Can you draw from imagination?

I am curious about to which extent an inner eye is a necessity for drawing things without a model. What are your experiences? Are you able to draw, say, a cartoon elephant without looking at a model of one?

Learning a musical instrument

I failed as a child to learn the piano. I never could get to the point of getting beyond the technical, and getting pleasure from producing music. I love listening to music, and would love to be able to play an instrument. At 57 I started guitar lessons. Now at 62 I remain unable to […]

How do you do mental math?

I got the feeling that some kind of connection exists. All the mathematical calculations in my head I do only with the help of words. Under such conditions, to correctly copy the 10-digit phone number manually from the monitor onto paper, it takes me at least 19 seconds. Clearly, math is not my forte. But […]

Do you have a physical imagination?

There’s a wide range of ways we can have aphantasia. Some people have total aphantasia, no visual, auditory, olfactory, or motor imagery, and some of us have partial aphantasia (one or two of these senses but still no visual). I have a physical imagination and I can hear my own voice in my head (though […]

Aphantasia and memory

I’ve just learned that there is a name for my inability to form a visual picture in my head, and am learning about the full impact of what that means regarding all of my senses. I haven’t read any mention of aphantasia affecting one’s ability to remember how to do things if you haven’t done […]

Dreams and aphantasia

Intriguingly, while aphantasics cannot summon mental imagery on demand, Zeman (the cognitive and behavioral neurologist who coined the word aphantasia) believes that: “Most aphantasics know what it’s like to visualize, as they experience imagery in their dreams or as they dose off to sleep.” This was confirmed by two World of Lucid Dreaming readers with aphantasia. This […]

Learning and aphantasia

There’s so much we have yet to discover about what it means to “learn with aphantasia.” Here’s a thought-provoking post from 2016, which makes the case for why leaners with aphantasia are likely to experience difficulties with learning; “as mental imagery seems to be especially important for reading comprehension and learning word meanings, and according […]

How have you learned to describe aphantasia?

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. […]

Do you have any jokes with your aphantasia?

I know not all people use humour in this way, but I’ve found some solace in inside jokes with my aphantasia with my friends personally. For example, I like to joke that my mind is like an etch-a-sketch. I just crack my neck, and let the “image” in my head dissolve like shaking an etch-a-sketch […]

Is there a cure for aphantasia?

Having only just discovered that aphantasia existed and that my non-visual cognitive processing is definitely not the norm, I’ve done some reading and found nothing in the academic literature (scant as it is) that mentions a so-called “cure.” However, I came across this site where someone claims to have found a technique that can kick […]