MATTHEW DAVIS

I have been hypnotized several times. Same old, same old. Words. 

Speaking only for myself, I will admit that I was given an IQ test in school and the result was outlandishly high. I am very intelligent in a certain way that tests easily. I also have an unusual memory. I remember almost everything I read or hear. My aphantasia is not auditory because I can play back audio. I 3 years of law school I took 12 pages of notes because to learn I had to listen to the prof and think about it.  My thinking is all verbal. A nonstop narrative in my head. But I do sometimes dream in images. Hate kissing it when I wake up.  I may be an extreme case because my memory for words has allowed me to do without images.  I suggest that people be careful with discussions of aphantasia and intelligence. Makes sense that people with aphantasia would be verbally oriented and that is how we tend to measure intelligence. Might be different not smarter. 

I am so sorry to hear your story. I have been married 33 years and have total aphantasia. I can see being with my wife until we die and I don't need a picture for that. People with aphantasia can't picture their loved ones but they love them just as much. I hope things work out. 

I realized that others could visualize and I could not in the third grade 47 years ago. Only learned that others can't and it hs a name a few years ago. For most of my life I thought if was just me. Never worried about it. It has never changed anything I did. When I found out, my reaction was that's interesting. Personally the only research that interests me is visualization training. I don't care how people think it hurts or helps me. It is not a disorder, just how I am 

<p>Images are so illogical. </p>

INTP total aphantasia. 

Third grade 47 years ago. I was chatting with a girl I liked and she said something about picturing something in her mind. I said, you don't really mean that do you. She said she could picture anything clearly. I didn't believe her. So I asked if she could picture a blue car. Sure. Can you make it red? Of course. Can you flip it upside down? Easy. I did not know what to think. What she was saying seemed impossible. And then I had an idea.  Can you picture a book? Yes. Can you open it? Yes. Can you see the pages? Of course. Is there writing on them? Yes.  WHAT DOES IT SAY? I really wanted to know, but she said it doesn't work that way. I could not figure out of she could really visualize things or just wouldn't tel me.  We were friends through high school and I never quit asking her what the book said.

Hey Milo I too have total aphantasia. I am 56 and realized it in 3rd grade and it has always bugged me a bit, but it is the only thing I have known. I cannot picture my wife's or kids faces. Hard to believe others can. If you can tolerate some advice from a old fart, I noticed you called it a disorder. I don't think it is. There is nothing wrong or broken with you it is just a different way of perceiving  and experiencing. Our brains are plastic and they adapt. I can deal with images through constructs. My focus on things verbal has yielded its own rewards.  Hope all is well with you. 

What you describe is so foreign to me. I have to convert images into words. I loathe all the video everywhere today. I imagine that many people less visual than you need more verbal content. Kudos to you for making it available to them. 

Haha I think only in words. Constant narrative stream. When I try to describe something from memory only words come out. Makes me shudder to think of any other way.