How have you learned to describe aphantasia?
1 min readByTom Ebeyer
Describing aphantasia is no easy task, especially considering the fact that the phenomenon exists entirely in the privacy of our own minds.
I like to use the example "think of a horse" when describing aphantasia. You can read more about my approach here or check out my "Think of a Horse" episode on CBC Radio. Others use the red star or red apple examples.
How do you explain aphantasia to people? Share your version—whether it's 'like a blank screen,' 'blind mind's eye,' or something we've never heard before. Drop your best description below.
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Faylene Roth•recently
When asked to think of the apple, I think about what I know about an apple. Round but not perfectly round. Some slightly elongated with a few indents around the top. I think of a single leaf, but I have rarely seen that leaf in place; it's just a classic apple image.
When I explain my aphantasia, I say that I experience a flood of information tumbling in at one point in my brain, letting me know that I know what an apple is. I know that I have seen an apple and that I know what an apple looks like and in that knowing and remembering I don't have any regrets about not re-seeing the apple. It's not how I perceive or have ever perceived my memories.
It's interesting that you mentioned the crunch and the sweetness. I think my recollection of all my senses are aphantasic--smell, hearing, touch. So, you'd have to ask me about those characteristics specifically.
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Keith Inscho•recently
No, not at all. And I read about other people, and I am sure I have it, but mine is a bit different, but I don't know how to explain it exactly. I can't 'picture' tastes, or smells, only whether or not they were pleasant.I can bring up pictures, in my minds eye, but they are fleeting. I can't hold an image, nor can I really pull up an image of something specific, like a particular year of mustang. When I think of a mustang I get a flash of a late 60's model.When I try and picture something a picture pops up, then fades almost immediately. if I concentrate I can hold it for a millisecond or tow then other pictures, or fog or swirly colors or whatever cover it, kind of like looking at a film when it melts.I think I dream fine with pictures and everything. Some very vivid.When I close my eyes to sleep I either get nothing but black (not ready to sleep) or a black background with a darker black (blue, purple) 'cloud that comes from the outer ring to the center every few seconds (reminds me of Star trek when they shoot a 'cloud' of something at another ship) Or a radar sweep circling around a dark background with slightly lighter area behind the sweep.Even though both foreground and background are dark, the moving part is even darker and makes the other part seem bright!
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