Adrianna TanMay 8, 2024

On aphantasia:

“I dream, but not in pictures”

“I can write entire articles, documents, or conference talks in my head while out for a run. It’s usually quicker for me to create content in this way than sit at a computer and think about it. I can come in from a run and type out 2,000 words, transferring what I’ve written in my head to the document.”

First time I’ve heard how I experience the world described in words! Also why I take photos.

https://rachelandrew.co.uk/archives/2024/04/21/on-having-no-visual-memory/

#Aphantsia

On having no visual memory – Rachel Andrew

Show threadAdrianna Tan
It was a shock to me to have recently found out that when people say ‘imagine.. in your mind’s eye’ that weren’t they being metaphorical. That it’s literal and people do ‘see things’ in their minds. I see only black. Maybe a tunnel of light if I try very, very hard.
May 8, 2024 at 2:50pmWeb
Show threadThommyMay 8, 2024
@skinnylatte a friend of mine who has aphantasia described his experience with that as thinking that people who say that are being dishonest. Until he realized that he has aphantasia and most people don't. I guess my equivalent to that is thinking that having verbalized thoughts is a weird thing that happens in fictions not realizing that most people actually think that way.
Show threadkiwiMay 8, 2024
@skinnylatte I feel so seen (but not literally)
Show threadJPMay 8, 2024
@skinnylatte there’s a study at Edinburgh (and somewhere else soon? Saw a mail pass by) about aphantasia things. Want a link?
Show threadAdrianna TanMay 8, 2024
@froztbyte yup!
Show threadJPMay 8, 2024

@skinnylatte paper: https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(24)00034-2?

Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/apr/20/like-a-film-in-my-mind-hyperphantasia-and-the-quest-to-understand-vivid-imaginations

Happened to run into it a couple years ago, because I have a weird variant of it myself

Show threadAdrianna TanMay 8, 2024
@froztbyte thank you!
Show threadCallum McleodMay 8, 2024
@skinnylatte me too - I realised it a few years ago, it’s quite confusing to a lot of people!
Show threadglasspshrMay 8, 2024

@skinnylatte wow. I'm the other way. I see and manipulate things in my mind. Everybody's different!

I'm surprised to hear you say this because you crush it with photography!

Show threadJust another rakyat 🇲🇾May 9, 2024
@skinnylatte That… sounds like some kind of alien intelligence to me. It’s like landing on a different planet with a highly advanced civilization and learn that the way they think is different.
Show threadIsaac FreemanMay 9, 2024
@skinnylatte I'm still not entirely convinced that this is true. I mean, I go along with it because I don't want to be rude, but it seems highly implausible that people remember whole pictures of things like their brains are hard drives.
Show threadAdrianna TanMay 9, 2024
@isaacfreeman people on the other end, with hyperaphantasia, report being disappointed by movie adaptations of their fave books because the imagination felt much more vivid. I don’t understand! (I just read about that)