I've wondered how hypnosis and aphantasia might work. Even if you can, as you describe, get past the conscious visualisation barriers on the way into a hypnotic state, can an aphantasic summon their past life in the same way as a phantasic, if they don't have visual memories of people, places and happenings to access? Or is hypnosis finding a way into the same stash of hidden visualisations that dreaming would seem to access?

The more I think about it, the more I believe that having aphantasia (although not an extreme version) has impacted on my life in many different ways. I am sure there is a link between visual images and holding onto memories in general and that this links to my lack of memory of my past - I remember almost nothing that wasn't either captured in photographs, or associated with some kind of emotional issue. I am also convinced that the inability to visually 'map' my environment is the reason why I have no sense of direction and cannot easily navigate between places in my local area, unless they are well-trod routes. I can't map the interiors of buildings either, so get lost in a strange space almost immediately I turn a corner (or go into a loo for instance). I also realise that aphantasia is the reason I could never do mentally arithmetic, despite being pretty good at maths. I can't see the sums in my head. Same reason why I can't really play chess - it's hopeless if you can't visualise future moves, because you can only think about one or two moves ahead before it's all a mush. I am also a visual artist, who never understood how other artists claimed to paint from memory. All my work is very 'in the present' and I specialise in urban sketching - capturing life, from life, 'live' as it happens. When I'm in the studio, I paint abstracts, which are purely instinctive expressions of mark-making and have no recourse to past life experiences, because I cannot summon the images to work with.

I found I could see much the same in both. I could see what I wanted to see somehow, depending on how I chose to look, if that makes sense. I got better at 'looking' by the 2nd time and so could perceive more of the blue animals, which tended to be dominated by the red when I first looked. I can't say that picturing the colours made much difference, though I was able to picture them in my mind, sort of (the red was a easier than the blue to imagine).

I've wondered how hypnosis and aphantasia might work. Even if you can, as you describe, get past the conscious visualisation barriers on the way into a hypnotic state, can an aphantasic summon their past life in the same way as a phantasic, if they don't have visual memories of people, places and happenings to access? Or is hypnosis finding a way into the same stash of hidden visualisations that dreaming would seem to access?

The more I think about it, the more I believe that having aphantasia (although not an extreme version) has impacted on my life in many different ways. I am sure there is a link between visual images and holding onto memories in general and that this links to my lack of memory of my past - I remember almost nothing that wasn't either captured in photographs, or associated with some kind of emotional issue. I am also convinced that the inability to visually 'map' my environment is the reason why I have no sense of direction and cannot easily navigate between places in my local area, unless they are well-trod routes. I can't map the interiors of buildings either, so get lost in a strange space almost immediately I turn a corner (or go into a loo for instance). I also realise that aphantasia is the reason I could never do mentally arithmetic, despite being pretty good at maths. I can't see the sums in my head. Same reason why I can't really play chess - it's hopeless if you can't visualise future moves, because you can only think about one or two moves ahead before it's all a mush. I am also a visual artist, who never understood how other artists claimed to paint from memory. All my work is very 'in the present' and I specialise in urban sketching - capturing life, from life, 'live' as it happens. When I'm in the studio, I paint abstracts, which are purely instinctive expressions of mark-making and have no recourse to past life experiences, because I cannot summon the images to work with.

I found I could see much the same in both. I could see what I wanted to see somehow, depending on how I chose to look, if that makes sense. I got better at 'looking' by the 2nd time and so could perceive more of the blue animals, which tended to be dominated by the red when I first looked. I can't say that picturing the colours made much difference, though I was able to picture them in my mind, sort of (the red was a easier than the blue to imagine).