Hi,
I’m new here and only came across the term aphantasia yesterday. I have trouble recognizing people – if I’ve only seen someone once or twice, I often don’t realize I’ve met them before when I see them again. I can completely mix people up because of this, and sometimes it’s uncomfortable. It happened to me again recently, and I talked to my husband about it.
That’s when I realized that I can’t picture faces. But he can. I can’t imagine the face of my daughter as a whole person. I know the details – I can describe the shape of her lips, and I can kind of trace the contours in my mind – but I don’t have a image.
When I close my eyes and try to picture something, all I see is black. I can’t create an image in my mind’s eye. It works a little better with my eyes open – I get a brief flash, like a fleeting impression – but it’s gone immediately. If I try to describe something, I have a sense of spatial positioning and I can mentally trace contours, assign a color, and reconstruct details. But I don’t actually see it as a whole image. I find it really hard to explain.
If I think about my last vacation – the waves, the beach – at first, I get a quick impression, almost like a flash. I know where the waves are, I create a sense of spatial positioning, where I am as the observer, and where everything else is. But if I try to look at the image in my mind, I can’t hold on to it. I can’t truly see it. If I close my eyes, it’s just an impression, not something I can examine. I can’t keep it in place. I wouldn’t even be able to say what colors things have without reasoning it out.
The same happens with sounds. If I try to imagine what a fire truck siren sounds like, or how my husband speaks, or how a rooster crows, I can reconstruct it mentally. My inner voice can try to mimic the siren or the crowing, and I know the pattern of the sounds. But I can’t actually hear it in my head. I don’t know what my husband’s voice sounds like in my mind – Icouldn’t even try to imitate it. A siren or a rooster’s crow is easier because I can reproduce a version of it, but I don’t hear the real sound in my mind.
It’s the same with smells and tastes. I don’t know what cinnamon or a rose smells like just by thinking about it. I also can’t recall how things taste – except for sourness. I can imagine that, because I know how my mouth reacts to it, how everything tightens up. But the actual taste? I don’t feel it.
How do you all experience this? How would you describe your ability – or inability – to see things in your mind?
