#aphantasia — Public Fediverse posts

Struggling to make a clay creature because of #aphantasia. Wanted a model hippo or dinosaur to provide the 3D visuals.

On walk today, bits in a box left out for free. At the bottom was this!

@minego How does it work in your case? Is your brain bringing the song up all the time? Can you hear the music even when it's not playing in a device (I'm fishing here for #Aphantasia but for sounds)?

One of the interesting things about #aphantasia is: things like content warnings and spoilers are just intellectual ideas to me.

I genuinely have no idea why people need them / don’t want them. (I mean I understand, but I don’t understand it for myself). You can tell me anything and I can’t ’see it’ in my head. At all

This cracks me up 😆
A dear friend has recently "acquired" #aphantasia after health and burn out related stuff, she knows I have it and now messages me about it with funny insights.
She was almost ecstatic about "now I know how you think without imagery" and how it's weird when you think of something "and it's just FILE_NOT_FOUND with an explanation" and then added this:

image of a green apple

Action–intention binding coupling reveals agency architecture and breaks down in #aphantasia https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/kdcqb_v1 On mental imagery and internally generated predictive cycles

Some weird phenomenon I encountered regarding visual imagery. It's difficult for me to form and retain mental imagery, however, I found that I get very vivid imagery briefly between blinks when viewing a bright light source. I wonder if I can build some sort of shutter system that can continuously drive this effect

#vision #aphantasia

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@skinnylatte/116438177637134938

People are always fascinated when I tell them I have no images in my head. Not even in my dreams! #aphantasia

A cortical hierarchical mechanism for subjective visual experience during working memory https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.08.717338v1 On mental imagery, #aphantasia; "the cortical hierarchy from IPS to EVC is critical for conscious mental visualization of memory content during WM maintenance"; #neuroscience

Apparently the mind's eye is working by re-using for recollection the neurons primarily used for sight. But what does it reveal on the causes of #aphantasia? Do we have any clue? https://nautil.us/the-biological-basis-of-imagination-1279716

#Aphantasia: I don’t see images in my head. Can training give me a mind’s eye? | New Scientist

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2520604-i-dont-see-images-in-my-head-can-training-give-me-a-minds-eye/

Investigating mental simulation during sentence comprehension in #aphantasia https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028393226000898

Oh honey, if you're having problems explaining how you want a multi-dimensional matrix of information to be 'presented', just imagine how little I understand it when I can't visualise anything you're describing. #aphantasia

So, I don't know how much this could be attributed to the British Medical Journal suffering from enshittification, but their recent article on the mind's eye (phantasia) started out with a well-known fallacy. Not a great sign for the publication.

https://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj.s411.short

To be clear, phantasia is about *wakeful* mental imagery. Plenty of people with #aphantasia have visual dreams. It's a fascinating topic if you want to give it some attention. The New Yorker recently put out a great piece 🧠

Lesions causing #aphantasia are connected to the fusiform imagery node https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010945226000377

#Aphantasia and visual working memory: No direct evidence of impaired visual working memory in aphantasics, either in behavioral performance or the accuracy of a multivoxel pattern classifier https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002839322600076X

What is #aphantasia? A conceptual articulation and empirical evaluation https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028393226000771 "Four hypotheses accounting for reports of absent mental imagery are presented."

I have #aphantasia so I can’t visualize my cat, who I miss, but I can ‘feel’ the missing weight of her 15 pounds on my chest, and I still expect to be screamed at every morning when I open my eyes.

#Cats

Audio long read: Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00626-5 "People with #aphantasia are offering brain scientists a window into consciousness."

I first saw the word “aphantasia” about a decade ago, and it was clear to me that it’s one of my mental traits, though I did still have questions about some things I can do. This new article sums up the current research and has more specifics about the variations.

#aphantasia

1/2

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/many-people-dont-see-mental-images-the-reason-offers-clues-to-consciousness/

Writing a post for my blog about making art as someone who has aphantasia. If you don’t know, aphantasia is the inability to visualize images in your mind. You can learn more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia

Have a question about what it’s like making art as an aphantasic? Leave it as a reply 👇🏻 I’ll try to address it in my post!

#art #digitalart #artistsonmastodon #aphantasia

I can remember facts from my past, but I can't actually experience those memories again.

It's like having a bullet-point list of what happened, without the emotional and video replay.

This realisation feels important (to me), even if it took me a while to notice.

It continues my understanding of my neurodivergence that started with realising I had aphantasia, through a diagnosis for ADHD with a surprise autism side-dish to this point.

#SDAM #Aphantasia #Neurodiversity #AuDHD

2/2

I did some reading about Aphantasia and associated neurodifferences. One of the documents had a clearer description of Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (SDAM) than I’d seen before.

I realise, several years after I first considered the possibility, that I probably have SDAM. I previously discounted the possibility because the name seemed dramatic. The phrase 'Severely Deficient' suggests a total lack of memory, and that's not what I have.

#SDAM #Aphantasia #Neurodiversity #AuDHD

1/2

Reading fantasy as a person with no visuals in my brain is an interesting experience

Obviously, I can’t visualize the concepts, but I can’t actually visualize anything at all

#Books #Fantasy #Aphantasia

You may have to get a link to the article, but is is public

"And aphantasia might be more common in people in scientific and technical professions than in people with careers in the arts5.

Zeman and others say that aphantasia doesn’t seem to make much difference to behaviour, and although it might influence creativity, it by no means precludes it. Instead of calling it a disorder or condition, Zeman describes it as an “intriguing variation” — one extreme on a distribution of mental-imagery capabilities."
#Aphantasia #Neurodiversity #MentalImagery
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00311-7

Well, fuck. I just came across a comment on Reddit that makes me think. I've already witnessed some of these things. I don't know that I can be a witness.

"Because I have aphantashia and SDAM, I know these things won't haunt me the same way. Because of this, I feel I have an obligation to witness such things because somebody has to".

#aphantasia #sdam

A friend told me they found their daughter had color–graphemic synesthesia, i.e. letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored. It never came up because the daughter figured that was how everybody saw the world.

Me: Yep. I am an aphant and for a long time figured "close your eyes and imagine an apple" was just a figure of speech.

Anyhow, boring aphants *can* have "photographic memory", it simply displays as redacted, 😃.

#ND #synesthesia #aphantasia #reality

No equation precedes the pain. The body does not model the wound of the Other; it transduces it. No mental simulation is required when the self is not a mirror, but a conductor."

I’ve published a new research paper examining the structural dissociation between empathy, moral valuation, and simulation-based models of social cognition.

Open access on Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17943145
#Empathy
#Aphantasia
#MentalImagery
#CognitiveScience
#PhilosophyOfMind
#Neuroscience

i recently discovered the field of Mad Studies - the study of "mental illness" from the view point of those labeled as mentally ill, drawing attention to the prejudices that underlie most of the "scientific" study of mental "disorders". I read this article

https://imsj.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/imsj/article/view/7389

last night on the way aphantasia - the inability to "see" visual imagery in one's mind - seems to be on a trajectory to be labeled as a disorder and a disability. Since i am aphantastic myself, this caught my attention. Really eye opening to see how something that i think of as perfectly normal and that has never caused any distress or problems in my life is being pathologized by those who consider that their ability to visualize things makes them superior and "normal". Quite alarming even. This trend really needs to be nipped in the bud before it ends up hurting people.

Just now i was thinking more generally about how disability is often created by a society that refuses to accomodate people who are different, like how using a wheelchair is mostly a disability because architects, civil engineers, and others responsible for designing and building public and private infrastructure have to be dragged kicking and screaming into making their constructions wheelchair friendly. Think about buildings with no entrance ramps, no elevators, and narrow halls and doors, something all to common in my new home state.

While thinking about this i starting thinking about other "disabilities", like being deaf, and it occurred to me to wonder if deaf people ever "hear" music in their heads in any fashion. i've never had an opportunity to ask any deaf people about that, but it occurred to me that if they did not have that ability then it wouldn't exactly be a loss to them, would it? And then i wondered if even all hearing people have this ability. i can hear music in my head very easily, but since i can't visualize images in my head, it stands to reason that it's possible there are people in the world who can't hear music in their heads. Are any of you out there like that? Have i been unjustly assuming that everyone can hear mental music?

#Aphantasia #MadStudies #Disability

What if a key feature of your mind—like your inability to visualize—wasn’t a random glitch, but a signature? Not a bug, but an autograph?
https://aneurothymiaspectrum.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-brains-autograph-aphantasia.html #Aphantasia #Amirroring #Visualization #CognitivePsychology

Why I Had to Call It “The Zero Point of Narcissism” To understand the “Zero Point,” you must first understand the edifice it confronts. Kohut’s framework is elegant and powerful. It explains so much about our lifelong hunger for validation, our crushing experiences of narcissistic injury, and our fragile self-esteem. #Amirroring #Aphantasia #DevelopmentalPsychology #Consciousness #Autopoiesis #ZeroPointOfNarcissism https://cristinagherghel.substack.com/p/why-i-had-to-call-it-the-zero-point

What if a foundational piece of developmental psychology is based on a blind spot?
For decades, the field has operated on a core, unchallenged axiom: that every human self is built through the mirror of another's gaze and emotion. But what happens when that mirror is absent from the very beginning—not broken, but never held up? #Amirroring #Aphantasia #DevelopmentalPsychology #Consciousness #Autopoiesis #ZeroPointOfNarcissism https://zenodo.org/records/17857386

Als jemand mit #Aphantasia, heißt, dass ich im Wachzustand keine bildliche Fantasie habe, würde doch gerne mal #Psychedelika wie #DMT, #LSD und #Psilocybin ausprobieren. Mit #Cannabis habe ich, bis auf tiefe philosophische Erlebnisse, leider noch keine rosa Elefanten gesehen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMHJaP7D4_s

Panmodal Aphantasia is not a shield. It is a structural vulnerability that guarantees a divergent form of suffering.
It defies the purpose of a coping mechanism because it amplifies pressure.
It defies the purpose of a defense mechanism because it enforces exposure.
To call #aphantasia an advantage is to mistake the inability to scream for the absence of pain. https://open.substack.com/pub/cristinagherghel/p/the-failed-kiss?r=6bmg7x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false#MentalHealthResearch #SomaticTherapy #CopingMechanisms

Interesting conversation about #Aphantasia on #Metafilter.

As someone with no visuals in my head and no dialogue / voice either, I am always surprised when I learn that people mean 'seeing something with your mind's eye' and 'listening to your inner voice' extremely literally.

https://www.metafilter.com/210969/Some-People-Cant-See-Mental-Images-The-Consequences-Are-Profound

Another thread on #metafilter about #aphantasia and it always surprises me that this is still so new to so many people.

Very interesting article about #aphantasia and #hyperphantasia. I discovered I have aphantasia about two years ago BTW. https://archive.ph/iMdvd#selection-3181.0-3181.628

Some People Can't See Mental Images. The Consequences Are Profound

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/03/some-people-cant-see-mental-images-the-consequences-are-profound

#HackerNews #mentalimagery #cognitivepsychology #aphantasia #neuroscience #awareness

@jmyarlett I don’t know if this will help at all, but I discovered a few years ago that I have #aphantasia – the “lack of a mind’s eye” 🫥

one of the things that often comes along with it (or is a comorbibity) is Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (#SDAM), which means that we don’t seem to lay down very strong “first-person” memories

I guess it’s technically a “deficiency” (depending on context, depending on who you’re talking to), but it also seems to bring strengths with it as well (e.g. traumatic memories may not hang around / be as overwhelming)

I don’t know if it’s the same for you (re: strengths) but I hope so 🤞

Apparently I'm not aphantasic, but hypophantasic, depending on who is measuring (Aphantasy Network is stricter that others).
Hypophantasic, meaning I "experience some visual imagery, but it's less vivid or detailed than average. When you try to picture something, you might see faint or fleeting images." and I'd add, that they're often sort of "CAD-esque", in that defining elements of the memory are sharper. If I know specifics about the thing, it "sharpens" the blurry mental image.

#aphantasia #hypophantasia #memory #mentalimagery

https://aphantasia.com/study/vviq/

https://mementomori.social/@LehtoriTuomo/115286968072422851

@LehtoriTuomo

Your post made me realize a possible cause for my SDAM - aphantasia! Actually I've wondered what SDAM means, since my autobiographical memoiry is pretty much as vivid as my immediate experience - not very vivid! If your real time view of life is a vague snapshot and a few related words, of course your memory of that bit of life will be "deficient".

Does anyone have historical memories that are more detailed than the original experience? Unless they artificially embroider them after the experience is over?

#SDAM
#ActuallyAutistic
#aphantasia

New instance, new intro!
I'm a #GenX hairstylist in the DC suburbs, mom to 2 adult sons and 2 dogs. I #sew, #knit, do #yoga (mostly #kundaliniyoga In 2019-2020, I lost 80lbs and reversed my type 2 diabetes with the #wfpb diet as laid out in the book #ForksOverKnives and I love to cook yummy #veganfood. I've had #ChronicInsomnia since birth, as well as #rls, #AlphaDeltaSleepDisorder, #remSleepBehavioralDisorder. Recently learned that #aphantasia is a thing that I have it and #adhd
Fan of #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #supernatural #wolfpack #StarGate #StargateAtlantis #Hellraiser most of the classic #slashers #foundFootage #hauntedObjects #KoreanHorrorMovies currently obsessed with #KillMeLoveMe
I read mostly urban fantasy #kimHarrison #seananMcguire #PatriciaBriggs
It's been a while since I checked out new authors. If you like those authors, tell me who to check out!

New instance, new intro!
I'm a #GenX hairstylist in the DC suburbs, mom to 2 adult sons and 2 dogs. I #sew, #knit, do #yoga (mostly #kundaliniyoga In 2019-2020, I lost 80lbs and reversed my type 2 diabetes with the #wfpb diet as laid out in the book #ForksOverKnives and I love to cook yummy #veganfood. I've had #ChronicInsomnia since birth, as well as #rls, #AlphaDeltaSleepDisorder, #remSleepBehavioralDisorder. Recently learned that #aphantasia is a thing that I have it and #adhd
Fan of #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #supernatural #wolfpack #StarGate #StargateAtlantis #Hellraiser most of the classic #slashers #foundFootage #hauntedObjects #KoreanHorrorMovies currently obsessed with #KillMeLoveMe
I read mostly urban fantasy #kimHarrison #seananMcguire #PatriciaBriggs
It's been a while since I checked out new authors. If you like those authors, tell me who to check out!

New instance, new intro!
I'm a #GenX hairstylist in the DC suburbs, mom to 2 adult sons and 2 dogs. I #sew, #knit, do #yoga (mostly #kundaliniyoga In 2019-2020, I lost 80lbs and reversed my type 2 diabetes with the #wfpb diet as laid out in the book #ForksOverKnives and I love to cook yummy #veganfood. I've had #ChronicInsomnia since birth, as well as #rls, #AlphaDeltaSleepDisorder, #remSleepBehavioralDisorder. Recently learned that #aphantasia is a thing that I have it and #adhd
Fan of #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #supernatural #wolfpack #StarGate #StargateAtlantis #Hellraiser most of the classic #slashers #foundFootage #hauntedObjects #KoreanHorrorMovies currently obsessed with #KillMeLoveMe
I read mostly urban fantasy #kimHarrison #seananMcguire #PatriciaBriggs
It's been a while since I checked out new authors. If you like those authors, tell me who to check out!

New instance, new intro!
I'm a #GenX hairstylist in the DC suburbs, mom to 2 adult sons and 2 dogs. I #sew, #knit, do #yoga (mostly #kundaliniyoga In 2019-2020, I lost 80lbs and reversed my type 2 diabetes with the #wfpb diet as laid out in the book #ForksOverKnives and I love to cook yummy #veganfood. I've had #ChronicInsomnia since birth, as well as #rls, #AlphaDeltaSleepDisorder, #remSleepBehavioralDisorder. Recently learned that #aphantasia is a thing that I have it and #adhd
Fan of #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #supernatural #wolfpack #StarGate #StargateAtlantis #Hellraiser most of the classic #slashers #foundFootage #hauntedObjects #KoreanHorrorMovies currently obsessed with #KillMeLoveMe
I read mostly urban fantasy #kimHarrison #seananMcguire #PatriciaBriggs
It's been a while since I checked out new authors. If you like those authors, tell me who to check out!

New instance, new intro!
I'm a #GenX hairstylist in the DC suburbs, mom to 2 adult sons and 2 dogs. I #sew, #knit, do #yoga (mostly #kundaliniyoga In 2019-2020, I lost 80lbs and reversed my type 2 diabetes with the #wfpb diet as laid out in the book #ForksOverKnives and I love to cook yummy #veganfood. I've had #ChronicInsomnia since birth, as well as #rls, #AlphaDeltaSleepDisorder, #remSleepBehavioralDisorder. Recently learned that #aphantasia is a thing that I have it and #adhd
Fan of #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #supernatural #wolfpack #StarGate #StargateAtlantis #Hellraiser most of the classic #slashers #foundFootage #hauntedObjects #KoreanHorrorMovies currently obsessed with #KillMeLoveMe
I read mostly urban fantasy #kimHarrison #seananMcguire #PatriciaBriggs
It's been a while since I checked out new authors. If you like those authors, tell me who to check out!

@skinnylatte
Are your internal feelings of direction aligned with compass north and 360° ? My first childhood sense was based on the front of the house I lived in, looking east. When I later learned about north I had to imagine lots of those little "front views" posted like icons in the overall north-based world I could only logically imagine in my head, not "see". Later I was forced to wear weird bifocal #PlusLensTheory glasses, and the little "front view" worlds I lived in expanded to way more than 360° - to bridge the perceived motion as I turned my head to the logical 360° I knew I should see. I suspect this mess contributed to my #aphantasia ...

@skinnylatte
Are your internal feelings of direction aligned with compass north and 360° ? My first childhood sense was based on the front of the house I lived in, looking east. When I later learned about north I had to imagine lots of those little "front views" posted like icons in the overall north-based world I could only logically imagine in my head, not "see". Later I was forced to wear weird bifocal #PlusLensTheory glasses, and the little "front view" worlds I lived in expanded to way more than 360° - to bridge the perceived motion as I turned my head to the logical 360° I knew I should see. I suspect this mess contributed to my #aphantasia ...

@skinnylatte
Are your internal feelings of direction aligned with compass north and 360° ? My first childhood sense was based on the front of the house I lived in, looking east. When I later learned about north I had to imagine lots of those little "front views" posted like icons in the overall north-based world I could only logically imagine in my head, not "see". Later I was forced to wear weird bifocal #PlusLensTheory glasses, and the little "front view" worlds I lived in expanded to way more than 360° - to bridge the perceived motion as I turned my head to the logical 360° I knew I should see. I suspect this mess contributed to my #aphantasia ...

@skinnylatte
Are your internal feelings of direction aligned with compass north and 360° ? My first childhood sense was based on the front of the house I lived in, looking east. When I later learned about north I had to imagine lots of those little "front views" posted like icons in the overall north-based world I could only logically imagine in my head, not "see". Later I was forced to wear weird bifocal #PlusLensTheory glasses, and the little "front view" worlds I lived in expanded to way more than 360° - to bridge the perceived motion as I turned my head to the logical 360° I knew I should see. I suspect this mess contributed to my #aphantasia ...