be nearly useless here. We should all play the new Brain Age where you have to visualize the 3D objects at different angles under strict time limits and compare our scores.

bruh, I'm not something of a scientist.

 

[Soodanim]

I'm 5 on this.

Was pretty blown away when I learned people can actually see things in their head. I always thought it was silly at school way back when teachers asked me to 'picture something' because I didn't see anything when I closed my eyes. So I was just pretending all the time.

Now I realise most of the class actually was seeing things. I ended up reading up on this a bunch, and I feel like maths would have been easier for me growing up if I could do this.

I'm a 5 and I was always good at maths in school, although it was more from written stuff. The mental maths isn't my strongest point, although most maths is mostly remembering relationships between numbers.

It was a revelation when I realised counting sheep or going to your "Happy place" was actually something people did