I’ve always wondered what other aphantasiacs experience when they daydream. I can only describe it as listening to an audiobook where every character is voiced, but all sounds, smells, feelings, textures, and tastes are also present. Is it the same for everyone? I know some people are missing other senses like sounds or touch, but is the general premise the same?
I’ve also wonder, do hyperphantasiacs have problems with thinking their daydreams were real?
I daydream constantly but I liken it to one of those text your own adventure computer games that were popular in the early days of computer gaming.
For me though the sensual element you mention is missing completely. I have no recall for any of my senses.
I am able to tune out the rest of the world, even when there are distractions present. People say I am daydreaming, but I do not see any visual images. I don’t hear, smell or taste anything either. Sometimes I can “imagine” tactile feelings, especially a sense of floating or moving around. I think in complete thoughts, but not like you describe. It is more conceptually driven. But when I am asleep I sometimes dream, occasionally quite vividly. Usually these night-time dreams are silent, and flickering wildly like watching a music video switch quickly from scene to scene with the volume turned off. But sometimes I talk to people in my dreams, and they talk back. VERY different from “daydreaming.”
No for me it’s just me reading to myself, i cannot phantom senses of hear someone else’s voice..
As you said it’s like an audiobook but in my case i can’t even sense/imaagine smells and texture or voices, honestly, this is the wrost part of my aphantasia spectrum.
All in all i used to call my daydreaming : ”thinking” or ”distracting”
I’ve been near constantly daydreaming my whole life, and I now have total multi-sensory aphantasia. My daydreams are me manually thinking the characters’ dialogue in my head. There are no images, no sound, no other senses.
When I was younger I would have worlds in my mind, worlds I’d escape to for hours at a time, kinda like the advertisements for virtual reality but better. I was into anime so most the time it was anime worlds but it’s just as easy to create our world…basically like watching TV but better cause you are there. I can’t help but think this way. I didn’t know it was not normal.
As far as senses being present it’s easy to imainge what it would feel/taste/sound/smell like (to the point of mouth watering etc…) but not the same as reality, real and vivid but not physically there…I can think of what it feels like to the point where my body will react but I can’t manifest the physical sensation of what I am thinking
