Aphantasia Network is shaping a new, global conversation on the power of image-free thinking. We’re creating a place to discover and learn about aphantasia. Our mission is to help build a bridge between new scientific discoveries and our unique human experience — to uncover new insight into how we learn, create, dream, remember and more with blind imagination.
Have you ever described a memory in vivid detail despite seeing nothing in your mind? It raises a fascinating question: could our brains be processing images... we just can't consciously access?
How a neurologist's decades-long investigation into patients who couldn't "see" half their memories led to groundbreaking discoveries about aphantasia, brain connectivity, and the hidden mechanisms of human imagination.
Understanding how our brain performs motor simulations is crucial for enhancing motor skills, whether it be in sports performance, motor rehabilitation, or simple everyday movements. But what happens when a person cannot simulate these movements?
Since 2015, "aphantasia" has reshaped our understanding of imagination, revealing that not everyone visualizes mentally. This discovery, along with "hyperphantasia," highlights the diverse nature of human imagination.
How a researcher's brain imaging study of people who can't form mental images led to surprising discoveries about memory accuracy, neural noise, and the multiple pathways our minds use to access the past.
New research from the University of Bonn reveals how aphantasia affects memory, particularly when remembering the past. The study of 30 participants found that people with aphantasia experience significant challenges in recalling autobiographical memories.
A neuroscientist's research reveals that people with hyperphantasia may actually experience fundamentally different types of "extreme" mental imagery - challenging our understanding of vivid visualization.
This apple illusion allows people who can't visualize to temporarily 'see' an image that isn't there—using visual perception to demonstrate what others experience through their imagination.
How a brain researcher's journey from engineering to neuroscience uncovered the hidden networks that allow people with aphantasia to navigate a visual world without mental imagery—and what this reveals about the nature of consciousness itself.
The Ball on a Table experiment is a simple visualization test that reveals whether you think in pictures (visualizer) or concepts (conceptualizer). This revealing experiment, originally credited to u/Caaaarrrl, takes less than a minute but provides profound insights into how your mind processes information.
What happens when a neuroscientist studying visual hallucinations discovers he can't visualize at all? Mac Shine's personal revelation led to groundbreaking insights about how our brains create—and fail to create—mental imagery.
How a philosopher's investigation into a simple paradox—people who can't visualize yet excel at "visual" tasks—led him to challenge centuries of assumptions about imagination, mental images, and the nature of thought itself.
Discover the hidden differences that shape human behavior (aphantasia, synesthesia, inner speech) with professor Gary Lupyan, as he joins the Aphantasia Network to shed light on the fascinating world beyond what meets the eye.
The city of Rowlett, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, declares the world’s first Aphantasia Awareness Day on February 21, 2023.
One of the most striking findings from Dr. Levine's research is the significant overlap between aphantasia and SDAM. This connection makes intuitive sense, as normal autobiographical memory is heavily visual for most people.
When it comes to visualizing things in the mind's eye, our experience varies widely. Francis Galton's groundbreaking Breakfast Study revealed this phenomenon over 140 years ago, fundamentally changing how we understand visual imagery and its assessment.