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Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

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Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#31

Post by UniZero »

blakeross wrote: post #2

I'm the author of this post, happy to answer any questions. About me: I was formerly a director of product at FB and a founder of Firefox. My YC startup became FB's first acquisition. I'm focusing more on creative writing these days (wrote the Silicon Valley spec script and the Theranos parody that have come up on HN a few times.) Aphantasia was a pretty weird discovery for me given this new focus.

Do you think you'll ever learn how to imagine things now that you are aware of the possibility?

I often wonder whether the imagination can be improved like a muscle since I have trouble holding mental image outside brief flashes. I'm not sure if you can relate, but trying to picture something in my mind often feels as though I'm trying to recall the fleeting details of a dream; the harder I try the more foggy it becomes.

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#32

Post by kaffeemitsahne »

As someone without a mind's eye it's hard to imagine how much this "visualization" resembles normal vision. I remember from reading up on this earlier that some people can even superimpose things on an empty sheet of paper, or in the air. That would almost seem like a hallucination to me.

Key quote from the article IMO: "I thought “counting sheep” was a metaphor." I've always thought the same way about daydreaming, only a few years ago did I realize it's actually something more precise than just 'not paying attention'.

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#33

Post by blakeross »

UniZero wrote: post #31
blakeross wrote: post #2

I'm the author of this post, happy to answer any questions. About me: I was formerly a director of product at FB and a founder of Firefox. My YC startup became FB's first acquisition. I'm focusing more on creative writing these days (wrote the Silicon Valley spec script and the Theranos parody that have come up on HN a few times.) Aphantasia was a pretty weird discovery for me given this new focus.

Do you think you'll ever learn how to imagine things now that you are aware of the possibility? I often wonder whether the imagination can be improved like a muscle since I have trouble holding mental image outside brief flashes. I'm not sure if you can relate, but trying to picture something in my mind often feels as though I'm trying to recall the fleeting details of a dream; the harder I try the more foggy it beco…

I'd like to. I just don't know how I'd even begin. It's like telling me to start working out my third arm.

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#34

Post by UniZero »

codingdave wrote: post #18
blakeross wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really?! That is fascinating to me. I am 100% language on the inside.

That begs another question - if you are doing something althletic (or even soemthing simple like driving a car), do you develop "muscle memory" the same as other people, or do you need to actually think through each motion you perform?

There was a study done a while back that looked at whether people could improve at video games by imagining themselves playing. IIRC the participants who imagined practicing showed a comparable amount of improvement in contrast to those who actually played. Can't find the link unfortunately.

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#35

Post by philipov »

kaffeemitsahne wrote: post #32

As someone without a mind's eye it's hard to imagine how much this "visualization" resembles normal vision. I remember from reading up on this earlier that some people can even superimpose things on an empty sheet of paper, or in the air. That would almost seem like a hallucination to me. Key quote from the article IMO: " I thought “counting sheep” was a metaphor. " I've always thought the same way about daydreaming,…

The resemblance is no coincidence. The difference between the mind's eye and hallucination is awareness and control. Pathology is the experience of having a normally functional system backfire against you in some way.

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#36

Post by kaffeemitsahne »

blakeross wrote: post #33
UniZero wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think you'll ever learn how to imagine things now that you are aware of the possibility? I often wonder whether the imagination can be improved like a muscle since I have trouble holding mental image outside brief flashes. I'm not sure if you can relate, but trying to picture something in my mind often feels as though I'm trying to recall the fleeting details of a dream; the harder I try the more foggy it beco…

I'd like to. I just don't know how I'd even begin. It's like telling me to start working out my third arm.

You'll find this relatable, then

http://lesswrong.com/lw/gq6/visual_mental_imagery_training/

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#37

Post by UniZero »

blakeross wrote: post #33
UniZero wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think you'll ever learn how to imagine things now that you are aware of the possibility? I often wonder whether the imagination can be improved like a muscle since I have trouble holding mental image outside brief flashes. I'm not sure if you can relate, but trying to picture something in my mind often feels as though I'm trying to recall the fleeting details of a dream; the harder I try the more foggy it beco…

I'd like to. I just don't know how I'd even begin. It's like telling me to start working out my third arm.

Thanks for the response and article. I can only imagine how difficult that would be.

I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but there is a memorization technique called "Art of Memory" you can read about here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_memory. I think you'll find it particularly interesting since it explains how to process/form mental images in a very thorough & systematic way. It's all about enhancing memory by thinking about information in a visually, and contains examples of how to visualize different types of information.

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#38

Post by cabirum »

kaffeemitsahne wrote: post #32

As someone without a mind's eye it's hard to imagine how much this "visualization" resembles normal vision. I remember from reading up on this earlier that some people can even superimpose things on an empty sheet of paper, or in the air. That would almost seem like a hallucination to me. Key quote from the article IMO: " I thought “counting sheep” was a metaphor. " I've always thought the same way about daydreaming,…

Normal vision is your display, "mind's eye" is offscreen rendering/renderbuffer(s). Length, resolution, color depth, scene complexity varies by person. Not a part of your normal vision, just a readable/writable visual information in your brain. Can be overlaid into real world with some effort sometimes.

This topic is fascinating, what else some people have that others don't.

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#39

Post by [deleted] »

blakeross wrote: post #2

I'm the author of this post, happy to answer any questions. About me: I was formerly a director of product at FB and a founder of Firefox. My YC startup became FB's first acquisition. I'm focusing more on creative writing these days (wrote the Silicon Valley spec script and the Theranos parody that have come up on HN a few times.) Aphantasia was a pretty weird discovery for me given this new focus.

[deleted]

Re: Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind

#40

Post by [deleted] »

[deleted] wrote: post #39
blakeross wrote: post #2

I'm the author of this post, happy to answer any questions. About me: I was formerly a director of product at FB and a founder of Firefox. My YC startup became FB's first acquisition. I'm focusing more on creative writing these days (wrote the Silicon Valley spec script and the Theranos parody that have come up on HN a few times.) Aphantasia was a pretty weird discovery for me given this new focus.

[deleted]

[deleted]
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