People who can't picture anything are rewriting the science of imagination

Post by jaggederest » Tue, Sep 15, 2026, 8:53 PM UTC

saltcured wrote: post #295

jaggederest wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drawing? doing math around how many edges are common between the two? I turn it and count, but I could also do it other ways, including exploding it into flat shapes or conceptually understanding the nodes and vertices of the graph, or counting the edges and dividing by two since there are 6 total faces.

I am far along the aphantasia line and have spatial thoughts. They lack visual qualia. I can't directly imagine visual features like color or brightness. It's more like being aware of the spatial positions and structures. Often, but not always, in a volumetric stage reachable by my hands. I too can think of the cube as folded parts, i.e. one forming the top+front+bottom which the problem states are red, and one formi…

Post by dr_hooo » Tue, Sep 15, 2026, 9:48 PM UTC

fatnoah wrote: post #280

culopatin wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can personally watch a movie in my head, eyes open and I’m super not artistic but very engineer oriented. To the point that I realized I should be dropping software for mech eng

I'm the same. As a student, I could vividly picture the page of the book containing the details of whatever problem I was working on. I have close to zero artistic and design ability, but am very strong in engineering and spatial reasoning.

Post by PalmPilotProMax » Wed, Sep 16, 2026, 5:26 AM UTC

jumploops wrote: post #181

sowbug wrote: post #167

I'm aphantasic. I dream normally, seeing all sorts of imagery. I have accidentally had a couple lucid dreams in my lifetime, which got me interested in the methods to trigger them intentionally, all of which have failed. The Wake Back to Bed (WBTB) method has been especially frustrating, because I'll see my usual nothing when my eyes are closed, but then for the very briefest instant I see a dream image that immediat…

I'm also aphantasic and dream normally, and I once got really into lucid dreaming for a ~semester in college. My best successes would occur after drinking a cup of coffee and immediately taking a nap before a study session. It was great, I "learned how to fly" and could "morph" my dream into whichever direction I wanted. One thing stuck out though: whenever I would try and focus on something, I would see a black dot…

Post by bondarchuk » Wed, Sep 16, 2026, 8:45 AM UTC

jjk166 wrote: post #300

bondarchuk wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to know especially what is the perceived difference between normal imagination and hallucination. The way people with mental visualization explain it it sounds basically exactly what I always imagined hallucinations to be like. And e.g. closed-eye visuals on psychedelics. Why is it so special to have closed-eye visuals when most people have closed-eye visuals anyway?

The difference is when you imagine things normally you are aware that you are imagining them and you have full control over them. I can picture an elephant in the room with me, I can change its size or color, I can give it a top hat, and critically I can make it go away at will. If you're hallucinating, it's just there, however it happens to be, and while you might be able to reason that it's more likely a hallucinat…

Post by flippingheck » Wed, Sep 16, 2026, 11:22 AM UTC

jaggederest wrote: post #164

flippingheck wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

80% is still pretty high! Does 80% mean "tastes like a dull chocolate bar, but still basically a chocolate bar", or more like "like a nice chocolate bar but somehow 20% less enjoyable in some looser way"? Perhaps this is why I can't identify the beat in the music.

Like a nice chocolate bar, but echoed - so I can remember what it tastes like enough to want one, but not satisfy the urge to actually have one. Ephemeral, rather than satisfying.