I recently got told that people are actually able to visualise images in their head, something which I cannot do, which brought me to the condition of Aphantasia.
Why is this something that I cannot do?
In: 31
As with many things, it is a matter of degrees. I have family members who report rather vivid mental imagery, but for me (and several others in my family) I find my ‘imagination’ (emphasis on the shared root with ‘image’) to work more by feel/”knowing” than by sight.
Think of the difference between someone designing in AutoCAD with basic line drawings, parameters, descriptions of materials etc. vs. a brilliant 3D render complete with textures and animations. I am overly analytical, and this is much less fun, but I find it more practical.
I feel like there’s a thick curtain between the parts of my brain that process imagery from external senses and the parts responsible for trying to ‘envision’ a scene. Sometimes, however, it can be broken… particularly at the threshold of sleep. Also, intense meditation.
edit: For me, it’s like the connections are there, but my conscious mind is denied access to them.
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