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kushnerha

Aphantasia: A life without mental images - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/health-34039054

aphantasia bbc mental images brain science research

shared by kushnerha on 08 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Most people can readily conjure images inside their head - known as their mind's eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images.
  • Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are "terrible", but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with aphantasia, he struggles to recognise faces.Yet he does not see aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life.
  • "When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, she's brunette."But I'm not describing an image I am looking at, I'm remembering features about her, that's the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret."The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: "You're weird."
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • One person who took part in a study into aphantasia said he had started to feel "isolated" and "alone" after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being "extremely distraught".
  • Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, wants to compare the lives and experiences of people with aphantasia and its polar-opposite hyperphantasia.His team, based at the University of Exeter, coined the term aphantasia this year
  • How we imagine is clearly very subjective - one person's vivid scene could be another's grainy picture.But Prof Zeman is certain that aphantasia is real. People often report being able to dream in pictures, and there have been reported cases of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury. He is adamant that aphantasia is "not a disorder" and says it may affect up to one in 50 people.
ardenganse

Living With Aphantasia, the Inability to Make Mental Images - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...aphantasia-mental-images.html

shared by ardenganse on 17 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Many educators believe visualization is key to reading comprehension since it allows readers to organize information in their minds, make inferences, and remember content more effectively.
  • Aphantasia is not a monolithic condition. People who believe they have aphantasia, known as aphants, debate in online groups about whether it should be deemed a disability. Some who are just finding out about their condition in their 50s or 60s say they never felt hindered, while others believe they failed courses in school because of it.
    • ardenganse
      ardenganse on 17 Jan 21
       
      It's interesting how people have different experiences with Aphantasia.
  • Not being able to visualize means never picturing the faces of family or close friends and remembering images as abstract information.
    • ardenganse
      ardenganse on 17 Jan 21
       
      We don't tend to realize how essential this is to our lives, whether or not our memories are actually reliable.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • It might be while reminiscing about the past and realizing they’re having a different experience with memory than their friends or family.
  • Ultimately, aphantasia is just one of the many ways that people’s brains and learning styles are different.
  • When I close my eyes, all I see is faint blue dots and darkness, and for 19 years, I assumed that’s what everyone else saw too.
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