Aphantasia cure? Boosting visual cortex function and plasticity with acetylcholine

October 1, 20201 min readByCarisa Lolmaugh

So as a self-diagnosed aphantasic I've been wondering whether we might be underestimating the potential for neurotransmitter supplementation to improve our visualization capacity. Since the VVIQ is based on a spectrum ranging from aphantasia to hyperphantasia and pubmed aphantasia studies with EEG have shown that lower resting activity and visual cortex excitability predict stronger sensory imagery, is it possible that Acytelcholine supplementation might be an effective treatment for some percentage of the effected aphantasic population? Here are some articles to consider: Cortical excitability controls the strength of mental imagery: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7200162/ Cellular effects of acetylcholine (ACh) in the primary visual cortex during the processing of visual inputs might induce perceptual learning; i.e., long-term changes in visual perception: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2014.00172/full Curious whether anyone else has explored this train of thought.

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Aphantasia cure? Boosting visual cortex function and plasticity with acetylcholine

October 1, 20201 min readByCarisa Lolmaugh

Curiosity

Aphantasia cure? Boosting visual cortex function and plasticity with acetylcholine

October 1, 20201 min readByCarisa Lolmaugh

Curiosity

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Phedre Parks•recently•edited

I agree with Hans in that your use of the word "cure" might be out of place. I have weighed the pros and cons of being an aphantasiac and the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin. The only possible reason I would give up our condition is for the idea that I might "see God" or feel the "Holy Spirit," because those things might inspire a greater depth of existence. But, I've spent a great deal of time studying many spiritual traditions, and all of them seek to help people let go of their attachments to the past, or fantasies of the future. So, really, they are all trying to be like us, so why on Earth would we want to "cure" ourselves of our condition?

Hans Baeker•recently•edited

Would a "cure" really cure anything?I have noticed that my thought tends to be far more abstract than most people's thought. I don't know if it is or not, but being in math, I wouldn't want to take a chance on losing my apparently enhanced ability to engage in abstract thought.