Patricia: I don't even get the flash of image, so I find your experience interesting. Where do you see the image relative to your normal field of vision? Does it superimpose, or show up in another context? Does looking up and to your left make any sense? Do you need to shut your eyes or simply alter your mental focus? There is so much about mental imagery that I don't understand. Could you help me. Very respectfully,Rich
I am 63 and my middle sister is 65. We are also aphantasic. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with our childhood exposure to tetracycline, that caused our adult teeth to gray. Could tetracycline exposure in childhood be linked to aphantasia?
Dear Melody: I suspect that the photograph allows you to revisit and reinforce the memory. I have many childhood memories that are really of family Super-8 films or photos. I saw the films many times, so my memory was reinforced. I still don't have visual imagery of it, but I can remember its aspects as a dialog. I think the movies were especially good at creating long living memories. I am 63, and I have a 65 year old sister, who are aphantasic. We were also victims of a childhood tetracycline side-effect called tetracycline tooth staining, that made our adult teeth turn gray while they mineralized. You are in the age group that may have been exposed to tetracycline as a child. Do you know if you were? I was wondering if there was a link to aphantasia. Warmest regards,Rich
Greetings Sharon: I am aphantasic and 63 years old, and my aphant sister is 66. I also have a hyperphantasic sister who is 68. We always thought that "mind's eye" was a metaphor, until I discovered the VVIQ research about 10 years ago. My oldest sister reads 700-800 wpm, while we aphants process reading by internal vocalization and are limited to 200-250 wpm. We just thought we were stupid. Another odd thing about we, aphants, is we both received tetracycline as children and are victims of tetracycline staining of our adult teeth. You are in the age range where you may have experinced that, too. Did you? Welcome to the forum, and I hope you discover useful things. Warmest regards,Rich
>> First an overall hallucination that I was living in another universe which seemed normal for a tribal human being sharing group mind set; next an occasional image as picture of place yet to be arrived at. So hallucinations had a precognitive element which led me through life day by day through some extraordinary and extrasensory perceptions. >> I am aphantasic and also had a series of manic, mixed-manic and depressive episodes during a period of extreme stress and sleep deprivation. During these episodes I had visual hallucinations, too. 1. I experienced light and dark auras around people, which I interpreted as indications of their holiness and dangerousness. I also had epiphanies associated with the dark aura people, which seemed to be insights about their motivatoins. 2. During mixed episodes, people often appeared emotionless, cold and zombie-like. This resonated with a song written by Daniel Johnston called "Devil Town". Daniel is a bipolar song writer. I was easily "triggered" into hypervigilance and fear, while in this state. 3. I experienced a general deepening of my perception, that I considered a state of grace. In this state I had much more awareness of others emotions, and my emotions were easily entrained. Like you, as I healed, my access to these altered states faded. I never experienced any opening of my mind's eye, though.