Solidly 5 (no visual dreams either or much of any sense memory in general) and I thought “picture this” and similar sayings or instruction was figure of speech until aphantasia as a word became popular…less than a decade ago? idk I learned of it during covid I think.
I’m like a 2. I can picture an apple, it has color and texture, but when I try to rotate it the colors don’t really work, like I don’t know what’s on the other side. Same thing with picturing a rubix cube. I can imagine seeing maybe 2 or 3 faces of the cube and I know how rotations/moves work but when I visualize it the new faces are just colorless.
If I try really really hard I might be able to visualize colors on the new face but the colors definitely wouldn’t be consistent on each side of the rubix cube.
A complete 5 for both me and my partner, but her daughter has 1 to the point of “watching movies in her head” when she’s bored. Her uncle is the exact same way, at least as a child.
Full on 5. Maybe a 4 if I try really hard. But I still have a “big imagination”, I just can’t see it in my mind.
It varies based on context and how much thought I put into it. I might just think apples and not image them if its just a place holder but if Im thinking more about apples or like a scene in a book is engaging then the apple will be there in the visualization but how detailed it is is going to be based on its importance in whatever the thing is. I would have to be really trying to visualize the perfect apple to get a high detail one in my head. I used to read a lot and I feel like I visualized a lot more then but now that I am consuming media that just has the thing its like im not working out the muscle.
- No pics in my brain at all. Also have Anendophasia (no inner voice).
I dream but it fucks me up. Same system my brain uses for reality stuff. Takes time to sort out if not fantastical. I still don’t see anything. Just remember like I do other stuff without pictures. It so disconcerting that I have smoked cannabis every night since I was 13 before bed to suppress the dreams even though they surface from time to time, at least then I know they are dreams.
how does no inner voice work? like do you have thoughts but don’t feel like you can “hear” then very well? idk if this makes sense
Not sure if I can answer that as I have never had a voice in my head ever. I have no reference unfortunately. It’s the single biggest question I have for myself. How do I have thoughts with no pictures and no inner voice but still think of stuff without hearing anything. I have no clue.
oh i have the same thing then :p
Welcome to the 3% club. Maybe less if you have both I assume.
I am also left handed. I wonder if that’s related as well.
Oh wow, I’d never considered what dreaming would be like for someone with that condition. So you fall asleep, and then you get flooded with bizarre fake memories?
Yup, not flooded though luckily. Cannabis suppresses the dreams and sometimes they burble to the surface during waking hours which makes it easier to sort them out.
Somewhere between 3 and 5? I don’t know.
Picture a line diagram of an apple, annotated with average dimensions, weight, taste, smell, possible colours, patterns, and whatnot, all cross-referenced to lists of apple varieties, recipes, and other random information about apples.
Now remove the diagram, and leave only the information. No, not as text, or spoken words, just as raw information.
That’s the one, whichever number it is.
(This doesn’t mean I couldn’t draw you an apple, mind, the necessary information is still all there — I mean, I can’t, but because my hand eye coordination sucks, not because of the aphantasia; give me a vector drawing software I’m familiar with and I’d probably be able to draw you a pretty cromulent apple.)
I think I’m a 4, but I could be 5 and coping. I can’t decide whether I’m imagining an apple or imagining that I’m imagining an apple.
I have hyperphantasia, according to some crappy online test I took a few months ago.
It certainly has its advantages, like it occasionally combines with my relatively good memory for moments of photographic memory.
But it can also be somewhat depressing at times, like other people get excited to visit some castle or whatever and I’m just like “I’ve seen a castle before, I can just look at it in my head for the most part”, which makes such trips significantly less interesting…1 i can make a 3d model with full detail color reflections and picture it at any angle
Saaame. It’s neat to be able to do. On the flip side though, I have ludicrously vivid dreams, and I can feel all senses (especially pain) in my dreams.
i have very vivid dreqms to but i dont feel pain and dont need glasses etc
Hmm. I’m not sure I can imagine in color.
Needs the giver
Between a 4 and a 5. I also have no inner monologue, just thoughts in the form of impulses and instincts
Do you find yourself talking out loud yourself more because of that?
Maybe you mean anendophasia? Aphantasia is someone who either can’t or find it hard to imagine. I have anendophasia and have little or no inner monologue. Unlike those with inner monologues, I tend to imagine what I will do instead of speaking in my mind what I will do.
4-5 typically.
So I’m a 1, except for faces. Does anyone else get this?
If its a face I know, then it’s a 2. But if I’m reading or listening to fiction, faces are more like a 4. Everything else appears in vivid detail when described - clothes, surroundings, etc. - I can even conjure tastes and smells, but I really have difficulty holding onto a face in my mind. It’s made me appreciate fan art.
Faces are processed differently by our visual system. There is a condition called prosopagnosia or face blindness which affects about 2.5% of the population. I wonder if there are milder forms that are not as well known or studied.
Oh I’m awful with faces. If I see someone I know outside of the context in which I know them I won’t recognize them. Like running into a coworker at the grocery store I won’t realize who they are unless they come speak to me and then it takes a second to click.
I have dyspraxia and my facial recognition is utterly shite
I am also a 1 on this scale. I can remember faces I’m familiar with pretty vividly, and what happens when reading books is I picture people, probably actors, I’ve seen before. It’s not impossible that I’ll re-cast them as I go. An example: In the Blood of Kerensky trilogy of Battletech novels, the character of Dierdre Lear is sometimes played by Tia Carrere, and sometimes by Lexa Doig.
2 when I don’t think about it, 1 with some effort.
