Eli5 – How does the “inner eye” work?

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I have aphantasia, a mental disorder where I lack all internal visualization. I cannot “picture” things in my mind, I think in words and numbers and such. With this, I am very curious how the mental imagery works for the rest of you. Do you see it separate from your main vision? Does it get interposed? Is it like picture in picture? I’m baffled!

TIA.

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I have an inner monologue and also an “inner eye.” When I see words, I read them (internally) in a voice. It might be my voice, it might be a made up voice, and it might be a specific other voice if the source is well-known (“good news, everyone!”). The best way I can describe it is like a song getting stuck in one’s head – you don’t hear it literally, but your brain is still “listening” to it.

With my mind’s eye, I’ve been told I experience more than others. I can easily picture items, scenes, images in my head as I’m reading or listening to a book, which is why I love reading. I don’t have an eidetic memory, but there have been times when I’ve remembered something only because I could close my eyes and “see” the answer to a question because I had a mental image of looking at something before. Best description there is like… more advanced/detailed muscle memory? It’s completely subconscious and just “there,” like a subsection of my existing senses, so describing exactly what it’s like feels like trying to describe how any of the other senses work or feel. If you try describing what it’s like to smell something to someone with no concept of scent, it’s very difficult (though my favorite book calls it “tasting at range,” which is one way to put it lol).

To give a specific example of how my mind pictures things: I used to work in a bookstore. A customer came up and asked about a particular book that I’d shelved numerous times, but had never read, and I wasn’t familiar with the story. Offhand, I didn’t know who the author was, therefore I didn’t remember where it was shelved, and I was across the store from our computers. I did, however, have a good recollection of the cover. I closed my eyes for a moment, pictured the last time I had looked at the book when placing it on the shelf, and looked down to literally read the author’s name on the cover in my mental image. I was then able to take the customer straight to the book. This has happened to me numerous times, and it’s very helpful. But I don’t always have to have my eyes closed – it’s just easier to see mental images when I don’t have real ones competing for processing in my brain.

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