Some people can't see mental images
Some people lack the ability to form voluntary mental images – a condition called aphantasia – and others experience extremely vivid “mind’s eye” imagery, raising questions about how differently human brains can represent the same world. Commenters compare tests like the “apple scale,” internal monologue, dreams, music in the head, and other senses to tease apart genuine absence of imagery from differences in language and introspection, while pointing to brain‑imaging studies that show measurable neural differences. The thread also explores how aphantasia relates to memory, emotion, creativity, and problem‑solving, with many noting it often goes unnoticed, can coexist with strong spatial or analytical skills, and may be one of several distinct variations in how people think.
Range of Inner Experiences
- Commenters report the full spectrum: from “complete darkness” (no voluntary images at all) to hyper-detailed scenes where they can rotate objects, see reflections, even “project” images over real vision.
- Many aphantasic commenters say they nonetheless “know” what things look like and can draw, navigate, or recognize faces, but without any felt inner picture.
- Others describe hazy, low‑resolution or fragmentary imagery that only sharpens when carefully attended to, suggesting a continuum rather than a strict on/off trait.
Dreams, Hypnagogia, and Other Senses
- Several with aphantasia report vivid, movie‑like dreams or hypnagogic imagery, contrasting sharply with their waking inability to visualize.
- Some can strongly imagine sounds, music, or tactile sensations but not visuals; others have vivid taste or smell imagery (e.g., “tasting” a dish while planning cooking).
- A few report the reverse: strong visual imagery but almost no internal sound or smell.
Internal Monologue and Non‑Visual Thinking
- Internal monologue appears largely independent: some aphantasics have constant, detailed inner speech; others report none and think in abstract “graphs”, spatial relationships, or wordless “vibes”.
- Nonvisual thinkers describe solving spatial or engineering problems via an abstract sense of structure, constraints or “vector-like” relations, not pictures.
Testing, Evidence, and Skepticism
- Popular self‑tests include the “apple scale” (1–5 vividness), the “ball on a table” scenario, and follow‑up questions about color, size, or background details.
- Some argue many people misunderstand these prompts and that differences may be mostly semantic; others point to brain‑imaging and drawing‑based studies showing systematic differences in visual cortex activation and object memory.
- One commenter is strongly skeptical of all introspective reports, citing work on the unreliability of self‑description; others counter with acquired aphantasia cases (pre/post surgery or illness) as strong evidence of a real change.
Memory, Emotion, and Everyday Consequences
- Several note overlap with severely deficient autobiographical memory (SDAM): they recall events as facts or narratives, not relived scenes, and often can’t re‑evoke original emotions unless they reconstruct the story step by step.
- Others say aphantasia hasn’t felt like a disability: they discovered it late in life, function well in careers like software or engineering, and may even be less prone to intrusive flashbacks or distraction.
- Reading experiences vary: some aphantasics skip descriptive passages or find films more compelling; others enjoy fiction but experience characters/places as concepts rather than visuals.
Plasticity, Training, and Open Questions
- A few report partial gains in visualization via practices like drawing from memory, chess “board vision,” flame‑afterimage exercises, meditation, psychedelics, or focused dream journaling.
- Others with lifelong or acquired aphantasia say attempts at training yield, at best, fleeting blobs or outlines, suggesting limits to plasticity.
- Open debates remain about how much these differences affect learning, creativity, math and art, and to what extent they can or should be deliberately modified.