John McBurney

I, like so many others, first learned about aphantasia from the article in the Nov. 3, 2025 New Yorker. I have acquired cognitive deficits due to a traumatic brain injury in 2022. I had very strong non verbal abilities prior to the TBI and now have very limited -almost no- ability to visualize. Interestingly I can visualize my wife of 44 years as a young woman- but struggle to visualize her face now. I am a fully trained and experienced neurologist and it is ironic for me to try to analyze my own deficits through my own experience. But not to focus exclusively on what is lost what I am most fascinated by is what I seemed to have gained. In particular I have discovered enhanced musical abilities. I can’t not hear music. I have been a serious trumpet player growing up and as an adult. Now I can remember a tune, pick up my horn and play it by “ear” as easily as you might whistle a tune from the radio. I’ve also started some improvisational composition. One of my friends who is principal trumpet of our symphony said to me “the challenge is to find the positive in what has happened”. I think this may be it.