My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
nautil.us
My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
1–10 of 53 posts
Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#2Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#3I'm struggling to figure out if my mind's eye "sees" anything, or if I'm just imagining the concept of the item I'm thinking about. If I'm comparing this vision to having a dream, say, it's certainly not visual.
"...there is a simple and helpful test that can give you a clue into whether you may have it: Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple, seeing it mentally in your mind's eye. If you can see anything (anything at all—even a blurry outline), you do not have aphantasia. If you see a void of complete darkness, you might have aphantasia." (https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/aphantasia-test)
When I imagine an apple, I don't see anything that could be considered visual.. I can "see" it, but it's certainly not visual as this suggests.
Anyone here seeing an actual rendering with their eyes closed?
Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#4I'm struggling to figure out if my mind's eye "sees" anything, or if I'm just imagining the concept of the item I'm thinking about. If I'm comparing this vision to having a dream, say, it's certainly not visual. "...there is a simple and helpful test that can give you a clue into whether you may have it: Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple, seeing it mentally in your mind's eye. If you can see anything (anyth…
I've talked extensively to friends about this because I see nothing. I can picture nothing. It's just a void. Interestingly, it hasn't always been this way for me. I remember when I was in elementary and middle school, I could take exams and see the page the answer was on in the textbook in my mind. I'm not sure when or how I lost it, but it's gone. I do sometimes dream in video, though.
For me, most of what happens in my mind is sound. I always "hear" music in my head, though my inner monologue doesn't have a voice. It's more like I just "know" what I'm thinking. I don't hear anything in my head when I read, which allows me to read pretty quickly. I'm not saying that I don't subvocalize or whatever, but if I do it it isn't producing any sounds in my brain.
Some people can apparently picture the scenes they read in books. See the beach, see the characters, etc. I have talked extensively with friends about this stuff and some of them say it's ultra vivid, like watching a movie in their mind. I find that wild. There is an anecdote about Richard Feynman and another scientist or mathematician and how they kept time differently. If I remember, one saw the clock in their mind and the other relied on counting aloud mentally. I'm not sure where I read it, sorry.
Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#5I'm struggling to figure out if my mind's eye "sees" anything, or if I'm just imagining the concept of the item I'm thinking about. If I'm comparing this vision to having a dream, say, it's certainly not visual. "...there is a simple and helpful test that can give you a clue into whether you may have it: Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple, seeing it mentally in your mind's eye. If you can see anything (anyth…
I think I'm with you, but I'm not sure if you're putting too much emphasis on visual.
It certainly doesn't seem to come from the same place as regular vision does, but they do say "mind's eye". I can imagine an apple, and even slice it up, spin it around, pour water on it. It has a colour, and can have any colour.
I always wondered how memories seemed (TFA touches on this but not in detail) to people who claimed to be minds-eye-blind. Can you not put yourself back on that beach when you were in your mid twenties? Can you not remember his/her eyes/hair/smile/etc at all? Isn't it kind of an image?
As an aside, the apple thing is actually slightly easier if I dedicate only part of my attention to it, like casually rotating it while writing this text, than if I close my eyes and focus. But I've been working all day so clear focus in general is hard to attain right now.
Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#6I'm struggling to figure out if my mind's eye "sees" anything, or if I'm just imagining the concept of the item I'm thinking about. If I'm comparing this vision to having a dream, say, it's certainly not visual. "...there is a simple and helpful test that can give you a clue into whether you may have it: Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple, seeing it mentally in your mind's eye. If you can see anything (anyth…
Yes, I see it in the mind but not with my eyes. In a way, all vision is in the mind, but the origin of the image is like a different channel of information. I'm aware of the blackness behind my closed eyelids, but it's easy to let that go, switch focus to a different channel of information. There is a perfect image of an apple in a white space.
Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#7I'm struggling to figure out if my mind's eye "sees" anything, or if I'm just imagining the concept of the item I'm thinking about. If I'm comparing this vision to having a dream, say, it's certainly not visual. "...there is a simple and helpful test that can give you a clue into whether you may have it: Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple, seeing it mentally in your mind's eye. If you can see anything (anyth…
> Anyone here seeing an actual rendering with their eyes closed?
At times. Outside dreams, it's most vivid during hypnagogic states, where anything I try to picture manifests with full clarity.
During regular waking hours, it's much less intense, usually somewhere right in the middle of the various aphantasia tests I've come across. Colors are sometimes there. But I can rotate and examine 3d objects in my mind quite well, and when I'm painting, it's always better when I can paint a subject in my head first. I can also see words and visualize numbers.
Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#8I'm struggling to figure out if my mind's eye "sees" anything, or if I'm just imagining the concept of the item I'm thinking about. If I'm comparing this vision to having a dream, say, it's certainly not visual. "...there is a simple and helpful test that can give you a clue into whether you may have it: Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple, seeing it mentally in your mind's eye. If you can see anything (anyth…
When I try to see an apple, I see absolutely nothing. I can pretend that there is an apple in front of me and that it's spinning or whatever, but all I've really done is remember what attributes I've given it and roughly what size it is.
There are some odd things I've paid attention to since I became aware I had aphantasia and that it was a thing. I know for a fact that my dreams are visual because I've had lucid dreams before and was aware of them being visual and at a higher fidelity than my eyes can normally see. I do see images when I'm almost asleep or not quite awake yet. I've seen some images after meditating for a long while, but I suspect I was just starting to fall asleep. Other than that, eerily enough, the only thing I've been able to see that doesn't involve photons hitting my retinas when completely awake is the ghost of a young woman that shyly watches me from the hallway when I'm sometimes watching TV that I've seen on a few occasions. Make of that what you will because I have no idea what to make of it.
Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#9I'm struggling to figure out if my mind's eye "sees" anything, or if I'm just imagining the concept of the item I'm thinking about. If I'm comparing this vision to having a dream, say, it's certainly not visual. "...there is a simple and helpful test that can give you a clue into whether you may have it: Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple, seeing it mentally in your mind's eye. If you can see anything (anyth…
I think I'm with you, but I'm not sure if you're putting too much emphasis on visual. It certainly doesn't seem to come from the same place as regular vision does, but they do say "mind's eye". I can imagine an apple, and even slice it up, spin it around, pour water on it. It has a colour, and can have any colour. I always wondered how memories seemed (TFA touches on this but not in detail) to people who claimed to b…
When I think of a black and white apple in the context you described, vs. a red or green one, there's a difference. The way you've explained it makes me feel like we're similar, and I'm definitely putting too much emphasis on visual.
My sister, though, said when she thinks of something in her mind it's "blurry like [she doesn't] have glasses on", which sounds highly visual.
I'm wondering if it's more about semantics and a tomato/tomato like thing -- technically anything we visualize is calling up a memory, or at made up of various components from memory.
Re: My Brain Doesn’t Picture Things
#10I'm struggling to figure out if my mind's eye "sees" anything, or if I'm just imagining the concept of the item I'm thinking about. If I'm comparing this vision to having a dream, say, it's certainly not visual. "...there is a simple and helpful test that can give you a clue into whether you may have it: Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple, seeing it mentally in your mind's eye. If you can see anything (anyth…
When I try to see an apple, I see absolutely nothing. I can pretend that there is an apple in front of me and that it's spinning or whatever, but all I've really done is remember what attributes I've given it and roughly what size it is. There are some odd things I've paid attention to since I became aware I had aphantasia and that it was a thing. I know for a fact that my dreams are visual because I've had lucid dre…
Minus the last couple sentences, I would describe things the same way you did in terms of visualizing, and have experienced all those things.
Along the same lines as the young woman you're experiencing, I used to get out of body experiences/sleep paralysis/waking dreams (pick a label) nightly when I was in my 20s, and I would see shadows and outlines of what would seem like energies. That was mostly non-visual and interpretive, which feels more like my minds-eye than a dream.
Not to go off topic, but ever try communicating with the shy woman?