Well I have Aphantasia but I didn’t know until I was 33. I now go around asking people the traditional questions for discovering it.
“Imagine an apple, what colour is that apple? Does it have blemishes? Can you change the color of the apple? Did me mentioning blemishes change them?” and I’ve met a few that didn’t know.
I don’t think anyone ever really quized me on this, I don’t think most people with aphantasia lie if really asked, they just assume that “imagine in your head” is the black void of words in our imagination.
Theres a big difference between aphantasia and those without a interrior dialogue. Answering some of the questions asked in the L1 news, I can recognize visual things when they are infront of me, like my mothers face, but I can’t imagine an image of her. Almost all my mind is just words, I can describe all the words I associate with visual things.
I suck at art but there are people with aphantasia that are good at painting, in a way that I struggle to understand. Drawing for me is a set of rules about shapes, words on a page that have patterns to draw.
It really doesn’t impact much in your life, I wonder if it gives me a different perspective on photos and past sexual experiences. Its been documented that people with aphantasia are able to move on from loved ones passing quicker, that makes me sad to think about.
One really crazy part is that its actually only voluntary image recall thats usually the problem, and that I have visual dreams, and just as I’m going to sleep and just as I’m waking up I can experience it for a few seconds. People have self reported that LSD/DMT might be able to fix it but I’ve always been to nervous to try something that has studied dramatic permanent effects after one dose. Fix one thing, break 10 others…
The real reason that pupil shape test is such big news is that it’s the first repeatable test other than the unreliable method of asking a person if they have it and trusting them.
Presumably, you are not the only one who had not realised there is a different way our wet squishy brains can work.
I guess you would have heard things in the past, but just not dwelled on them, but did it strike you as odd to see people recalling specific images, like with sketch artists and stuff, before you knew you had aphantasia?
Or, did you know you were wired differently, without knowing the term?
I apologise if asking is rude, please just say so, but it’s interesting…
just a little bit… You do the awesome music videos, don’t you? hmm, my bad, I got confused with a different person, @ HEXcellerate and don’t I feel like a right charlie now.
To me it seemed very rare that an artist could paint something without looking at it and that they would be the weird ones. When I think of an artist sketching a person or landscape, they are staring at that thing. I assumed people recalled images the same way I did, in words. Its really hard to tell the difference between the two abilities from the outside, given the only output is words and drawing, which both can be done by both groups.
This news is a out the first medical diagnosis, there was no previous method for official diagnosis. Before that it was self realization only. It fell into the psychological category of, what does red look like to you?
Thanks for sharing something personal like this. I’ve heard of the phenomenon, but never had an opportunity to communicate with someone effected.
I’d like to ask a few questions, feel free to ignore if you don’t want to answer.
Can you enjoy fantasy or science fiction novels or audio-books that feature stories about things that don’t exist in real life? Can you imagine a huge space battle with alien ships, lasers firing and explosions, etc? For me, when reading/listening to a story, I usually visually imagine an amazing scene, better than most of what I might see in a movie. I only like non-real-world stories, I think reading about contemporary life is boring, I enjoy reading the ideas of how a great author describes something, and imagining it. How do you find fiction in novels / audio-books?
Did you have trouble in early years of school? Were you misdiagnosed with learning difficulties, or did you find some fields hard to do the work?
I’ll discuss LSD here. I don’'t want to cause trouble, so I hope putting it under a spoiler is okay.
On LSD, the idea that it can fry your mind in a single trip is not realistic. The important thing is to be with a few friends, at least two who have tried it before, and to choose a comfy location, like a garden on a Summers day. The concept of a ‘bad trip’ is dramatically over stated, I’ve probably witnessed people tripping in 100s maybe 1000s trips total (maybe 100-200 occasions, 5-15 people each time), and I’ve seen only a single case of a bad time (they took double the advised dose their first time). I won’t suggest you try it, that up to you, but I think I’d do lots of research on people experience with it and your condition. Don’t be too afraid of the ant-drug propaganda.
On DMT however, that I do not recommend. That drug should be reserved for experienced “psychonauts.”
I’m not a big reader, much prefer film, I have read a few tom clancy books as an adult and enjoyed them. My memories are words, so I imagine that reading might not be as fun in the moment, but I still end up with the same memories. I havent read if thats typical.
I don’t think it will fry your mind, but I think the science research done so far does confirm that a single trip is permanently mind altering. That seems pretty high risk to me.
No, even after finding out, in retrospect, other than maybe art class I can’t imagine life being much different.
Since we’re here I’ll add to the prudent drug warnings by throwing in some concerning stuff I’ve come across with shrooms while making some research rounds on some legal/illegal/research chemicals:
Large enough psilocybin intake (think heavy tripping levels) can rarely cause seizures in some people, violent (sometimes deadly) outbursts. Even more rarely but worse can cause a lasting psychosis that results in living in a nightmare, because rather than destroying the bad things holding a person back, the good things were broken instead. This results in month or years of anxiety or the complete absence of joy. Examples can be provided later if anyone would like.
Both of these phenomena are poorly researched and those with strong emotional/ego investment in psychoactive substances are generally loathe to recognize bad outcomes, and prone to gas lighting (“your wrong, those shakes aren’t seizures those are just you body releasing deep trauma”).
Anyone curious about such things needs to do do research and assume that the worst outcomes are going to be far from the first thing that comes up. And if you have schizophrenia or a personality disorder stay the fuck away.
Sometimes I wonder if people with aphantasia can adjust better to being physically blind? I feel like my world would come completely crashing down if i go blind. Have you guys read if having aphantasia makes a person more survivable if you suddenly become blind?
I’ve heard that the brain is a very neurologically parasitic: we acquired the ability to dream and “see” in our dreams as a means to protect ourselves from losing the ability to “see”. People who go blind rapidly adapts because the brain will hijack the brain wiring of “seeing” to enhance all the other senses.
I wonder if people with aphantasia is sort of in between the process “losing” sight.
My new younger wife bought me this balloon last fall, sat it by my side of the bed, and wanted to surprise me. To her surprise though, and eventually mine, I was unable to see Mickey, when walking in the room, walking around to her side of the bed, then my side, and even after checking the water in the vase of flowers on the night stand right under him. She thought I was joking but I never even knew it was in the room, despite her standing there looking at it and telling me we should go to Disney Land. Eventually she gave up, and went into the bathroom, so I laid down on the bed, I was looking up and all of a sudden Mickey sort of materialized out of nowhere, magically, as if someone had pulled a curtain back, and I was so shocked I kinda yelled out “HOW DID THIS GET HERE???”. I went to see a neurologist and she said it could have been a tiny seizure, and I think I am actually seeing people and objects smaller and larger then they actually are, including myself, which could be AIW Syndrome…Alice In Wonderland Syndrome or Todd’s Syndrome. I was in a car accident that almost killed me about 12 years ago, my head went through the windshield and required staples, I punctured my lung, and broke my spine in 3 places. Life is full of strange things, I grew up in an old house with little mouses running around…haha, and I could see them really well even at night in the dark from across the room. I did read online, I may not have seen Mickey because I had been telling myself for weeks that she did not care about me and would never buy me anything much. When I checked the water in the vase, I could “feel” something there, but was not able to see it or register it.
