![]() I had already heard of aphantasia then, but the encounter solidified my information and answered some of my questions. Rather than thinking, “I’m going to do the dishes,” she envisioned herself washing the dishes. What she was about to do, she visualized herself doing those things. I had a random conversation with a friend in high school who asked, “Do you think in words or images?” I quickly answered that I thought in words, but I was baffled when she told me that her sister vividly thought in images. I never understood the appeal of reading fictional novels when one could not envision the scenario in one’s mind, and I had always preferred movies. Things such as “daydreaming” or “counting sheep” didn’t ever make sense to me. I used to believe that “imagining” was a figure of speech and that no one could truly visualize. I never knew that aphantasia was something I had until my teens from the media. No matter how hard I tried to make something from “imagination,” all I could accomplish were vague or distorted forms of people, places, or things based on inferences and slight memorization of the shapes. ![]() They seemed to create masterpieces out of thin air while I fumbled to find enough photo references to begin my artwork. Before I knew that my lack of mental imaging wasn’t common and my assumption from birth that everyone processed the world the same way I did, I was blown away by the artistic abilities that the people around me possessed. While I don’t believe that aphantasia is necessarily a disability, there have been many occasions where I was frustrated at my incompetence, especially as an artist, when creating works for class or myself. I can’t visualize or “see” anything in my mind. The name “aphantasia” came from the Greek words “a” meaning “without” and “phantasia” meaning “imagination.” Scientists have yet to figure out what causes aphantasia, but with the use of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans, researchers have found that people with aphantasia use different regions of the brain when processing or recalling information and use different brain patterns when asked to form mental images. ![]() The study coining the phenomenon by Adam Zeman in 2015 reignited interest. Galton published the 1880 paper explaining that people have variations in the vividness of imagination and noting that some people can’t visualize at all. However, there has been more interest and an increasing number of studies on aphantasia. Aphantasia has really only been studied recently and continues to be poorly understood. There is currently no known way to cure it.Īphantasia was first discovered in 1880 by Francis Galton however, it has been relatively understudied and little was known about the phenomenon. Scientists aren’t entirely sure whether aphantasia is caused by genetics or one’s environmental factors such as trauma and how it can affect one’s thinking process. This ability to create mental images occurs on a spectrum with some having strong abilities to visualize while others not being able to at all. While scientists aren’t sure of the causes of this phenomenon, people born with aphantasia are otherwise healthy. This cortex is important for processing visual information from the eyes. Aphantasia happens when the brain’s visual cortex doesn’t work properly. Most people with aphantasia have it from birth, and rarely does it result from a stroke or head injury.
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