Sheri Ray

I thought maybe if I said an abstract concept, that it would be clearer for those who do visualize to understand how I deal with things. So I told my husband, "When I say 'philosophy.' What happens? Do you see things?" He said, Yes. I see my first philosophy teacher, the classroom (he can visualize classrooms from when he was in collage?!?!?!) my first philosophy text... and more" I was completely stunned. He visualizes for an abstract concept?! Wow.. people who visualize are WEIRD! LOL!

I can "pull up" some pictures of things but it is definitely work and something I have to consciously do. It's just for a few more common objects, like the "apple" thing or "pink elephant" that everyone always asks. And the pictures are vague, or more like the little sketches you see in a dictionary. It's just easier to not try to "see" things. Funny, I always assumed I was just "lazy" for not doing the mental work to pull up pictures.

I was talking via Discord to a co-worker in Ireland and she mentioned she had aphantasia and had just discovered that another coworker was also aphantic (is that the right word?) When I asked what it was, she explained it and it was like a truck hit me because I had the same experience. Apparently, however, I'm hypophantasia as I can occasionally see vague, fuzzy images of very familiar things. I suffered a closed head injury when I was 20, so I'm wondering if it goes back to that or if I was always this way.