Aphantasia: How Do People With 'Blind Mind' See Things?

They say your imagination is the limit, but some people cannot do so. Some can't just imagine visual experiences due to a condition called aphantasia.

What Is Aphantasia?

Aphantasia is a feature of certain individuals' mental and imaginative processes. It prevents one from having visual imagination, which is necessary for mental imagery. Many people are unaware of this condition, which is not considered a medical illness.

Aphantasic people, or those with aphantasia, cannot visualize things in their minds. However, it is not a medical condition. In the same way that most people do not consider being left-handed a disability, congenital aphantasia is simply a difference in the way the mind is used. Rarely it develops as a result of disease or trauma in some persons.

The majority of aphantasia sufferers don't have problems as a result; in fact, many of them are unaware that their minds function differently. There are plenty of successful scientists and mathematicians among its ranks. It's also highly prevalent among artists and other creative professions. This implies that you don't have to let aphantasia stop you from seeing and pursuing your life goals.

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How Do People With Aphantasia See Things?

In one article, Derek Arnold and Loren Bouyer, both aphantasics, shared how they view things. According to them, they cannot imagine visual experiences. They added that the condition was often described as "having a blind mind."

For instance, this image is just a jumble of two-dimensional shapes and not a cube for Loren. On the other hand, she can only see a mop in this picture and not a face.

According to the pair, they can't have other fantasies either. So, for them, a person who is aphantasic have a "blind and a deaf mind" or a "blind and tasteless mind.

"Our minds are different. Neither of us can imagine visual experiences, but Derek can imagine audio sensations, and Loren can imagine feelings of touch. We both experience thoughts as a different set of "inner languages," they wrote.

"Deep aphantasia" is a term that characterizes individuals such as Loren, who experience abnormal sensations of real visual inputs and are incapable of imagining sensory experiences.

Loren and Derek decided to share their experiences to raise awareness of the possibility that some aphantasics, like Loren, may have peculiar encounters with real visual stimuli. If they can identify these individuals and examine their brains, they might be able to comprehend why some people can summon imagined sensory sensations at whim while others cannot.

Additionally, they hope that bringing attention to the various experiences people have when they think might promote tolerance toward others who think differently.

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