How to visualize things

August 14, 20211 min readByWillow Meadow

Hello, my name is Willow, I'm in my thirties and just yesterday I stumbled across an article about aphantasia, I have never heard of it before. Since everything written in the article sounded quite familiar, I decided to take the test on this site here.

But I just don't get it, wether it's asking to imagine people or sceneries, I know what everything looks like, but I don't know what to expect or better said, what the "normal" way to visualize those things is.

Like I said, I know what the people look like, I can perfectly fine describe the supermarket I'm always buying groceries from in detail but there's absolutely no image popping up.

Now I'm wondering, how is it supposed to be? Are people really able to close their eyes and see people as if their looking at a photo? Like really "seeing" the face and everything? Or is it like me, just knowing what they look like as if they are looking at a photo?

This is really confusing me, I just can't imagine there are people who can see with their eyes closed...

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How to visualize things

August 14, 20211 min readByWillow Meadow

Stories Visualization

Like I said, I know what the people look like, I can perfectly fine describe the supermarket I'm always buying groceries from in detail but there's absolutely no image popping up.

This is really confusing me, I just can't imagine there are people who can see with their eyes closed...

How to visualize things

August 14, 20211 min readByWillow Meadow

Stories Visualization

Like I said, I know what the people look like, I can perfectly fine describe the supermarket I'm always buying groceries from in detail but there's absolutely no image popping up.

This is really confusing me, I just can't imagine there are people who can see with their eyes closed...

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Ravenna McColgan•recently•edited

I'm on the same page as you. I just found out that people actually see things and am shocked. I almost don't believe it. I consider myself as having a very vivid imagination, I can "see" things and imagine whole worlds, but I do this with my eyes open. If I close my eyes, all I ever see is black (and the remininance of shapes/light from the room I'm in). I cannot imagine that people actually see a thing when they close their eyes. I am fascinated by this. I look forward to hearing people's accounts of what/how they see :)

Jennifer McDougall•recently•edited

It's a fair question, Willow! How can we possibly know to what extent our mental pictures are accurate, detailed, vivid if we cannot compare them to someone else’s experience? VVIQ asks you to compare the image in your head with how you know it looks in real life to reconcile this somewhat. In other words, how do the images in your mind's eye compare to seeing with your actual eyes? Or is it, that you see no mental pictures at all and only "know" what something looks like in your mind? We elaborate more on how to evaluate your mind's eye and some of the limitations here.

Donna S•recently•edited

I am also confused about that. any responses?

Christine Caulfield•recently•edited

They can. My boyfriend is an artist and can literally paint from memory - just like painting with a very detailed photo in front of him. It sounds incredible to me but this is the 'normal' way of being apparently. I posted a question about it on facebook some time ago and ... it was just me that couldn't!