Close your eyes.
Imagine yourself on a beach. A gentle breeze ruffles your hair while you wiggle your toes in the warm sand. It’s a sunny day, but you can see dark clouds on the horizon. The water was gentle, but the waves are growing ahead of the storm.
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being nothing and 10 being “I might as well be there,” how vivid is the image to you?
My “mind’s eye” is blind.
I’m so far down the scale that I might as well be a 0. There is absolutely no image in my mind, and there never has been for as long as I can remember.
It may sound baffling to you, especially if you are able to produce a vivid image. It’s just as baffling to me that you see anything at all. When I was a child, I thought I simply didn’t understand these exercises. Surely people didn’t actually see that beach. When I figured out people really could see things in their head, I thought I just wasn’t doing it right.
Then I found out about Aphantasia.
People with Aphantasia can’t see anything. They don’t have a visual imagination. Studies are still new, but Aphantasia may affect up to 1 in 50 people (about 2% of the population).
Are there any negative effects?
Well… maybe? Let’s just say I’d be a terrible witness to a crime, because there’s no way I could describe a suspect as anything other than “a white guy with dark hair” or a vehicle as a “black truck.” I literally could not get more specific than that, because I won’t remember visual details.
I’m also terrible with directions.
What do I remember?
I cannot remember visual details, but I can tell you in great detail how I felt in a situation. I also tend to remember stories more accurately than the average person. Ask me anything that doesn’t involve visuals, and I can probably tell you the answer.
Actually, don’t ask me about smells, either. My sense of smell is awful, but I’m pretty sure that’s because I had sinus surgery and more than my fair share of sinus infections as a kid.
What do you think?
Do you think you have Aphantasia? Do you have questions about what it’s like living with it? I’d love to hear from you!