About Aphantasia Network
We’re a community for people with little or no mental imagery. We explain the research in plain words, help people find each other and invite them to take part in studies.
How it started
- 2011
Tom Ebeyer finds out that most people can see pictures in their minds.
- 2014
He finds the neurologist Adam Zeman’s paper about MX, a man who lost his imagery, and contacts Zeman.
- 2015
Zeman and colleagues name aphantasia from the accounts of 21 people. Tom is one of them. He later founds Aphantasia Network with Jennifer McDougall.
- 2021
Aphantasia Network organizes and hosts the Extreme Imagination conference, bringing researchers and people with aphantasia together.
- Today
More than 99,000 people have accounts, and our surveys have collected more than 1.52 million responses.
“Once aphantasia had a name, I founded the Aphantasia Network. My goal was to bring this topic out of academic papers and into the light and to connect with others who share this experience.”
Tom Ebeyer, founderRead You are not furniture, Tom on what a viral post got wrong about aphantasia.
What we do
Plain answers
The beginner’s guide, answers to common questions, and more than 110 articles and stories.
A community
Anyone can read the discussions, and a free account lets you post. Members meet online every month and hear from researchers in live talks.
Research
Studies anyone can take part in, and a library of more than 320 papers. Researchers recruit people through us, and survey data collected here has gone into published research.
For professionals
Courses for therapists and teachers, and a directory of practitioners.
How we work
We show our sources
We say where each finding comes from and what it can’t tell you.
No ads, no data sales
Our memberships, courses and services pay for the site. We don’t run ads and we don’t sell data.
A difference to understand
We treat aphantasia as a difference to understand, not a problem to fix. It can still be hard: in one study, about a third of people with aphantasia reported real distress, so we point to help as well as answers.
In the press
Aphantasia Network has been featured in:
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
- BBC
- Forbes
- The Guardian
- The New Yorker
- National Geographic
- CBC
- Vice
Get in touch
For press, research partnerships or anything else, write to us.
Image-Free Insights
A short note from our founder, Tom Ebeyer, every other week, plus occasional news and invitations to take part in studies. Change what you get from any email.