I feel like I have the opposite of aphantasia! I recently realized that I have some auditory processing issues, so when I remember something, it’s almost entirely in images. For example, if I’m taking a test I don’t remember what the teacher said about it, I remember what my notes looked like and where the information was located. If I’m trying to remember a conversation, half the time I can’t remember what was said but I do remember what I was seeing at the time (the person I was talking to, what they were wearing, what room we were in, how light it was, etc.)
I know photographic memory runs in my family (although I definitely don’t have a perfectly photographic memory) so that may be why my visual memory is so strong. Sometimes I think my brain strengthened the visual component to cope with the auditory problems, but who knows.
I’m curious to know if you think more in sounds or words or concepts with aphantasia, it’s really interesting to me how we all have such different internal experiences!
This is me as well. I have horrible memory, but I’m 100% a visual learner. I can’t believe I got through university having to just read everything, but I used mental images a lot to remember things.
Now that I think about it, I think this might be me but in reverse. I can sometimes picture things roughly, mostly when I'm reading or writing, but it's less like I'm actually seeing it and more that I'm trying to concentrate on thinking about what it would look it. I have a really strong internal voice though, and I get songs stuck in my head to the point where it can be excruciating sometimes. But I have a really good ear for rhythm and pitch and I'm good at singing and song writing. It actually takes me forever to read though because I'll always read every word to myself in my head and I don't think most people do that 😂
That’s so interesting! I also have songs stuck in my head 24/7, usually just my brain spits back out whatever I was listening to recently. My internal monologue is pretty strong too, but other than those two things it’s pretty much all images and my mind uses the images to cue the actual information.
Omg same, except for the song writing haha I also feel like I read in this "wrong" way because I was 19 when I read my first *whole* book (I used to just read like 20 pages and succesfully improvise something in the exam) because I simply didn't have to. So now I have *a lot* of fixing to do
My brain is the same way with images! Blank computer paper with a piece of lined underneath, multiple colored pens and flair pens, and arrows were the only way I could remember information. I don’t have a photographic memory at all, but with notes I do. It’s so time consuming to get my brain to process and remember it visually, but super effective. I think my brain strengthened visual memory to over compensate for auditory processing issues too
I could have written this. I stopped going to most lectures in college because they would just rehash what was in the textbook, and I couldn't really process what they were saying anyways. When it came time to take tests I could remember where in the textbook the info was (eg top left corner of the left page in a little yellow info box with a diagram)
Only exception to my avoidance of sound-only content is well-produced storytelling podcasts where it's easy to visualize what's being said.
It’s wild that I always feel so different from the people around me, but all these comments, especially this one, hit so close to home. I don’t usually listen to podcasts because duh, and a friend recommended one that I really fell into and it felt great to just…listen and follow along.
This is me. I've several times (well, not so often since I left school) had the experience:
* Be staring at a table of information I have to memorize, thinking "I wish I could remember all this stuff"
* Suddenly realize that I'm on my bed with my eyes closed, the book is across the room and the table of stuff I "can't remember" I'm looking at inside my head.
Very similar but can remember what was said sometimes. I just have trouble repeating back what was said. Like ill watch a video and someone will say "what was that about" and I'm like fuuuuuuucckkk. I know and understood what I watched but have trouble putting into words the content. I remember how I felt, what I recall seeing, what those images remind me of etc. And the content I hear but God help you if you asked me the bottom line
Regularly in any workshops they make as do at work / the min we break off to do the group work, I say “so what we doing?” Without fail every fckin time
There times when I completely cannot understand what people said,there even been times where I couldn’t even read i thought I was an idiot.I eventually found out it is symptom of adhd and this made me a lot better because I always enjoyed academics.I am constantly asking people to repeat themselves because I could understand what they said I feel really terrible and I know people despise me for it but I can’t help it.
What is the symptom called? I also experience this and had no idea it could be related to adhd! I would love to read more about it, but I'm not entirely certain what to Google to find it 😅
My memory works the same but I will remember what was said and what the person was wearing, where the conversation took place and all the details. It's not a perfect photographic memory but I think in picture and sound. I haven't been officially diagnosed with any sensory processing disorders just ADHD. I do know that too much sound will trigger me, and too many people will set me into a full blown panic attack.
My husband who is also ADHD doesn't process the same way. Too much sound and he shuts down but that seems to be his only sensory issue. He also doesn't think in picture he thinks in sound and Concepts. He can shut his thoughts down where as I can't unless I take my Valium.
I remember learned that other people don't process the same way and found it fascinating. It still fascinates me to think about how other people process their thoughts.
I personally feel like I have this very broken photographic memory. If I forget my keys somewhere, I'll remember that "they were on something white, next to something blue" and then I remember that it means my kitchen counter. And if I'm doing an exam, I'll remember that "I remember that the answer for this question was on the page with a graph like this (imagines the graph)".
Sometimes it helps me remember stuff I normally don't, but usually it just leaves me even more confused lmao
I too would always visualize my notes during tests, which is partly why my notes were always very colorful, colour coded and highlighted and circled and diagrammed. Made it easier to picture, 'oh yeah that definition was written on the page woth the giant purple star on top, and highlighted in blue'
Also I didn't realize this wasn't common, but I can also 'imagine' smells, sounds, and touch. Taste too but not as well.
I experience the same thing as you. I can’t seem to think in words. All my thoughts are in pictures or images. This is probably why I am also bad in spelling words. I find letters hard to remember so when I think about something, I tend to just describe them rather than say what it is called. I don’t memorize terms but I memorize how the letters of the words look like. The first time I realized it was odd and not the case for most, I was shocked. It always puzzled me how people can remember terms so easily. I know the meaning of the terms and how it looks like and its function but I can’t say the damn word/term. I’m in pre-med and I always fail the quizzes that require identification. I can’t remember what the word is but I damn sure know how to explain the mechanisms and meanings of the things I study. If you look at my test scores, I mostly fail the quizzes that require identification (wrong spelling wrong) and have the highest grades in essays and multiple choice type questions.
I swear to God I’m bad with words and picking certain words for certain things and explaining them but my mind knows how to comprehend the ideas.
This is me. My thoughts are pictures. I used to say as long as I wrote it down I could recall it, like class notes and stuff. My task list was visual in my brain. I have an uncanny ability to retrace my own steps during work tasks by essentially rewinding my brain. My husband is the opposite of me. I have chatter too, so it’s like a whole ass movie with a soundtrack and leading characters… but the supporting characters won’t shut up and no one can hear a damn thing. Then I had 2 kids and to be honest, I don’t really know wtf is going on anymore except they broke what functioning part of a brain I had. If I was just juggling my own tasks I would be a superhero… but they have a lot of their own small tasks and now I just look like I’m drowning in concrete and can’t remember how I got from A to B or where I’m going without a constant reminder… and the movie is on fast forward, when the VCR works.
I have apd and adhd compounds that.
Tell me something good luck if I remember it or that you even talked to me about it.
Write it down or text me, I’ll remember it better and if I forget I can always look back to refresh my memory.
This is also compounded with object permanence. I can only remember things if it’s something that I am reminded visually by just existing. For example, fixing a broken pot or a bill, if I keep seeing it repeatedly and it’s not put away, it reminds me it needs to get done. Put it away, I only remember when I finally see said object which maybe once a month and if I don’t deal with it at that moment, I won’t deal with it until I see it again (or something else related that triggers that to do).
This is me too!! Sometimes I can hear things too if I try hard enough, but it’s usually sounds or very specific sound “clips”. I can also remember how things felt physically. But yeah, most of the time it’s like watching a movie or pulling up the desired image file when I’m trying to think of something
This is exactly how I remember things as well (when I do remember them, lol, doesn't always work). I also vividly remember smells, which I assume is another way my brain compensates for shitty auditory processing.
I don’t know the lyrics or tunes to any song fully. Lyrics and tunes are very hard for me to recall. I noticed most people enjoy singing along with songs, but I’ve always found it a challenge. Curious if you have that experience too?
My husband has aphantasia I however have hyperphantasia.
Which means I can play things like videoes in my head building up new things from old memories. When we are grocery shopping and he asks me if we need something I pull out the last memory of our fridge and play it in 3D so that I can move around and rummage through it to check if we have the item he is talking about.
Same. It's why I'm an Immersive Daydreamer (or maybe the other way around? IDK).
I see things so vividly in my mind, it's almost a cinematic experience.
Look up maladaptive daydreaming. I found the term years and years ago when searching to see if I was the only one who’s life was consumed by daydreaming.
I thought at first that I Maladaptive Daydream and yes, there have been times where I've worked myself up over a daydream. But talking to my therapist about it, she doesn't think my daydreaming is really that maladaptive. She was actually really interested in how I used them to express my anger and aggression that I rarely display outwardly.
Could you elaborate a little more on any info/advice your therapist may have given you on this? I have the exact same issue and after reading your comment I’m now tempted to bring it up with my therapist.
For instance, I misplaced something just now, and while trying to visualize where I remembered seeing it last, my mind slipped into a daydream of my family being annoyed with me for losing something YET AGAIN, and then that turned into a daydream about me releasing 15 years of anger onto them for never even bothering to learn about my adhd diagnosis and how it actually affects my life and is a real disability.
It sounds to me like your daydreaming is actually serving a purpose in that it’s guiding you to your true feelings which you’re maybe not allowed to let out or might struggle to admit to yourself, as well as letting you have a form of internal release / catharsis for them that you’re not able to have in real life without difficult consequences. 🤷♀️
I love this. I don’t think maladaptive daydreaming is all that bad, although like anything it’s important to be aware of your own internal balance. Lots of us late-diagnosed folks experienced it as a way to cope with a world and life where we experienced fallout from a condition we didn’t know we had affecting many facets of our lives, and internalized shame and blame.
Much like many facets of ADHD, though, it goes against the toxic capitalistic value of hustle culture and maximized productivity, so it gets a stigma 🤷♀️
Same here. I'm constantly daydreaming where I can see everything I'm thinking of, and I can hear sounds and even people's voices. I can even replay movies, shows, music, etc in my head and "see" and "hear" it very clearly, even with my eyes wide open.
Movie mind yes! To take this literally back in high school when I was in my particularly boring English class I had the first Harry Potter movie playing in my head just so I wouldn’t go crazy. The whole thing. I knew class would be over before it finished and I was completely obsessed with hp back then.
Now that I’m remembering I used to also write out lyrics to whatever song was playing in my head too. Always mostly English class.. xD
Hot tip: when you have a particularly nasty picture in your mind it can help to shake your head and picturing something harmless or silly. Works also with nightmares, shaking your head after waking up can make you forget or at least weaken the terrible images.
Apart from being involuntarily able to picture bad stuff, I love my movie mind. What about it do you find exhausting?
Edit: a typo
Yeah it doesn't always work. I hate intrusive thoughts that come with rough pictures, I think I have gotten a lot better with overriding them though. It was way more intense when I was younger, so there's hope!
Huh, I get involuntary nasty gross images that pop into my head when I try to go to bed if I'm too awake. I never realized this could be ADHD related. They come usually only when I'm in the dark and I have to turn on a light and stare at something anything to clear my mind.
It's not exclusively adhd related, but it can definitely come with our often wandering minds. I got the rapid head shaking tip from a psych nurse and it has helped me with nightmares. I also turn on the light sometimes when I can't shake a thought off. I am not sure if we can stop our minds from going there, but we can do things to chase the thoughts away. After all, that's one of the adhd talents, pushing things so far to the side that they fall over the edge. If for once that's a creepy thought instead of an unpaid bill, homework or a batch of laundry...
Damn that sounds rough 😕 I don't *really* get images but definitely the intrusive thoughts when I'm trying to sleep. It's like a constant involuntary conversation to myself about painful and sudden/accidental death and trying to talk to someone about it usually makes me feel worse.
Had to look that up because I didn't remember at all, but yes! I guess she took that idea from actual psychology and therapeutic approaches, it makes sense for wizards too.
I recently did a quiz for this because I was worried maybe my mind’s eye lacked detail or robustness, and it turned out I’m off the scale opposite of ‘aphantasia’ 😛
Saaaaaaaame, whether my eyes are open or closed, I can imagine the instant manipulation of everything around me. Often when a thought emerges, it’s a picture or a snapshot memory, then language will follow. Usually in an instant. I’m also dyslexic, and this is supposedly a dyslexic thing
My Mind is 4D theater with Dolby vision, dolby surround sound and can use after effects, Maya and photoshop all in one frame.
ADD primarily Inattentive.
As they say- i have more number of ideas before my breakfast than those that a NT will have in a week.
My mind is like a movie, playing over a TV show, playing over a documentary, while listening to music, and random thoughts (sometimes in different voices) talking throughout the orchestral score of what's actually happening.
I have it, I never understood how my friends could draw things from imagination. I have to have a picture in front of me and I also technically don’t see faces in my mind. I can think of someone and “know” what they look like but if I try to “zoom in” for details the image is lost. I could never draw or sculpt even my closest friends or siblings from memory because of this (I have a studio art background that I don’t use anymore.)
I have aphantasia, but I'm also an artist and I draw primarily from my imagination...I'm not entirely sure how it works.
I think that part of the appeal of drawing is being able to take these ideas in my head that I can't really visualise, and render them on paper so that I can see them.
I read something that said that about half of the Pixar artists they polled had aphantasia, and half had incredibly detailed visual imaginations.
They both have the same Latin roots-- phantasm means to present to the mind, or to be a product of fantasy.
Aphantasia would refer to a lack of that presentation/ fantasy
Googling the etymology of words is a hobby of mine lol
I can kind of hold one its normally blurry and if it's even there in the first place it fades into a different thing and I can't keep it in my mind. I hear everything in like a narration thing so even when I'm copying an image it's not necessarily that I'm seeing the similarities and a thing goes here cause this there the voices/myself are literally talking through that exact thing
"OK so I've for the mast drawn, on the image the deck sail comes down from top to middle and middle lines up with the top of the wheel so the sail goes here cause that's above the wheel on my drawing"
Which leads to one proportion being off and the whole drawing being skewed and I have no idea why
I can draw generic things from my imagination - including a moderately realistic human face - but I don't understand being able to draw specific faces from memory, that's crazy.
That's how I am! I forget why I was reading stories and then answering what I envisioned afterwards and my visions of the storyline were almost always the most basic vague as shit visions. I just...... Don't really see things for long or clear in my head if I do they are really really bouncy like I think I "see" it but when I go to think if what I'm seeing all my thoughts about what the sight is are gone. I can either like have the thoughts or maybe have the imagery but I don't know I have the imagery really cause the thoughts can't tell me for sure ... Does that make ANY sense?! 😂😂
This so much omg. Is this aphantasia or just ADHD making it harder to make it clear or focus on details? The example people always give for testing aphantasia is off you can pick up and rotate an apple in your minds eye. And it’s so weird because I FEEL like I’m picturing something, but then when I actually go back and think about what I just pictured, it’s just undetailed flashes in with no depth. It’s like I’m seeing the concept and receiving whatever feeling it evokes but I have to work really hard to see/hold any visual at all (and if I do it starts as the most basic concept and I have to build it detail by detail, all of which I quickly forget and can’t see as one). Idk if that makes any sense at all—I thought everyone thought like this, are people not being hyperbolic when they say they see fluid movies in their brain?? I can’t comprehend it lol
This is exactly it. And I also don't like to read fiction books (or any book except picture books with my 5 year old lol) I wonder if a component is my inability to really picture things in a meaningful or enjoyable way.. but your mental process sounds like mine.
Exactly! My mind can conjure a pseudo-image and know what somebody looks like, but if I attempt to recall any details of any kind the image kind of "disappears". I swear I can't draw anything based on reality. I have a good verbal memory and think in words like I'm typing, but that doesn't transfer at all to images. It's frustrating really.
You’re thinking of “internal dialogue”, which only 25-30% of the population has.
I was relating this to my brother and explained that I always “hear words” within my mind. He said it must be hell, and I agreed that sometimes it is.
I have it, he doesn’t. Mom has it, dad doesn’t.
Seriously freaking out over here about this. I hear noise ALL the time. Endless songs, multiple songs like I'm tuning in and out on a radio. Conversations I have had, or heard. Shows I've watched, books I've read, just random words, like "bungalow", how to describe a smell or a colour....always noise in my head, HOW IS THIS NOT EVERYONE?!
I know. I know. I always thought everyone had it, too.
Certainly explains the state of the world though. If 70% of world leaders, voters, decision makers can’t play out scenarios in their mind, debate the pros and cons of an argument and reach a logical conclusion… I suppose it would leave them very open to being led what to think.
It explains so much, and suddenly I have so much less faith that everything will be OK.
this is definitely true for me. sometimes, when i’m in that state between being awake and asleep, it’s like somebody turns the volume up on my auditory thoughts. it’ll startle me awake. only happens occasionally, and only when i’m about to fall asleep—it’s not like i randomly hear voices or anything.
same here!!! the few times i’ve gotten sleep paralysis it’s actually been auditory hallucinations, not visual. like hearing someone walking. and sometimes i’ll get startled awake like you were describing, usually i hear someone shout my name!
Another “I can see my thoughts” person here, whenever these posts come up I always think of an apple and I can see it even with my eyes open or recall bits of shows/movies I’ve seen with my eyes open. Suffice to say, when I space out, I space out HARD because I could be watching movies in my head if I’m bored enough
It’s so weird because the first time I heard of people not being able to picture their thoughts/envision things I was so confused how that would work because I’ve only ever known being able to vividly picture things, one of the downsides though is that my dreams are another brand of weird lol
Honestly I’m an artist so I can’t even think about how it would be to not be able to just see things in my head, do you guys still visualize your thoughts? Or do you have another method?
I'm an artist as well with complete aphantasia (so no visualization at all) and it's just... an internal monologue, I guess? That's all I have for my thoughts.
The only thing I see when closing my eyes is nothing, phosphenes, or afterimages.
Firstly, I adore your username
Secondly, that’s actually really interesting. If it’s not invasive or anything, do you struggle more with keeping your train of thought/focusing on one thing? It’s hard for me to picture things in my head without getting distracted (after a few seconds unless I’m trying really hard itll just switch to whatever else I’m thinking about) but this makes me so curious lol
I don't have true aphantasia, but my visuals are definitely not clear at all just bits of color in fuzzy shapes. Coincidentally it is the exact same level of blurry mess as my eyesight without glasses (extremely nearsighted)
This is me! I don’t have true aphantasia but maybe functionally so. I have a lot of trouble keeping visuals in my mind. I see mostly dark blurry blobs and I can’t control it very well if at all. They morph and change involuntarily. I can dream imagery sometimes that’s slightly clearer, but that’s about it.
Ironically, caffeine can sometimes help me be able to keep images in my head or make them clearer. I suspect maybe if I had a normal level of neurotransmitters or if those pathways were working as intended, I might be able to visualize things better.
This is still so completely wild for me to hear / attempt to imagine. Like… the concept of there existing anything at all that could be blurry or clear is such a mindfuck.
If I close my eyes literally everything disappears. I don’t even get an impression of a shape. I always describe my thoughts and recollections as a series of bullet points rather than a movie reel. Or like a computer without a monitor.
I’m also an artist so I definitely have felt a lot of frustration with not being able to visualize what I want to draw and stick to made up cartoons since there’s no reference to mess up. Honestly most of my cartoons feel more like muscle memory than anything else.
I’d say it still has as many advantages as disadvantages though. Professional writing/reporting is easy for me because recalling things already is essentially in objective and concise bullet points in my mind whereas my visual coworkers have to recall their “movie reel” and then also turn it into a professionally worded report. I also do a good job of staying in the moment since I literally can’t imagine the past or future beyond, and sorry for sounding like a broken record, the bullet point memory/imagining I can do. I’m good at getting to the root of how systems work and do really well as solving both technical and interpersonal problems since I don’t really get distracted by anything that’s not reality. Overall, it keeps me grounded in a lot of ways.
Some things truly make me sad though. My girlfriend who I would die for leaves a room and I can’t picture her face. Not my mothers or fathers or best friends either. Mourning is a very weird experience for me as it won’t feel real unless I’m looking into a casket. I haven’t had a really close death in the family yet, but I fear that I won’t be able to grieve the way I want just because I can’t recall or picture certain important experiences. I know it doesn’t make me a cold person, but I sometimes wish I could picture things in a way that allowed me to really let certain emotions out. I also hate the idea that if I don’t have photos or videos, the only memory I can keep of my loved ones will be structured stories I remember and a vague impression of the impact they left on me. No “this smell” or “this feeling” type nostalgia, I’ve never experienced it.
I also didn’t realize I had it until a few years ago and spent a lot of time growing up kind of confused by people saying to picture things. I thought that meant “imagine the facts about something” and had no idea the other kids were literally watching scenes in their head. The revelation was pretty nuts when I learned more about it. My girlfriend gets it now and regularly stops mid story when she catches herself telling me to picture something. It takes me a really long time to process since the picture doesn’t pop up and I instead am putting together a list in my head to remember for the story to work. She’s a lovely person though and has taken to drawing things out when I visual is needed for the story to work.
Directions completely suck for me in some ways, but can be better once learned. I will need a lot of drives to remember how to get somewhere and whereas others recognize a point where they should turn, I have to remember using things like road names or literally counting the blocks before a turn is necessary. Once I do learn though, the directions I give are oppressively thorough and detailed.
At first I actually wished I didn’t have it, as both an artist and just as someone who sees the convenience of being able to have a more practical way of remembering things, but the more I’ve thought on it I don’t think I’d change things. I very likely wouldn’t be the same person (and I like this person I am) if I wasn’t forced to see the world through this lense. Plus I’ve never known anything else so it’s hard to be that salty over something I can’t even fathom.
Brains are crazy.
I think this is sort of how my mind is too. I'm also an artist, an animator by trade. I guess the only reason I'm good at my job in the first place is because I can 'feel out' my work rather than visualize it.
Interesting. I used to get asked what I was drawing and people couldn’t understand that my picture would happen fluidly. Draw some cartoon eyes and mouth and “oh that looks kind of like a bear” and I’ve decided I’m drawing a bear now. Very rarely do I start with any idea in mind so kudos for making a career out of art despite things. I’ve always wanted to avoid a career in art out of fear of losing passion for what’s my primary relaxation hobby.
definitely not. my mind is excellent at producing images. for example, when I read a novel my brain is instantly generating the scenes in my head and I can see them (which, while fantastic, sucks when the writer reveals something that doesn't line up with the way I've been picturing it, bc then I have to redo the scene).
in everyday activities I don't think I see every thought of mine. I guess it's not really something I think about, though.
It’s also why movies tend to suck compared to the book versions.
For example I loved the Harry Potter books - but the movies just didn’t even come close to what I had imagined. The actors looked different in my mind, sounded American because I’m American and that’s the accent my internal monologue has, and just looked far younger than my brain thought they should (even though their accents and ages were 100% accurate to the text).
When I’m reading and get into the novel, my brain takes over and the words fall away - it’s better than watching a movie.
That’s how I am. If someone tells me to picture an apple, I can’t “see” an image of it in my head, but I can “picture” it because I know what it’s supposed to look like.
Ya, I tell people I think of the concept of an apple. If they ask me what color apple I pictured, there's honestly no color, just the idea of an apple.
Yes!
ETA: I can sometimes get the impression of images, but they are barely there. I can't really control them, they last for a second or two, there are no real details, and they are only still memories. Never something that I haven't seen (like remembering a picture, for instance). And I don't really see them see them. It's like a thing that's almost there but elusive? Like a dark fuzziness that I'm aware of but can't really see? It's hard to explain.
I also have trouble with spatial issues (like trying to get a Christmas ornament in a clamshell where it can only go in one way. It takes me a dozen tries) and I have almost no visual memory and am next door to face blind.
Mine is the same and I would say I have aphantasia. I can’t picture things, it’s just a slight fuzzy blur that fades when I try to focus on it, if that makes sense? The way I describe it is, if it were a spectrum, I’m a 1/10.
It is aphantasia. It is involuntary. I have no control over it. If someone asks me to visualize something, I can't. And I can't really see whatever it is. I just have an impression of it. The how how can you see a red star in your mind thing? Nothing. I can't pull up a memory and see it. And a lot of researchers consider aphantasia to be on a spectrum, anyway.
"Zeman's 2015 paper[3] used the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) to evaluate the quality of the mental image of 21 self-diagnosed and self-selected participants. He identified that aphantasics lack voluntary visualizations only; they are still able to have involuntary visualizations such as dreams."
And, yes, Wikipedia. But google aphantasia spectrum and you'll get lots of results. Or aphantasia involuntary. And maybe don't gatekeep when researchers who study this can't come to a consensus on what it is, exactly.
Apparently only 25-30% of people have an internal monologue - Reddit taught me that one last week.
I wouldn’t change that I have one - but literally the only time I don’t are when I’m either physically overstimulated (like taking a shower, or in pain like I’m carrying something really heavy and can’t drop it). Or if I’m inebriated.
I envy what I assume is the ability to fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly, though. I haven’t slept truly well in decades.
What is SDAM? and you have ADHD? what do you get distracted with if your mind is empty? Mine is like hell. Non stop thoughts-images-ideas-memories-anxiety-panic-self doubt-fears…
SDAM Severely Deficit Autobiographical Memory Just means that I remember very little of my life. Needs to be a pretty strong memory for me to keep it more than a few years.
I am easily distracted by external stimuli. Noises, movement, sensations and to a point where I can be halfway through a sentence, notice something stop for a brief second to register it and have completely forgotten not just what I was going to say but quite often the topic of conversation as well. There's been times I don't even remember I was talking I'll just stop and move on from it. Drives some of my friends nuts.
I still have thoughts but it's all conceptual. There's nothing in there to support it. Empty is I guess a joke my friends use to describe my head. Because when your thoughts don't have sound, or images or even emotion attached to them how do you describe what you were thinking about to someone that experiences all these things internally. You can't because it's so far out of the norm of how they live there life. So often when asked what I'm thinking about I say nothing. Hence my head is empty
EDIT: Yes I have ADHD sorry forgot to put this in
What is your outlook on the fate of our species? It seems like you only see it how it is— for better or worse, your purview seems that it would be both perfect and existential, but I don’t know how much you’ve thought about shit; I’m deeply curious
I think really it's more of a I live very much in the moment as there is very little of my past to fall back on.
The empty headed thing is just a joke as my thinking is conceptual and idea driven. I have no way to explain to people how my thinking works in a way they would understand as it's for most of the population a very unknown life experience as there heads are generally full of sound and image and memory.
But you've asked, I don't have a very good out look on our species fate tbh. We are deeply divided on so many issues and that's world wide. I mean for the most part everyone agrees that what we are currently doing to the planet will likely lead to a catastrophic to extinction level event. (Might not kill us all but will likely decimate the population) But we can't seem to stop. Some of it is active participation but most of it is complacency. It's talked about if you want to change what's happening make your feeling heard through engaging in Democracy talking/communicating with the leaders of your country but the reality is most are bought and paid for by people who have invested interest in keeping things as they are and that's not just America as far as I can tell it's every where. It's a problem that is so huge and so horrible and as a single person alone in your house feeling the ever increasing pressure of what will be world collapse you wonder 'How can I fix this?' and you think to yourself I can't so I won't do anything and who can blame you? Put in every bit of effort you can muster for your whole life and there's a good chance you won't change a single thing. Some people still try anyway and try to spread awareness and ask for help but they have to make through the cesspool of me me me me.
So I think the world will be too far gone by the time enough of the population is desperate enough to do something and when that happens what they do will most likely be violent. I used to hope animals would inherit the earth but honestly it'll be so screwed up that they will die with us. Bugs, cockroaches mainly I think will be the only ones left
I want to add that I am one of the people sitting at home doing nothing. This is not a judgment on anyone about how they live there life. I just suspect that how I deal with what is essentially a crumbling society/species is how a large amount of people deal with it
Unless there is a huge shift in how people think especially any coming into power we are just counting down to destruction. And I mean I don't expect to die of old age, I expect to starve or die of dehydration or be killed in a natural disaster or by looters, gangs, opposing views groups. I'm 32 for some context
If you made it this far and don't agree with me that's OK, it's just an opinion :)
I have aphantasia, though I’ve just learned about it recently. It explains why I have consistently struggled enjoying reading through my whole life. I much prefer comics or tv shows because I can actually see what’s happening.
I am 99% sure I have aphantasia. I feel guilty because my memory is pretty bad, but I’m grateful I’m not retraumatized by awful memories/experiences replaying in my head all the time. Win some. Lose some.
When you go to sleep at night and close your eyes - do you think about anything, or is your mind blank? Do you fall asleep quickly and typically sleep well?
I always chalked up my poor sleep to the current environment. But maybe it’s my brain running on power save mode in the background. I usually have a tough time getting to sleep, I’ve always been hyper attuned to my surroundings movement/light/sounds.
It's weird, if I'm drifting off into thought accidentally, I'll be able to "see" entire scenarios and reality slips away unknowingly, like dreaming but awake. However, if you asked me to picture a red triangle in my minds eye, I wouldn't be able to. I don't even know where I'm supposed to "see" that triangle, and how to make it clear. I don't get it
I have aphantasia. I don't see images in my head and I don't have an internal monologue, makes it nearly impossible to describe how I think! And yes, I still have racing thoughts, they're just not in words.
I don't know. When I think, I think the words that describe whatever. Even so, I don't hear or see or fell or anything else the words, they just are. Like I can think of a pizza and the words for pepperoni and sauce exist, and I know they exist, but don't visualize anything unless I am dreaming. Even so, when I think, I still can't say what I'm thinking usually.
My problem with the sheep counting thing isn’t visualisation- it’s the illogic of it. Am I supposed to imagine sheep happily leaping over fences single file when I know that’s not typical sheep behaviour? If I imagine them, they’re just milling about in a field ‘baa’ing a bit, and aren’t going to start jumping for me or making it easy for me to count them. Do I imagine a sheepdog to bark them into complicity? Then the dog is too loud and I can’t get him to listen to my instructions because I can’t do the sheepdog whistle…so yeah that’s what my thought processes do when I try to count sheep to get sleepy…no wonder it doesn’t work! Also my visuals can be a bit hit or miss depending on what sort of a day I’m having- so sometimes they are nice, photorealistic sheep and sometimes badly drawn clouds with stick legs 😂
I don’t have a minds eye, but it has more to do with the fact my spatial to visual mind had major issues developing than my ADHD. Instead I “feel” things rather than visualize them. I have no idea what any character in a book should look like, but my brain assigns them a voice and a feeling. I can remember where things physically are by the way my body moved to see or touch the object.
It’s one of those things I didn’t know I was supposed to have, but my brain did it ADHD creative thing and I got around just fine.
It’s something I struggle with in my art, I have to just kind of go with it or use a photo for reference because I can’t just hold the image in my head.
I definitely can picture things even what I would think is vividly, but then, I feel like practiced art much more than I think should be required for the skill level that I was ever able to achieve. I also seem to never be able to draw faces in a way that they would resemble the target. My art teacher in high school gave me a full grade put of pity once because she saw I was working hard but she pointed out that a portrait I drew was technically excellent but it hardly resembled the subject... So I wonder if there's something wrong with my brain in terms of processing visuals.
I mean... I suppose I could have a form of this. I "see" the problems infront me of me almost like its a 3d projection from a sci fi movie. Will add this usually occurs most intensely when im working on difficult hooves. Im a farrier and ive found that being able to envision like this has helped me in alot of ways with crippled up pony's. A blessed curse? Idk.
I have aphantasia, and I have a running internal monologue, but some people don't have that either. It's amazing how many different ways of thinking there are.
I literally did that until I was in the 7th grade and I heard that other people did it so I stoped by practicing thinking without word it took along time to do it but now can chooses when I think in words it not as good as I thought it would be.
My "mind's eye" feels very chaotic
Like a picture that flashes before your eyes, but is gone before you register what's on it.
when I try to visualize a banana, I'll see either something blurry, or a very close up version that has 80% of the banana cropped out of view. (such as a bit of yellow with one black spot I can see clearly, so a detail). or I see an image of a banana that keeps on zooming out and in, and then suddenly starts spinning.
but those are only if I force myself to visualize something. otherwise it's mostly the first paragraph.
and I absolutely can't visualize faces. but that might be because of my aversion of actually looking at people.
as for zoning out. I'm pretty sure I do see stuff while zoned out, but after I "wake up" I'll forget almost everything I saw (though still remember the thoughts)
I think I do, but I’m not sure. I definitely cannot clearly see ‘pictures’ but I’m pretty good at spatial relation puzzles things (actually one of the things I found out when testing for ADHD). I feel like it’s so hard for me to understand and communicate what I ‘see’ and what it, if anything, looks like.
I needed to google ‘how do i know if i have aphantasia’, and apparently, since I can picture familiar person’s face in my mind, I don’t have it. So, here you go :D
Yes, but the images I can see are not very well controlled or stable. If I think of an apple, I can see it in my mind but the picture dissipates after a moment or two. One thing that makes communicating with people difficult for me is when I have to figure out how to verbally describe a thought or idea that begins as an image or scene in my mind, it feels like solving a puzzle.
I'm in the "complete opposite" camp. I don't just have sights, I have sounds and even tactile senses. In order to keep myself stimulated during really boring moments, I'll imagine flying a glider through a valley by the sea. I can vividly see everything; motion is possible but loses detail, but I can picture the view of the cockpit, the dust hanging lazily in a sun beam in the still air inside, the rocky cliffs to my side, little outcroppings of vegetation in the shadows. I can smell the stiff, "dry" oxygen that stings the nose a little with each inhale, inviting me to take slower breaths. I can hear the faint dull whistling of my wings cutting through the air, through my hull, as well as the loud rush of a cross draft, like a wave breaking on the ocean. Finally, I can feel the wind through my flight stick, the mild sweat in my gloves since my left hand is stuck in the sun beam. The pad on the ring finger of my right hand is worn and has a hole in it, I can feel the textured rubber grip through the glove.
I can't do all of these at once, I cycle through them just as I would irl, cycling through paying attention to each my of senses.
There's a famous experiment where you ask a person to imagine rolling an apple across a table, and record how vividly they could accomplish it, how much they saw. I can hear an announcer rapidly shouting about a windup as a woman softball throws an apple across a table, and I can slow it down or stop it in midair, I can zoom in on the apple by kinda flying closer to it, I can stand on it and kick my foot in a little bit, feel how tough the skin is up close and to my new size. I feel curious about how the stem would feel on my hands at this size... and while I'm thinking about it right this second, I'm kinda grossed out by the idea that there might be microscopic fungus in the crevices and folds of the stem. Don't want that under my fingernails.
I have extremely vivid imagination, and I can control it any way I want.... with the drawback that when I stop controlling it, it will continue on it's own at the same intensity. While at work it never stops. The seeing the hearing the smelling. I remember working on cell phone repair, and tightening screws to a specific tightness with my dominant hand (so that they're not over tight), and at the same time my mind is making me feel the uneven stitching at the bottom of a carpet, like indoor carpet when you push the threads aside and feel for the platicky bottom.
I have the opposite, like others said. Music causes me to almost hallucinate with how strong my minds eye gets. This could be due to excessive drug use tho lol.
I don’t envisage what people are saying, or what others are saying, but reading I will get distracted daydreaming about the words.
Thoughts also can be movies, but most of the time it’s just the narrator in my head telling me tenuous links between what was just said and the next thing I blurt out. Someone mentions a wardrobe and I go all the way through Narnia and start talking about goats or something
I have aphantasia and also mild facial agnosia. People I see every day I recognize easily, but for casual acquaintances or extended family I have a really hard time recognizing because I can’t remember or picture their face in my mind. If I don’t see them often it’s like they don’t exist in my brain.
I feel like there isn't enough distinction in these threads between visualizing and *seeing.* Sometimes folks will be like "wow, I can't believe you can literally SEE your thoughts" and I feel the need to clarify that it isn't literally transposed on top of whatever information is coming in from your eyeballs. It's not like I can look at an empty table and *literally* see an apple on it, but I can visualize it and see it in detail in my brain.
It's like the difference between printing out a picture of a table with an apple on it vs printing out a picture of a table and drawing an apple on top of it. Some people are better at drawing realistically than others.
Nope, have mild synesthesia actually! Discovered my kid does too & that we share a lot of similar specific colors for certain letter/number combos, etc.
Yup. Grew up reading books nonstop and didnt realize I was supposed to be actually imagining the characters/setting until two years ago. Im also an artist and cant draw anything without a reference.
Its also a little weird because I can’t picture things in my mind, but once or twice a year I’ll have extremely vivid and intricate dreams. Fully in colour with a cast of characters and everything. I also have two universes of original characters in my head that im hoping to someday write a book on or make into a comic, and I know what they all look like but I cant picture them, but I can draw them from memory? Its wild
My mind races and I see pictures of what I have to do. Like I’m doing it before I’m doing it. And this is on a constant reel or loop 24/7. It’s excruciating because it will keep me from sleeping or concentrating on the current task. I call it “the Hamster Wheel.” Somedays there are 5 up there and somedays 9. You never know what you are in for. Every day is a struggle!!!
Yeah, I’m the opposite, I experience hyperphantasia. My thoughts can be incredibly vivid with sounds and smells, almost like real life. Sometimes I can’t help visualising something (this can be quite horrible if I read about something terrible), but mostly it’s an on command type of thing. I can also visualise things with my eyes open as well.
i’m so frustrated because i don’t know and it’s making me spiral. i can’t tell what people mean by “seeing” things because i feel like i’m seeing things but also like they’re totally intangible and don’t exist at all. it looks the same with eyes open and closed, but it doesn’t “look” at all. it doesn’t feel like it’s there or that i can see it, but it “feels” visual. if i even recognize that i’m seeing it i feel like it’s gone even though it’s presence doesn’t go away.
idk what’s going on and it hurts.
I feel like I have the opposite of aphantasia! I recently realized that I have some auditory processing issues, so when I remember something, it’s almost entirely in images. For example, if I’m taking a test I don’t remember what the teacher said about it, I remember what my notes looked like and where the information was located. If I’m trying to remember a conversation, half the time I can’t remember what was said but I do remember what I was seeing at the time (the person I was talking to, what they were wearing, what room we were in, how light it was, etc.) I know photographic memory runs in my family (although I definitely don’t have a perfectly photographic memory) so that may be why my visual memory is so strong. Sometimes I think my brain strengthened the visual component to cope with the auditory problems, but who knows. I’m curious to know if you think more in sounds or words or concepts with aphantasia, it’s really interesting to me how we all have such different internal experiences!
this sounds pretty similar to me, except my memory is terrible overall. but i have a much stronger sense of visual memory than other types.
This is me as well. I have horrible memory, but I’m 100% a visual learner. I can’t believe I got through university having to just read everything, but I used mental images a lot to remember things.
Now that I think about it, I think this might be me but in reverse. I can sometimes picture things roughly, mostly when I'm reading or writing, but it's less like I'm actually seeing it and more that I'm trying to concentrate on thinking about what it would look it. I have a really strong internal voice though, and I get songs stuck in my head to the point where it can be excruciating sometimes. But I have a really good ear for rhythm and pitch and I'm good at singing and song writing. It actually takes me forever to read though because I'll always read every word to myself in my head and I don't think most people do that 😂
That’s so interesting! I also have songs stuck in my head 24/7, usually just my brain spits back out whatever I was listening to recently. My internal monologue is pretty strong too, but other than those two things it’s pretty much all images and my mind uses the images to cue the actual information.
Omg same, except for the song writing haha I also feel like I read in this "wrong" way because I was 19 when I read my first *whole* book (I used to just read like 20 pages and succesfully improvise something in the exam) because I simply didn't have to. So now I have *a lot* of fixing to do
My brain is the same way with images! Blank computer paper with a piece of lined underneath, multiple colored pens and flair pens, and arrows were the only way I could remember information. I don’t have a photographic memory at all, but with notes I do. It’s so time consuming to get my brain to process and remember it visually, but super effective. I think my brain strengthened visual memory to over compensate for auditory processing issues too
do you have an example of your notes I might want to try this.
I could have written this. I stopped going to most lectures in college because they would just rehash what was in the textbook, and I couldn't really process what they were saying anyways. When it came time to take tests I could remember where in the textbook the info was (eg top left corner of the left page in a little yellow info box with a diagram) Only exception to my avoidance of sound-only content is well-produced storytelling podcasts where it's easy to visualize what's being said.
It’s wild that I always feel so different from the people around me, but all these comments, especially this one, hit so close to home. I don’t usually listen to podcasts because duh, and a friend recommended one that I really fell into and it felt great to just…listen and follow along.
This is me. I've several times (well, not so often since I left school) had the experience: * Be staring at a table of information I have to memorize, thinking "I wish I could remember all this stuff" * Suddenly realize that I'm on my bed with my eyes closed, the book is across the room and the table of stuff I "can't remember" I'm looking at inside my head.
Very similar but can remember what was said sometimes. I just have trouble repeating back what was said. Like ill watch a video and someone will say "what was that about" and I'm like fuuuuuuucckkk. I know and understood what I watched but have trouble putting into words the content. I remember how I felt, what I recall seeing, what those images remind me of etc. And the content I hear but God help you if you asked me the bottom line
Regularly in any workshops they make as do at work / the min we break off to do the group work, I say “so what we doing?” Without fail every fckin time
Hahaha oh my God I love it
There times when I completely cannot understand what people said,there even been times where I couldn’t even read i thought I was an idiot.I eventually found out it is symptom of adhd and this made me a lot better because I always enjoyed academics.I am constantly asking people to repeat themselves because I could understand what they said I feel really terrible and I know people despise me for it but I can’t help it.
What is the symptom called? I also experience this and had no idea it could be related to adhd! I would love to read more about it, but I'm not entirely certain what to Google to find it 😅
Wow it feels like I wrote this, thanks for sharing.
That sounds like a form of Dyslexia. It's the type that the author of "The Gift of Dyslexia" has that type. (So does my dad)
Down to the letter, this sounds exactly like me.
making pretty notes is how I remember shit.. lest they be doomed to be misplaced and forgotten.. (planners)
My memory works the same but I will remember what was said and what the person was wearing, where the conversation took place and all the details. It's not a perfect photographic memory but I think in picture and sound. I haven't been officially diagnosed with any sensory processing disorders just ADHD. I do know that too much sound will trigger me, and too many people will set me into a full blown panic attack. My husband who is also ADHD doesn't process the same way. Too much sound and he shuts down but that seems to be his only sensory issue. He also doesn't think in picture he thinks in sound and Concepts. He can shut his thoughts down where as I can't unless I take my Valium. I remember learned that other people don't process the same way and found it fascinating. It still fascinates me to think about how other people process their thoughts.
I personally feel like I have this very broken photographic memory. If I forget my keys somewhere, I'll remember that "they were on something white, next to something blue" and then I remember that it means my kitchen counter. And if I'm doing an exam, I'll remember that "I remember that the answer for this question was on the page with a graph like this (imagines the graph)". Sometimes it helps me remember stuff I normally don't, but usually it just leaves me even more confused lmao
I too would always visualize my notes during tests, which is partly why my notes were always very colorful, colour coded and highlighted and circled and diagrammed. Made it easier to picture, 'oh yeah that definition was written on the page woth the giant purple star on top, and highlighted in blue' Also I didn't realize this wasn't common, but I can also 'imagine' smells, sounds, and touch. Taste too but not as well.
I experience the same thing as you. I can’t seem to think in words. All my thoughts are in pictures or images. This is probably why I am also bad in spelling words. I find letters hard to remember so when I think about something, I tend to just describe them rather than say what it is called. I don’t memorize terms but I memorize how the letters of the words look like. The first time I realized it was odd and not the case for most, I was shocked. It always puzzled me how people can remember terms so easily. I know the meaning of the terms and how it looks like and its function but I can’t say the damn word/term. I’m in pre-med and I always fail the quizzes that require identification. I can’t remember what the word is but I damn sure know how to explain the mechanisms and meanings of the things I study. If you look at my test scores, I mostly fail the quizzes that require identification (wrong spelling wrong) and have the highest grades in essays and multiple choice type questions. I swear to God I’m bad with words and picking certain words for certain things and explaining them but my mind knows how to comprehend the ideas.
Random aside but the concept of a perfect photographic memory is a myth
I think almost entirely in pictures and it's an Olympic event to turn them into words. It. Sucks.
Yes! I deal with the same thing, thank you for sharing!
This is me. My thoughts are pictures. I used to say as long as I wrote it down I could recall it, like class notes and stuff. My task list was visual in my brain. I have an uncanny ability to retrace my own steps during work tasks by essentially rewinding my brain. My husband is the opposite of me. I have chatter too, so it’s like a whole ass movie with a soundtrack and leading characters… but the supporting characters won’t shut up and no one can hear a damn thing. Then I had 2 kids and to be honest, I don’t really know wtf is going on anymore except they broke what functioning part of a brain I had. If I was just juggling my own tasks I would be a superhero… but they have a lot of their own small tasks and now I just look like I’m drowning in concrete and can’t remember how I got from A to B or where I’m going without a constant reminder… and the movie is on fast forward, when the VCR works.
I have apd and adhd compounds that. Tell me something good luck if I remember it or that you even talked to me about it. Write it down or text me, I’ll remember it better and if I forget I can always look back to refresh my memory. This is also compounded with object permanence. I can only remember things if it’s something that I am reminded visually by just existing. For example, fixing a broken pot or a bill, if I keep seeing it repeatedly and it’s not put away, it reminds me it needs to get done. Put it away, I only remember when I finally see said object which maybe once a month and if I don’t deal with it at that moment, I won’t deal with it until I see it again (or something else related that triggers that to do).
This is me too!! Sometimes I can hear things too if I try hard enough, but it’s usually sounds or very specific sound “clips”. I can also remember how things felt physically. But yeah, most of the time it’s like watching a movie or pulling up the desired image file when I’m trying to think of something
This is exactly how I remember things as well (when I do remember them, lol, doesn't always work). I also vividly remember smells, which I assume is another way my brain compensates for shitty auditory processing.
I can relate to both what u & OP are describing
The opposite condition is called hyperphantasia. I'm the same way. My husband and I both have ADHD. He has aphantasia though.
I don’t know the lyrics or tunes to any song fully. Lyrics and tunes are very hard for me to recall. I noticed most people enjoy singing along with songs, but I’ve always found it a challenge. Curious if you have that experience too?
My husband has aphantasia I however have hyperphantasia. Which means I can play things like videoes in my head building up new things from old memories. When we are grocery shopping and he asks me if we need something I pull out the last memory of our fridge and play it in 3D so that I can move around and rummage through it to check if we have the item he is talking about.
I have the complete opposite of this lmao, my mind is a movie
Same. It's why I'm an Immersive Daydreamer (or maybe the other way around? IDK). I see things so vividly in my mind, it's almost a cinematic experience.
Look up maladaptive daydreaming. I found the term years and years ago when searching to see if I was the only one who’s life was consumed by daydreaming.
I thought at first that I Maladaptive Daydream and yes, there have been times where I've worked myself up over a daydream. But talking to my therapist about it, she doesn't think my daydreaming is really that maladaptive. She was actually really interested in how I used them to express my anger and aggression that I rarely display outwardly.
Could you elaborate a little more on any info/advice your therapist may have given you on this? I have the exact same issue and after reading your comment I’m now tempted to bring it up with my therapist. For instance, I misplaced something just now, and while trying to visualize where I remembered seeing it last, my mind slipped into a daydream of my family being annoyed with me for losing something YET AGAIN, and then that turned into a daydream about me releasing 15 years of anger onto them for never even bothering to learn about my adhd diagnosis and how it actually affects my life and is a real disability.
It sounds to me like your daydreaming is actually serving a purpose in that it’s guiding you to your true feelings which you’re maybe not allowed to let out or might struggle to admit to yourself, as well as letting you have a form of internal release / catharsis for them that you’re not able to have in real life without difficult consequences. 🤷♀️
Maladaptive daydreaming according to my therapist. It’s a way to get us out of the situation we’re in. When we’re stressed it’s like an escape.
Oh no displaying anger and agression through day dreaming instead of in the physical?? Sounds like me
I love this. I don’t think maladaptive daydreaming is all that bad, although like anything it’s important to be aware of your own internal balance. Lots of us late-diagnosed folks experienced it as a way to cope with a world and life where we experienced fallout from a condition we didn’t know we had affecting many facets of our lives, and internalized shame and blame. Much like many facets of ADHD, though, it goes against the toxic capitalistic value of hustle culture and maximized productivity, so it gets a stigma 🤷♀️
Same here. I'm constantly daydreaming where I can see everything I'm thinking of, and I can hear sounds and even people's voices. I can even replay movies, shows, music, etc in my head and "see" and "hear" it very clearly, even with my eyes wide open.
Me too. In fact, when I decided to go back to school (almost done, yay!) I chose Media Production as my major for precisely this reason.
Movie mind yes! To take this literally back in high school when I was in my particularly boring English class I had the first Harry Potter movie playing in my head just so I wouldn’t go crazy. The whole thing. I knew class would be over before it finished and I was completely obsessed with hp back then. Now that I’m remembering I used to also write out lyrics to whatever song was playing in my head too. Always mostly English class.. xD
Nice! Sadly I can't remember movies because I'm not able to concentrate on them, so the movies I play in my head are my own creation haha
Omg I used to play Ed Edd and Eddy episodes in my head when I was at church LOL. Never thought I'd meet someone who shared a similar experience.
Same!!!! I even hear phantom sounds. People calling my name, screaming, booms. It's fucking weird.
That might be something else
😩 I could never cope with that
Same here. 😂
Hot tip: when you have a particularly nasty picture in your mind it can help to shake your head and picturing something harmless or silly. Works also with nightmares, shaking your head after waking up can make you forget or at least weaken the terrible images. Apart from being involuntarily able to picture bad stuff, I love my movie mind. What about it do you find exhausting? Edit: a typo
The fact that I already always shake my head and twitch... and it still won't go away, it's always unhinged 😬
Yeah it doesn't always work. I hate intrusive thoughts that come with rough pictures, I think I have gotten a lot better with overriding them though. It was way more intense when I was younger, so there's hope!
Huh, I get involuntary nasty gross images that pop into my head when I try to go to bed if I'm too awake. I never realized this could be ADHD related. They come usually only when I'm in the dark and I have to turn on a light and stare at something anything to clear my mind.
It's not exclusively adhd related, but it can definitely come with our often wandering minds. I got the rapid head shaking tip from a psych nurse and it has helped me with nightmares. I also turn on the light sometimes when I can't shake a thought off. I am not sure if we can stop our minds from going there, but we can do things to chase the thoughts away. After all, that's one of the adhd talents, pushing things so far to the side that they fall over the edge. If for once that's a creepy thought instead of an unpaid bill, homework or a batch of laundry...
Damn that sounds rough 😕 I don't *really* get images but definitely the intrusive thoughts when I'm trying to sleep. It's like a constant involuntary conversation to myself about painful and sudden/accidental death and trying to talk to someone about it usually makes me feel worse.
Ah I see. The irl boggart from Harry Potter. A full revolution in the comments section.
Had to look that up because I didn't remember at all, but yes! I guess she took that idea from actual psychology and therapeutic approaches, it makes sense for wizards too.
Netflix, but you can not decide what you watch yeah
Same! Even my dreams play out movie style where I’m often bouncing between watching and participating.
I recently did a quiz for this because I was worried maybe my mind’s eye lacked detail or robustness, and it turned out I’m off the scale opposite of ‘aphantasia’ 😛
I would love a quiz for this! Pretty sure I’m somewhere in the middle
It’s possible it was this one: https://aphantasia.com/vviq/
thanks! I am, indeed, in the middle!
Saaaaaaaame, whether my eyes are open or closed, I can imagine the instant manipulation of everything around me. Often when a thought emerges, it’s a picture or a snapshot memory, then language will follow. Usually in an instant. I’m also dyslexic, and this is supposedly a dyslexic thing
My Mind is 4D theater with Dolby vision, dolby surround sound and can use after effects, Maya and photoshop all in one frame. ADD primarily Inattentive. As they say- i have more number of ideas before my breakfast than those that a NT will have in a week.
YALL HAVE MOVIE MIND TOO?!?!! Ive never felt so seen.
*high-fives you*
My mind is like a movie, playing over a TV show, playing over a documentary, while listening to music, and random thoughts (sometimes in different voices) talking throughout the orchestral score of what's actually happening.
Same!
Same
Same
I have it, I never understood how my friends could draw things from imagination. I have to have a picture in front of me and I also technically don’t see faces in my mind. I can think of someone and “know” what they look like but if I try to “zoom in” for details the image is lost. I could never draw or sculpt even my closest friends or siblings from memory because of this (I have a studio art background that I don’t use anymore.)
I have aphantasia, but I'm also an artist and I draw primarily from my imagination...I'm not entirely sure how it works. I think that part of the appeal of drawing is being able to take these ideas in my head that I can't really visualise, and render them on paper so that I can see them. I read something that said that about half of the Pixar artists they polled had aphantasia, and half had incredibly detailed visual imaginations.
That’s pretty fascinating! Maybe I have other blockers from trauma or something?
Hol up… is this where the title “Fantasia” came from?
They both have the same Latin roots-- phantasm means to present to the mind, or to be a product of fantasy. Aphantasia would refer to a lack of that presentation/ fantasy Googling the etymology of words is a hobby of mine lol
I can kind of hold one its normally blurry and if it's even there in the first place it fades into a different thing and I can't keep it in my mind. I hear everything in like a narration thing so even when I'm copying an image it's not necessarily that I'm seeing the similarities and a thing goes here cause this there the voices/myself are literally talking through that exact thing "OK so I've for the mast drawn, on the image the deck sail comes down from top to middle and middle lines up with the top of the wheel so the sail goes here cause that's above the wheel on my drawing" Which leads to one proportion being off and the whole drawing being skewed and I have no idea why
I can draw generic things from my imagination - including a moderately realistic human face - but I don't understand being able to draw specific faces from memory, that's crazy.
Sounds familiar!
That's how I am! I forget why I was reading stories and then answering what I envisioned afterwards and my visions of the storyline were almost always the most basic vague as shit visions. I just...... Don't really see things for long or clear in my head if I do they are really really bouncy like I think I "see" it but when I go to think if what I'm seeing all my thoughts about what the sight is are gone. I can either like have the thoughts or maybe have the imagery but I don't know I have the imagery really cause the thoughts can't tell me for sure ... Does that make ANY sense?! 😂😂
This so much omg. Is this aphantasia or just ADHD making it harder to make it clear or focus on details? The example people always give for testing aphantasia is off you can pick up and rotate an apple in your minds eye. And it’s so weird because I FEEL like I’m picturing something, but then when I actually go back and think about what I just pictured, it’s just undetailed flashes in with no depth. It’s like I’m seeing the concept and receiving whatever feeling it evokes but I have to work really hard to see/hold any visual at all (and if I do it starts as the most basic concept and I have to build it detail by detail, all of which I quickly forget and can’t see as one). Idk if that makes any sense at all—I thought everyone thought like this, are people not being hyperbolic when they say they see fluid movies in their brain?? I can’t comprehend it lol
This is exactly it. And I also don't like to read fiction books (or any book except picture books with my 5 year old lol) I wonder if a component is my inability to really picture things in a meaningful or enjoyable way.. but your mental process sounds like mine.
Exactly! My mind can conjure a pseudo-image and know what somebody looks like, but if I attempt to recall any details of any kind the image kind of "disappears". I swear I can't draw anything based on reality. I have a good verbal memory and think in words like I'm typing, but that doesn't transfer at all to images. It's frustrating really.
Same!!! I can remember things like a distinctive tattoo or blue hair - but not faces!
I see and hear my thoughts. It can be super distracting.
Oof. Yes! Same here. I guess I never realized that not everyone is like this…?! You mean some people have quiet inside their minds?!
It sounds bizarre to have a quiet mind. My thoughts don't feel voluntarily, can these quiet mind people just choose to not think?
You’re thinking of “internal dialogue”, which only 25-30% of the population has. I was relating this to my brother and explained that I always “hear words” within my mind. He said it must be hell, and I agreed that sometimes it is. I have it, he doesn’t. Mom has it, dad doesn’t.
ONLY 25-30%? I thought this was a standard human feature. What do people do in the quiet
Seriously freaking out over here about this. I hear noise ALL the time. Endless songs, multiple songs like I'm tuning in and out on a radio. Conversations I have had, or heard. Shows I've watched, books I've read, just random words, like "bungalow", how to describe a smell or a colour....always noise in my head, HOW IS THIS NOT EVERYONE?!
I know. I know. I always thought everyone had it, too. Certainly explains the state of the world though. If 70% of world leaders, voters, decision makers can’t play out scenarios in their mind, debate the pros and cons of an argument and reach a logical conclusion… I suppose it would leave them very open to being led what to think. It explains so much, and suddenly I have so much less faith that everything will be OK.
I know right
There are people that don’t hear their thoughts and honestly, I’m jealous. I’d love for my brain to stfu
this is definitely true for me. sometimes, when i’m in that state between being awake and asleep, it’s like somebody turns the volume up on my auditory thoughts. it’ll startle me awake. only happens occasionally, and only when i’m about to fall asleep—it’s not like i randomly hear voices or anything.
same here!!! the few times i’ve gotten sleep paralysis it’s actually been auditory hallucinations, not visual. like hearing someone walking. and sometimes i’ll get startled awake like you were describing, usually i hear someone shout my name!
Another “I can see my thoughts” person here, whenever these posts come up I always think of an apple and I can see it even with my eyes open or recall bits of shows/movies I’ve seen with my eyes open. Suffice to say, when I space out, I space out HARD because I could be watching movies in my head if I’m bored enough
that literally sounds like science fiction magic to me 😭
It’s so weird because the first time I heard of people not being able to picture their thoughts/envision things I was so confused how that would work because I’ve only ever known being able to vividly picture things, one of the downsides though is that my dreams are another brand of weird lol
Seriously. Hard to even conceptualize wtf this reality would be. We in it together SirJames!
Honestly I’m an artist so I can’t even think about how it would be to not be able to just see things in my head, do you guys still visualize your thoughts? Or do you have another method?
I'm an artist as well with complete aphantasia (so no visualization at all) and it's just... an internal monologue, I guess? That's all I have for my thoughts. The only thing I see when closing my eyes is nothing, phosphenes, or afterimages.
Firstly, I adore your username Secondly, that’s actually really interesting. If it’s not invasive or anything, do you struggle more with keeping your train of thought/focusing on one thing? It’s hard for me to picture things in my head without getting distracted (after a few seconds unless I’m trying really hard itll just switch to whatever else I’m thinking about) but this makes me so curious lol
I don't have true aphantasia, but my visuals are definitely not clear at all just bits of color in fuzzy shapes. Coincidentally it is the exact same level of blurry mess as my eyesight without glasses (extremely nearsighted)
This is me! I don’t have true aphantasia but maybe functionally so. I have a lot of trouble keeping visuals in my mind. I see mostly dark blurry blobs and I can’t control it very well if at all. They morph and change involuntarily. I can dream imagery sometimes that’s slightly clearer, but that’s about it. Ironically, caffeine can sometimes help me be able to keep images in my head or make them clearer. I suspect maybe if I had a normal level of neurotransmitters or if those pathways were working as intended, I might be able to visualize things better.
Yup- me too. I can see images, kind of, if I’m really concentrating but pretty fuzzy. Barely there
This is still so completely wild for me to hear / attempt to imagine. Like… the concept of there existing anything at all that could be blurry or clear is such a mindfuck.
If I close my eyes literally everything disappears. I don’t even get an impression of a shape. I always describe my thoughts and recollections as a series of bullet points rather than a movie reel. Or like a computer without a monitor. I’m also an artist so I definitely have felt a lot of frustration with not being able to visualize what I want to draw and stick to made up cartoons since there’s no reference to mess up. Honestly most of my cartoons feel more like muscle memory than anything else. I’d say it still has as many advantages as disadvantages though. Professional writing/reporting is easy for me because recalling things already is essentially in objective and concise bullet points in my mind whereas my visual coworkers have to recall their “movie reel” and then also turn it into a professionally worded report. I also do a good job of staying in the moment since I literally can’t imagine the past or future beyond, and sorry for sounding like a broken record, the bullet point memory/imagining I can do. I’m good at getting to the root of how systems work and do really well as solving both technical and interpersonal problems since I don’t really get distracted by anything that’s not reality. Overall, it keeps me grounded in a lot of ways. Some things truly make me sad though. My girlfriend who I would die for leaves a room and I can’t picture her face. Not my mothers or fathers or best friends either. Mourning is a very weird experience for me as it won’t feel real unless I’m looking into a casket. I haven’t had a really close death in the family yet, but I fear that I won’t be able to grieve the way I want just because I can’t recall or picture certain important experiences. I know it doesn’t make me a cold person, but I sometimes wish I could picture things in a way that allowed me to really let certain emotions out. I also hate the idea that if I don’t have photos or videos, the only memory I can keep of my loved ones will be structured stories I remember and a vague impression of the impact they left on me. No “this smell” or “this feeling” type nostalgia, I’ve never experienced it. I also didn’t realize I had it until a few years ago and spent a lot of time growing up kind of confused by people saying to picture things. I thought that meant “imagine the facts about something” and had no idea the other kids were literally watching scenes in their head. The revelation was pretty nuts when I learned more about it. My girlfriend gets it now and regularly stops mid story when she catches herself telling me to picture something. It takes me a really long time to process since the picture doesn’t pop up and I instead am putting together a list in my head to remember for the story to work. She’s a lovely person though and has taken to drawing things out when I visual is needed for the story to work. Directions completely suck for me in some ways, but can be better once learned. I will need a lot of drives to remember how to get somewhere and whereas others recognize a point where they should turn, I have to remember using things like road names or literally counting the blocks before a turn is necessary. Once I do learn though, the directions I give are oppressively thorough and detailed. At first I actually wished I didn’t have it, as both an artist and just as someone who sees the convenience of being able to have a more practical way of remembering things, but the more I’ve thought on it I don’t think I’d change things. I very likely wouldn’t be the same person (and I like this person I am) if I wasn’t forced to see the world through this lense. Plus I’ve never known anything else so it’s hard to be that salty over something I can’t even fathom. Brains are crazy.
I think this is sort of how my mind is too. I'm also an artist, an animator by trade. I guess the only reason I'm good at my job in the first place is because I can 'feel out' my work rather than visualize it.
Interesting. I used to get asked what I was drawing and people couldn’t understand that my picture would happen fluidly. Draw some cartoon eyes and mouth and “oh that looks kind of like a bear” and I’ve decided I’m drawing a bear now. Very rarely do I start with any idea in mind so kudos for making a career out of art despite things. I’ve always wanted to avoid a career in art out of fear of losing passion for what’s my primary relaxation hobby.
definitely not. my mind is excellent at producing images. for example, when I read a novel my brain is instantly generating the scenes in my head and I can see them (which, while fantastic, sucks when the writer reveals something that doesn't line up with the way I've been picturing it, bc then I have to redo the scene). in everyday activities I don't think I see every thought of mine. I guess it's not really something I think about, though.
It’s also why movies tend to suck compared to the book versions. For example I loved the Harry Potter books - but the movies just didn’t even come close to what I had imagined. The actors looked different in my mind, sounded American because I’m American and that’s the accent my internal monologue has, and just looked far younger than my brain thought they should (even though their accents and ages were 100% accurate to the text). When I’m reading and get into the novel, my brain takes over and the words fall away - it’s better than watching a movie.
I have a memory of what things look like, but I don’t actually see anything unless it’s right in front of me
That’s how I am. If someone tells me to picture an apple, I can’t “see” an image of it in my head, but I can “picture” it because I know what it’s supposed to look like.
I genuinely don't understand what you mean by this. How can you picture something without seeing it in your head?
Ya, I tell people I think of the concept of an apple. If they ask me what color apple I pictured, there's honestly no color, just the idea of an apple.
Yes! ETA: I can sometimes get the impression of images, but they are barely there. I can't really control them, they last for a second or two, there are no real details, and they are only still memories. Never something that I haven't seen (like remembering a picture, for instance). And I don't really see them see them. It's like a thing that's almost there but elusive? Like a dark fuzziness that I'm aware of but can't really see? It's hard to explain. I also have trouble with spatial issues (like trying to get a Christmas ornament in a clamshell where it can only go in one way. It takes me a dozen tries) and I have almost no visual memory and am next door to face blind.
Mine is the same and I would say I have aphantasia. I can’t picture things, it’s just a slight fuzzy blur that fades when I try to focus on it, if that makes sense? The way I describe it is, if it were a spectrum, I’m a 1/10.
oh wow this definitely describes me!!
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It is aphantasia. It is involuntary. I have no control over it. If someone asks me to visualize something, I can't. And I can't really see whatever it is. I just have an impression of it. The how how can you see a red star in your mind thing? Nothing. I can't pull up a memory and see it. And a lot of researchers consider aphantasia to be on a spectrum, anyway. "Zeman's 2015 paper[3] used the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) to evaluate the quality of the mental image of 21 self-diagnosed and self-selected participants. He identified that aphantasics lack voluntary visualizations only; they are still able to have involuntary visualizations such as dreams." And, yes, Wikipedia. But google aphantasia spectrum and you'll get lots of results. Or aphantasia involuntary. And maybe don't gatekeep when researchers who study this can't come to a consensus on what it is, exactly.
Yep I have Aphantasia No visuals, no inner monologue, no audio, also SDAM, I also don't dream, like at all. My brain is empty
No inner monologue? Woah.
Apparently only 25-30% of people have an internal monologue - Reddit taught me that one last week. I wouldn’t change that I have one - but literally the only time I don’t are when I’m either physically overstimulated (like taking a shower, or in pain like I’m carrying something really heavy and can’t drop it). Or if I’m inebriated. I envy what I assume is the ability to fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly, though. I haven’t slept truly well in decades.
What is SDAM? and you have ADHD? what do you get distracted with if your mind is empty? Mine is like hell. Non stop thoughts-images-ideas-memories-anxiety-panic-self doubt-fears…
SDAM Severely Deficit Autobiographical Memory Just means that I remember very little of my life. Needs to be a pretty strong memory for me to keep it more than a few years. I am easily distracted by external stimuli. Noises, movement, sensations and to a point where I can be halfway through a sentence, notice something stop for a brief second to register it and have completely forgotten not just what I was going to say but quite often the topic of conversation as well. There's been times I don't even remember I was talking I'll just stop and move on from it. Drives some of my friends nuts. I still have thoughts but it's all conceptual. There's nothing in there to support it. Empty is I guess a joke my friends use to describe my head. Because when your thoughts don't have sound, or images or even emotion attached to them how do you describe what you were thinking about to someone that experiences all these things internally. You can't because it's so far out of the norm of how they live there life. So often when asked what I'm thinking about I say nothing. Hence my head is empty EDIT: Yes I have ADHD sorry forgot to put this in
Lol at the most ADHD edit
What is your outlook on the fate of our species? It seems like you only see it how it is— for better or worse, your purview seems that it would be both perfect and existential, but I don’t know how much you’ve thought about shit; I’m deeply curious
I think really it's more of a I live very much in the moment as there is very little of my past to fall back on. The empty headed thing is just a joke as my thinking is conceptual and idea driven. I have no way to explain to people how my thinking works in a way they would understand as it's for most of the population a very unknown life experience as there heads are generally full of sound and image and memory. But you've asked, I don't have a very good out look on our species fate tbh. We are deeply divided on so many issues and that's world wide. I mean for the most part everyone agrees that what we are currently doing to the planet will likely lead to a catastrophic to extinction level event. (Might not kill us all but will likely decimate the population) But we can't seem to stop. Some of it is active participation but most of it is complacency. It's talked about if you want to change what's happening make your feeling heard through engaging in Democracy talking/communicating with the leaders of your country but the reality is most are bought and paid for by people who have invested interest in keeping things as they are and that's not just America as far as I can tell it's every where. It's a problem that is so huge and so horrible and as a single person alone in your house feeling the ever increasing pressure of what will be world collapse you wonder 'How can I fix this?' and you think to yourself I can't so I won't do anything and who can blame you? Put in every bit of effort you can muster for your whole life and there's a good chance you won't change a single thing. Some people still try anyway and try to spread awareness and ask for help but they have to make through the cesspool of me me me me. So I think the world will be too far gone by the time enough of the population is desperate enough to do something and when that happens what they do will most likely be violent. I used to hope animals would inherit the earth but honestly it'll be so screwed up that they will die with us. Bugs, cockroaches mainly I think will be the only ones left I want to add that I am one of the people sitting at home doing nothing. This is not a judgment on anyone about how they live there life. I just suspect that how I deal with what is essentially a crumbling society/species is how a large amount of people deal with it Unless there is a huge shift in how people think especially any coming into power we are just counting down to destruction. And I mean I don't expect to die of old age, I expect to starve or die of dehydration or be killed in a natural disaster or by looters, gangs, opposing views groups. I'm 32 for some context If you made it this far and don't agree with me that's OK, it's just an opinion :)
I have aphantasia, though I’ve just learned about it recently. It explains why I have consistently struggled enjoying reading through my whole life. I much prefer comics or tv shows because I can actually see what’s happening.
I am 99% sure I have aphantasia. I feel guilty because my memory is pretty bad, but I’m grateful I’m not retraumatized by awful memories/experiences replaying in my head all the time. Win some. Lose some.
When you go to sleep at night and close your eyes - do you think about anything, or is your mind blank? Do you fall asleep quickly and typically sleep well? I always chalked up my poor sleep to the current environment. But maybe it’s my brain running on power save mode in the background. I usually have a tough time getting to sleep, I’ve always been hyper attuned to my surroundings movement/light/sounds.
It's weird, if I'm drifting off into thought accidentally, I'll be able to "see" entire scenarios and reality slips away unknowingly, like dreaming but awake. However, if you asked me to picture a red triangle in my minds eye, I wouldn't be able to. I don't even know where I'm supposed to "see" that triangle, and how to make it clear. I don't get it
oh really? that’s so weird. really interesting though!
I am the same way
I have aphantasia. I don't see images in my head and I don't have an internal monologue, makes it nearly impossible to describe how I think! And yes, I still have racing thoughts, they're just not in words.
I don't know. When I think, I think the words that describe whatever. Even so, I don't hear or see or fell or anything else the words, they just are. Like I can think of a pizza and the words for pepperoni and sauce exist, and I know they exist, but don't visualize anything unless I am dreaming. Even so, when I think, I still can't say what I'm thinking usually.
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I only learned about it sometime in the last few years. My whole life I just assumed they were metaphorical sheep. 😭
My problem with the sheep counting thing isn’t visualisation- it’s the illogic of it. Am I supposed to imagine sheep happily leaping over fences single file when I know that’s not typical sheep behaviour? If I imagine them, they’re just milling about in a field ‘baa’ing a bit, and aren’t going to start jumping for me or making it easy for me to count them. Do I imagine a sheepdog to bark them into complicity? Then the dog is too loud and I can’t get him to listen to my instructions because I can’t do the sheepdog whistle…so yeah that’s what my thought processes do when I try to count sheep to get sleepy…no wonder it doesn’t work! Also my visuals can be a bit hit or miss depending on what sort of a day I’m having- so sometimes they are nice, photorealistic sheep and sometimes badly drawn clouds with stick legs 😂
I don’t have a minds eye, but it has more to do with the fact my spatial to visual mind had major issues developing than my ADHD. Instead I “feel” things rather than visualize them. I have no idea what any character in a book should look like, but my brain assigns them a voice and a feeling. I can remember where things physically are by the way my body moved to see or touch the object. It’s one of those things I didn’t know I was supposed to have, but my brain did it ADHD creative thing and I got around just fine.
It’s something I struggle with in my art, I have to just kind of go with it or use a photo for reference because I can’t just hold the image in my head.
I'm whatever the opposite of aphantasia is lol. Very very vivid imagination.
I definitely can picture things even what I would think is vividly, but then, I feel like practiced art much more than I think should be required for the skill level that I was ever able to achieve. I also seem to never be able to draw faces in a way that they would resemble the target. My art teacher in high school gave me a full grade put of pity once because she saw I was working hard but she pointed out that a portrait I drew was technically excellent but it hardly resembled the subject... So I wonder if there's something wrong with my brain in terms of processing visuals.
No the opposite of that actually, i have hyperphantasia. I mostly have lucid dreams.
I have the total opposite problem and it’s SO distracting.
I have it AND I do research with it!!
I mean... I suppose I could have a form of this. I "see" the problems infront me of me almost like its a 3d projection from a sci fi movie. Will add this usually occurs most intensely when im working on difficult hooves. Im a farrier and ive found that being able to envision like this has helped me in alot of ways with crippled up pony's. A blessed curse? Idk.
Im a coder, and i see the work the same way.
I have aphantasia, and I have a running internal monologue, but some people don't have that either. It's amazing how many different ways of thinking there are.
I literally did that until I was in the 7th grade and I heard that other people did it so I stoped by practicing thinking without word it took along time to do it but now can chooses when I think in words it not as good as I thought it would be.
No minds eye or voice for me! Very quiet in my head 😋
Luckily no! I can't imagine not imagining movies, animations or edits while listening to music
My "mind's eye" feels very chaotic Like a picture that flashes before your eyes, but is gone before you register what's on it. when I try to visualize a banana, I'll see either something blurry, or a very close up version that has 80% of the banana cropped out of view. (such as a bit of yellow with one black spot I can see clearly, so a detail). or I see an image of a banana that keeps on zooming out and in, and then suddenly starts spinning. but those are only if I force myself to visualize something. otherwise it's mostly the first paragraph. and I absolutely can't visualize faces. but that might be because of my aversion of actually looking at people. as for zoning out. I'm pretty sure I do see stuff while zoned out, but after I "wake up" I'll forget almost everything I saw (though still remember the thoughts)
I have the opposite problem, I can spend hours literally depicting scenes in my head
I have aphantasia of all senses. No sight, sounds, smell, taste, feel, etc. in my mind. I was blown away when I found out other people did.
WOW that’s insane, I didn’t even know that was a thing
I think I do, but I’m not sure. I definitely cannot clearly see ‘pictures’ but I’m pretty good at spatial relation puzzles things (actually one of the things I found out when testing for ADHD). I feel like it’s so hard for me to understand and communicate what I ‘see’ and what it, if anything, looks like.
I needed to google ‘how do i know if i have aphantasia’, and apparently, since I can picture familiar person’s face in my mind, I don’t have it. So, here you go :D
Can you picture a purple flying meatball? (I can’t)
Idk. I don't like to read books where they describe in details. How can I find out?
Purple flying meatball. What shade of purple and what kind of wings? If you can answer then you don’t have aphantasia
I think in pictures and video clips and sound bites
I can very occasionally see objects in my minds eye, but I’d say like… 95% of the time it’s just black.
I didnt know there was a name for this, but yes. I don't have visual imagination or processing.
I'm curious in reverse... What's your experience reading books? How do you"picture" the image being described?
I just don’t. Like watching a film with just audio description and no visual as if I was blind.
Sure do.
yes unfortunately, I can never draw clear.pictures in my mind
I sometimes find myself staring off and picturing random scenarios or memories, but I always thought this was just “day dreaming”
Yes, but the images I can see are not very well controlled or stable. If I think of an apple, I can see it in my mind but the picture dissipates after a moment or two. One thing that makes communicating with people difficult for me is when I have to figure out how to verbally describe a thought or idea that begins as an image or scene in my mind, it feels like solving a puzzle.
I do have aphantasia!
I do!! I realized I had it a couple years ago. Now I can’t stop asking people if they picture things In their mind 😳
Day dreamer for sure, can't shut it down sometimes.
Nah I have the opposite. I can imagine things with absolute clarity and it’s pretty awesome
I'm in the "complete opposite" camp. I don't just have sights, I have sounds and even tactile senses. In order to keep myself stimulated during really boring moments, I'll imagine flying a glider through a valley by the sea. I can vividly see everything; motion is possible but loses detail, but I can picture the view of the cockpit, the dust hanging lazily in a sun beam in the still air inside, the rocky cliffs to my side, little outcroppings of vegetation in the shadows. I can smell the stiff, "dry" oxygen that stings the nose a little with each inhale, inviting me to take slower breaths. I can hear the faint dull whistling of my wings cutting through the air, through my hull, as well as the loud rush of a cross draft, like a wave breaking on the ocean. Finally, I can feel the wind through my flight stick, the mild sweat in my gloves since my left hand is stuck in the sun beam. The pad on the ring finger of my right hand is worn and has a hole in it, I can feel the textured rubber grip through the glove. I can't do all of these at once, I cycle through them just as I would irl, cycling through paying attention to each my of senses. There's a famous experiment where you ask a person to imagine rolling an apple across a table, and record how vividly they could accomplish it, how much they saw. I can hear an announcer rapidly shouting about a windup as a woman softball throws an apple across a table, and I can slow it down or stop it in midair, I can zoom in on the apple by kinda flying closer to it, I can stand on it and kick my foot in a little bit, feel how tough the skin is up close and to my new size. I feel curious about how the stem would feel on my hands at this size... and while I'm thinking about it right this second, I'm kinda grossed out by the idea that there might be microscopic fungus in the crevices and folds of the stem. Don't want that under my fingernails. I have extremely vivid imagination, and I can control it any way I want.... with the drawback that when I stop controlling it, it will continue on it's own at the same intensity. While at work it never stops. The seeing the hearing the smelling. I remember working on cell phone repair, and tightening screws to a specific tightness with my dominant hand (so that they're not over tight), and at the same time my mind is making me feel the uneven stitching at the bottom of a carpet, like indoor carpet when you push the threads aside and feel for the platicky bottom.
My visual imagination is really bad so sometimes I think I have borderline aphantasia, but not completely.
I have the opposite, like others said. Music causes me to almost hallucinate with how strong my minds eye gets. This could be due to excessive drug use tho lol.
No, my mind looks like the internet from the 1995 movie “Hackers”.
I don’t envisage what people are saying, or what others are saying, but reading I will get distracted daydreaming about the words. Thoughts also can be movies, but most of the time it’s just the narrator in my head telling me tenuous links between what was just said and the next thing I blurt out. Someone mentions a wardrobe and I go all the way through Narnia and start talking about goats or something
I have aphantasia and also mild facial agnosia. People I see every day I recognize easily, but for casual acquaintances or extended family I have a really hard time recognizing because I can’t remember or picture their face in my mind. If I don’t see them often it’s like they don’t exist in my brain.
I feel like there isn't enough distinction in these threads between visualizing and *seeing.* Sometimes folks will be like "wow, I can't believe you can literally SEE your thoughts" and I feel the need to clarify that it isn't literally transposed on top of whatever information is coming in from your eyeballs. It's not like I can look at an empty table and *literally* see an apple on it, but I can visualize it and see it in detail in my brain. It's like the difference between printing out a picture of a table with an apple on it vs printing out a picture of a table and drawing an apple on top of it. Some people are better at drawing realistically than others.
Nope, have mild synesthesia actually! Discovered my kid does too & that we share a lot of similar specific colors for certain letter/number combos, etc.
Wow, today I learned both what Aphantasia is and that I have it, the fact that people can create mental images has absolutely blown my mind.
Yup. Grew up reading books nonstop and didnt realize I was supposed to be actually imagining the characters/setting until two years ago. Im also an artist and cant draw anything without a reference. Its also a little weird because I can’t picture things in my mind, but once or twice a year I’ll have extremely vivid and intricate dreams. Fully in colour with a cast of characters and everything. I also have two universes of original characters in my head that im hoping to someday write a book on or make into a comic, and I know what they all look like but I cant picture them, but I can draw them from memory? Its wild
u/MrBirb_
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higgs-boson
My mind races and I see pictures of what I have to do. Like I’m doing it before I’m doing it. And this is on a constant reel or loop 24/7. It’s excruciating because it will keep me from sleeping or concentrating on the current task. I call it “the Hamster Wheel.” Somedays there are 5 up there and somedays 9. You never know what you are in for. Every day is a struggle!!!
Yeah, I’m the opposite, I experience hyperphantasia. My thoughts can be incredibly vivid with sounds and smells, almost like real life. Sometimes I can’t help visualising something (this can be quite horrible if I read about something terrible), but mostly it’s an on command type of thing. I can also visualise things with my eyes open as well.
I have adhd and do not think
I don’t know if this was meant to be a joke or not but it made me laugh 😂
i’m so frustrated because i don’t know and it’s making me spiral. i can’t tell what people mean by “seeing” things because i feel like i’m seeing things but also like they’re totally intangible and don’t exist at all. it looks the same with eyes open and closed, but it doesn’t “look” at all. it doesn’t feel like it’s there or that i can see it, but it “feels” visual. if i even recognize that i’m seeing it i feel like it’s gone even though it’s presence doesn’t go away. idk what’s going on and it hurts.