Discover the World of Aphantasia

Can You Picture This?

Imagine a world where up to 4% of people can't create mental images. That's the reality of aphantasia, a fascinating variation in human cognition discovered in 2015. Aphantasia Network is your hub for understanding, exploring, and embracing life without a mind's eye.

Joining Aphantasia Network has changed my life! I really thought aphantasia was holding me back, but now I understand that image-free thinking is my superpower.

Liana M Scott

Empowering Minds, Building Connections, & Embracing Possibilities.

New here? Get started

What is Aphantasia?

Do I Have Aphantasia?

I Want to Learn More

Research Library

Read Articles & Stories

Join the Discussions

Watch Videos

Find Support

Latest Aphantasia Activity

Charlotte Engelke

2025-06-10 04:36:56

Aphantasia & Design – Looking for Guest Speaker (Paid)

Hi everyone!
I’m a product design student at the AMD Academy of Fashion and Design in Hamburg, currently taking part in the Innovationlab module. I´m working on a project that focus on the topic Aphantasia to help people by imagination.

I’m looking for someone with Aphantasia w

Digvijay Naruka

2025-06-04 08:42:06

Acquired Hypohantasia: My “Shadow Visualization” and Atlantis‐Style Imagery

The Accident That Changed Everything

I am 17 years old, and I have acquired hypohantasia. To explain my condition, I need to go back to that iniquitous day when I was five years old. It was a splendid rainy afternoon. My family and some neighbors were out enjoying the weather

I’m an Author With Aphantasia: You, Too, Have the Power to Do Anything You Set Your Mind To

For years, I thought something was wrong with me. While others “pictured” scenes in their minds, I saw nothing. I couldn’t visualize characters or settings, and it left me feeling disconnected—until I learned I had aphantasia.

on 2025-06-03 06:00:00

2025-05-26 23:44:16

No mind's eye? What about a mind's nose?

Hello! I'm new here. My name is Sam, and I'm an artist with aphantasia. I did not understand this about myself until a couple years ago, and always thought the language of visualization was metaphorical. I've always been an artist, crafting, drawing, painting, sculpting, any visual me

2025-05-20 13:55:01

Aphantasia and eye contact

I am in my 80's and only a few years ago discovered aphantasia. After getting over the idea that "the Mind's Eye" is more than a poetic metaphor and realizing that my near total lack of visual images was unusual, I became fascinated by the relationship to memory, my biographical

Diverse Minds: Exploring Individual Differences in Visual Imagery and Special Cases

DeKock, K. (2025). Diverse minds: Exploring individual differences in visual imagery and special cases. The Confluence, 4(1). doi:10.62608/2150-2633.1069

This study explores the wide range of human experiences with visual imagery—from no imagery at all (aphantasia) to extremely vivid imagery (hyperphantasia). Visual imagery refers to the ability to picture things in the “mind’s eye,” and while most people can do this to some degree, the intensity varies greatly. Researchers examined how mental imagery connects to memory, learning, creativity, and emotion. People with hyperphantasia often have highly detailed mental pictures that can enhance creativity but may also increase emotional sensitivity or distress, especially when recalling negative experiences. On the other end, individuals with aphantasia tend to rely more on logic and facts than mental pictures. This can make emotional recall or visualization-based learning more difficult, but many adapt well and excel in fields like science or math. To study these differences, researchers used self-report questionnaires (where participants describe their own imagery experiences) and performance tasks. While self-reporting has limitations, it remains one of the best tools available for now. The study also highlighted that personality, gender, and brain structure might all play a role in how vivid someone's imagery is. Understanding these individual differences helps researchers, educators, and clinicians better support people across the imagery spectrum. The paper calls for more research, especially on hyperphantasia and the “in-between” experiences, to better understand how our inner worlds shape our outer lives.

True Range of Imagery

Mental imagery through the lens of aphantasia

Scholz, C. O. (2025). Mental imagery through the lens of aphantasia. Mind & Language. doi:10.1111/mila.12560

A debate has emerged in aphantasia research: could people who can't consciously visualize actually have "unconscious" mental imagery happening in their brains? Philosopher Bence Nanay proposed this possibility, suggesting that aphantasics might still generate visual representations without being aware of them. To test this theory, researchers used brain imaging technology to observe the minds of people with aphantasia and typical visualizers during imagery tasks. They looked for "shared representations"—matching brain patterns between imagination and actual seeing. In typical visualizers, these patterns overlapped significantly, like two puzzle pieces fitting together. However, in people with aphantasia, the brain patterns were completely different between seeing and imagining, even though their brains were still active during imagery attempts. The research also explored whether aphantasics might have unconscious imagery triggered by sounds or other senses. While some brain activity occurred, it didn’t show the same signature patterns as conscious visual processing. Interestingly, when researchers tested the Stroop effect (where reading color words interferes with naming ink colors), people with aphantasia showed a reduced effect, supporting the idea that mental imagery normally plays a role in this task. The conclusion challenges Nanay’s theory: people with aphantasia don’t appear to have unconscious visual imagery. Instead, they likely use entirely different cognitive strategies, such as verbal or spatial reasoning, to accomplish tasks that others solve through mental pictures.

The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination - A Conversation with Dr. Adam Zeman

In this conversation, Adam Zeman discusses his book on a new science of imagination and how the discovery of aphantasia reveals the diversity of human consciousness, challenging our existing understanding of imagination.

Interoception, insula, and agency: a predictive coding account of aphantasia

Silvanto, J. (2025). Interoception, insula, and agency: a predictive coding account of aphantasia. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1564251. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1564251

Researchers have proposed a new explanation for aphantasia—the inability to voluntarily create mental images—suggesting it may result from how our brain processes internal bodily signals (called interoception) through a brain region called the insula. The theory has two key components: individuals with aphantasia may struggle to integrate bodily sensations with mental processes, which normally gives imagery its "embodied" quality, and they may experience reduced "sense of agency" over generating mental images. Using a "predictive coding" framework, researchers suggest our brain normally creates mental imagery through top-down predictions from higher brain regions to sensory areas, but in aphantasia, these predictions don't receive enough amplification due to reduced precision of interoceptive signals, preventing imagery from reaching conscious awareness. Interestingly, many people with aphantasia can still experience visual dreams, suggesting the issue isn't with visual processing itself but with voluntary image creation, and the theory also explains why people with aphantasia often have difficulties integrating information across different senses.

2025-05-06 07:53:20

i cant memorize anything, but i can create 15 different dimentions with their own unique.

i have never in my life succeeded at exams, it might cuz of the Hyperphantasia mixed with ADHD, and a dash of personality disorder.

now what im asking please someone tell me how to succeed i dont want to fail theres alot of bulidings i have yet to design and bulid.
the only t

2025-05-02 11:23:41

foveated thinking

Human vision is "foveated". This means we only have high visual acuity in a tiny portion of our field of view, with really crappy acuity just a few degrees off of our line of sight. The reason we don't perceive the world as fuzzy in the periphery is that we constantly scan our &quot

2025-05-01 15:00:10

imagining your own face vs. other people's faces

I'm aphantasic. So like probably most of you, if I'm to recall the face of a loved one or someone I know well, I can't "see" them (don't even really know what that would mean) but I could describe them. Like I could sit down with a police sketch artist and guide them th

The Phenomenology of Offline Perception: Multisensory Profiles of Voluntary Mental Imagery and Dream Imagery

Bilzer, M., & Monzel, M. (2025). The phenomenology of offline perception: Multisensory profiles of voluntary mental imagery and dream imagery. Vision (Basel, Switzerland), 9(2), 37. doi:10.3390/vision9020037

This recent study by Bilzer and Monzel investigates the relationship between voluntary mental imagery and dream imagery as forms of "offline perception." Surveying 226 participants, researchers found these systems operate distinctly yet share neural connections. Dream imagery featured more vivid emotional and visual content due to dreams' immersive nature, while voluntary imagery was richer in auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile experiences, likely from greater conscious control. People with frequent dream recall or lucid dreaming experiences showed stronger connections between these systems, suggesting metacognition creates bridges between otherwise separate networks. Notably for the aphantasia community, the study mentions that while about 26% of aphantasics report complete absence of multisensory imagery while awake, many still experience dream imagery, though less frequently and vividly than others. This supports the understanding that voluntary imagery and dream imagery rely on different neural mechanisms—a distinction particularly evident in the aphantasic experience.

buchibabu bojja

2025-04-20 20:35:00

Do we have any study on is breath pattern between aphantasia and non aphantasia person?

Hi fellow fighters,

First tell me about my self, My name is Buchibabu. Last year i found my self having aphantasia. I always struggled to get events/ images in my mind and found i have aphantasia.

From last more than year, i am practicing mediation where i have to foc

Aphantasia reimagined

Phillips, I. (2025). Aphantasia reimagined. Nous (Detroit, Mich.). doi:10.1111/nous.12551

In this research paper, philosopher and cognitive scientist Ian Phillips offers a new perspective on aphantasia—the inability to visualize in the mind’s eye—that helps explain a long-standing puzzle: why do people who report no mental imagery still perform normally on tasks that seem to require it? Phillips argues that the confusion stems from a flawed assumption that all mental imagery can be measured along a single scale of vividness. Instead, he introduces a key distinction between two types of imagery: *visual-object imagery* (the ability to picture detailed scenes, colors, or shapes) and *spatial imagery* (the ability to mentally manipulate objects or understand spatial layouts). While people with aphantasia often lack visual-object imagery, many retain strong spatial imagery, which supports their performance on tasks like mental rotation or memory for object placement—even if they don’t consciously “see” anything. Because standard questionnaires focus narrowly on visual vividness, they miss this preserved ability. By recognizing these different forms of imagery, Phillips proposes that aphantasia is not a total absence of mental imagery but a varied set of imagery differences, similar to how perception itself can be selectively impaired. This more nuanced understanding better captures the diversity of aphantasic experience and calls for improved tools that reflect the full range of our inner worlds.

2025-04-16 09:36:38

Aphantasia and being a strong shoulder

I hypothesise that having aphantasia helps with helping others in emotionally challenging situations. I experience that people around me struggle to hear, for example, a detailed story about sexual abuse; it is simply too intense for them to even hear about it from a victim. So, I was wondering if m

Maureen OConnell

2025-04-15 02:25:57

My Take

Yep I'm neurodivergent, quadruple fold. I'm dyslexic, I have SDAM, Aphantasia and most likely ADHD. I'm not broken, I'm different; I like to think of myself as evolved. This is my life. I live in the moment (hours, days, up to about 3 months). There is no past for me (personally,

Accepting Neurodiversity: The Authentic Path to Inclusion

I used to think of myself as part of the “norm”—someone who wasn’t different. But over time, I began to realize that my dyslexia, my aphantasia, the way I process and express ideas, all pointed to a different kind of mind. Not broken. Not less. Just different. And in embracing that difference, I stopped seeing it as a deficit and started seeing it as a strength. It changed how I teach, how I connect with others, and most importantly, how I see myself.

Bryn Williams-Jones

on 2025-04-14 13:49:04

2025-04-09 13:36:00

Aphantasia & EMDR

Does anyone have any experience with EMDR treatment? I'm interested in how effective it can be for us Aphants since much of the practice involves visualization.
When I do a Google search, I don't find any related articles, however, their AI chat bot mentions that
&quot