Study finds that aphantasic individuals report decreased imagery in other sensory domains, although not all report a complete lack of multi-sensory imagery. They also report less vivid and phenomenologically rich autobiographical memories and imagined future scenarios, as well as fewer dreams.
The strength of a person’s mental imagery is linked to the excitability of different brain regions. Exactly how this network controls the strength of visual imagery remains unknown.
Neuropsychological data from an architect (PL518) who lost his ability for visual imagery following a bilateral posterior cerebral artery (PCA) stroke.
Online study of aphantasics (n=63) and controls required participants to draw real-world scenes from memory. Study found those without visual imagery show deficits in object but not spatial memory.
Tom Ebeyer doesn’t have a mind’s eye, and for the first 20 years of his life he didn’t even know that others did! This radio documentary explores the beginning discovery of aphanatsia through Tom’s journey, and the weaving connection to Professor Adam Zeman, who coined the word.
Insights into the neural mechanisms that underlie visual imagery, how imagery can be objectively and reliably measured, and how it affects general cognition.
Study of aphantasics (n=22) is designed to test how image-based thoughts might amplify emotion. Participants read a series of fictitious fearful scenarios while their skin conductance level (SCL) was continuously recorded.
Oscar-winner Glen Keane, who illustrated Ariel from The Little Mermaid, has no visual imagery. Keane is among the ~3% of the population with aphantasia, a little-known condition leaving them without mental imagery.
Researchers used fMRI to examine brain activation while participants looked at, or later imagined, famous faces and famous buildings. Group comparison revealed low-vividness group activated a more widespread set of brain regions while visualizing than the high-vividness group.
Study using binocular rivalry and self-rated object and spatial imagery (VVIQ, SUIS and OSIQ) finds people with aphantasia show almost no imagery-based rivalry priming. Findings suggest aphantasia is a condition involving a lack of sensory and phenomenal imagery and not a lack of metacognition.
