"I spent some time in key west. One day i swam up to a busted pipe, partially buried underwater, and suddenly out swam a shark. lol, i about swallowed my heart. it all happened too fast for me to have any reaction. It swam out then was gone. It was a lemon shark, but darn it, i was so close that my heart didn't have the time to differentiate. lol, my only shark story and its a lemon shark :)"

""When Aphants are asked to imagine a shark or other scary imagery, their brains do not show a fear response (unlike neurotypical people)." There may be more neuro diversity among us than is widely known. I have extreme aphantasia, yet when I imagined a shark, I felt a surge of adrenaline, which is almost certainly a fear response. I wonder if this is because, as a scuba diver, I've had first-hand experience with sharks."

"I certainly have felt shame, but maybe not long term. A faux pas might keep me up all night, especially if I may have accidentally hurt someone's feelings, but things I did years ago, no. I don't have feelings of regret either. I generally chalked that up to just being a decent person...now you have me second guessing myself."

"This is a great observation about the fundamental challenge with self-report questionnaires - ensuring everyone is calibrating to the same reference point. The issue you’re identifying is real. Someone experiencing only vague dark shapes might rate them as “vivid” because they have nothing else to compare it to, while someone with rich visual detail might rate theirs lower if they’re comparing to seeing with their eyes. We actually created a visualizer tool that lets people generate and compare physical representations of their mental imagery experiences. You can find it here: aphantasia.com/visualize We are working on analyzing the results to compare VVIQ scores with physical representations to get a better picture of what a reported vividness of 3 or 4 looks like for example."

"As a fellow aphant from Japan, I resonated with your experience so much! I’ve always felt that for us, learning Kanji isn't about memorizing a "picture," but rather understanding a logical recipe of radicals. Since our brains prefer structural data over visual imagery, the systematic nature of Hanzi/Kanji actually becomes an advantage. This is exactly why I find that I can read Classical Chinese and even get the "gist" of modern Chinese texts just by following the semantic traces of the characters. Interestingly, though, I struggle with Hangul. Even though it’s part of the same cultural sphere, Hangul is phonetic—it's a "sound script." For my aphant brain, it’s much easier to decode logograms (which are like high-density data packets of meaning) than it is to process pure phonetic symbols that don't have those built-in semantic hooks. It’s fascinating to realize that what many see as a "visual" language is actually a "logical" one for people like us!"

"No. I can't conjure photos either. When my eyes are closed, I see black, no matter what I imagine. Looking at photos usually doesn't spark any specific memories of the event (just general info about the people and places)."

"I have only studied a few Chinese symbols, of which I can only recognize 3 at this point. I've never tried to write Chinese."

"Hey Martha, you're right that many aphantasia studies involve small sample sizes, especially those conducted in lab environments. However, several larger studies are now converging around a 1-5% population estimate, with sample sizes ranging from 500 to over 5,000 participants. The variation in findings primarily depends on whether researchers use a strict definition of aphantasia (total absence of imagery) or a broader definition (including dim or vague imagery). The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) is the most widely accepted tool for measuring these rates. Here are a few key population studies, including one with a multicultural sample: https://aphantasia.com/research/10.1016/j.concog.2021.103243 https://aphantasia.com/research/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1703706/v1 https://aphantasia.com/research/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1454107 You can always explore more in our research library at aphantasia.com/research."

"i thought i had prosopagnosia for some years... have no visual memory of faces. then i realized that didn't explain my condition because i also couldn't visually remember cars or dogs or directions or... anything, which led me to aphantasia. what was puzzling to me is that i do very well in the facial identification tests for propopagnosia but when looking at an actual person i have no idea who they are unless i've met them many many times in a fairly short period of time. finally, read (or maybe it was on a podcast) that people with aphantasia have no problem remembering something when they see it, but can't describe it or recall what it was visually. this would explain (if accurate) a difference between the 2... people with propopagnosia will not recognise someone in a photo... people with aphantasia can but, if we close our eyes, can't describe or recall what they were just looking at. this has been my experience and is why i now think i do not have propopagnosia but do have aphantasia."

"I have aphantasia and am "partially face blind". I think you are too. With repeated and recent exposure, I can recognize some faces. Since I haven't seen my sister recently, I'd probably walk right past her, if we were both in a public space and I wasn't expecting to see her. I can recognize the faces of many actors and public figures, like politicians. Repeated exposure is key."

"I spent some time in key west. One day i swam up to a busted pipe, partially buried underwater, and suddenly out swam a shark. lol, i about swallowed my heart. it all happened too fast for me to have any reaction. It swam out then was gone. It was a lemon shark, but darn it, i was so close that my heart didn't have the time to differentiate. lol, my only shark story and its a lemon shark :)"

""When Aphants are asked to imagine a shark or other scary imagery, their brains do not show a fear response (unlike neurotypical people)." There may be more neuro diversity among us than is widely known. I have extreme aphantasia, yet when I imagined a shark, I felt a surge of adrenaline, which is almost certainly a fear response. I wonder if this is because, as a scuba diver, I've had first-hand experience with sharks."

"I certainly have felt shame, but maybe not long term. A faux pas might keep me up all night, especially if I may have accidentally hurt someone's feelings, but things I did years ago, no. I don't have feelings of regret either. I generally chalked that up to just being a decent person...now you have me second guessing myself."

"This is a great observation about the fundamental challenge with self-report questionnaires - ensuring everyone is calibrating to the same reference point. The issue you’re identifying is real. Someone experiencing only vague dark shapes might rate them as “vivid” because they have nothing else to compare it to, while someone with rich visual detail might rate theirs lower if they’re comparing to seeing with their eyes. We actually created a visualizer tool that lets people generate and compare physical representations of their mental imagery experiences. You can find it here: aphantasia.com/visualize We are working on analyzing the results to compare VVIQ scores with physical representations to get a better picture of what a reported vividness of 3 or 4 looks like for example."

"As a fellow aphant from Japan, I resonated with your experience so much! I’ve always felt that for us, learning Kanji isn't about memorizing a "picture," but rather understanding a logical recipe of radicals. Since our brains prefer structural data over visual imagery, the systematic nature of Hanzi/Kanji actually becomes an advantage. This is exactly why I find that I can read Classical Chinese and even get the "gist" of modern Chinese texts just by following the semantic traces of the characters. Interestingly, though, I struggle with Hangul. Even though it’s part of the same cultural sphere, Hangul is phonetic—it's a "sound script." For my aphant brain, it’s much easier to decode logograms (which are like high-density data packets of meaning) than it is to process pure phonetic symbols that don't have those built-in semantic hooks. It’s fascinating to realize that what many see as a "visual" language is actually a "logical" one for people like us!"

"No. I can't conjure photos either. When my eyes are closed, I see black, no matter what I imagine. Looking at photos usually doesn't spark any specific memories of the event (just general info about the people and places)."

"I have only studied a few Chinese symbols, of which I can only recognize 3 at this point. I've never tried to write Chinese."

"Hey Martha, you're right that many aphantasia studies involve small sample sizes, especially those conducted in lab environments. However, several larger studies are now converging around a 1-5% population estimate, with sample sizes ranging from 500 to over 5,000 participants. The variation in findings primarily depends on whether researchers use a strict definition of aphantasia (total absence of imagery) or a broader definition (including dim or vague imagery). The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) is the most widely accepted tool for measuring these rates. Here are a few key population studies, including one with a multicultural sample: https://aphantasia.com/research/10.1016/j.concog.2021.103243 https://aphantasia.com/research/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1703706/v1 https://aphantasia.com/research/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1454107 You can always explore more in our research library at aphantasia.com/research."

"i thought i had prosopagnosia for some years... have no visual memory of faces. then i realized that didn't explain my condition because i also couldn't visually remember cars or dogs or directions or... anything, which led me to aphantasia. what was puzzling to me is that i do very well in the facial identification tests for propopagnosia but when looking at an actual person i have no idea who they are unless i've met them many many times in a fairly short period of time. finally, read (or maybe it was on a podcast) that people with aphantasia have no problem remembering something when they see it, but can't describe it or recall what it was visually. this would explain (if accurate) a difference between the 2... people with propopagnosia will not recognise someone in a photo... people with aphantasia can but, if we close our eyes, can't describe or recall what they were just looking at. this has been my experience and is why i now think i do not have propopagnosia but do have aphantasia."

"I have aphantasia and am "partially face blind". I think you are too. With repeated and recent exposure, I can recognize some faces. Since I haven't seen my sister recently, I'd probably walk right past her, if we were both in a public space and I wasn't expecting to see her. I can recognize the faces of many actors and public figures, like politicians. Repeated exposure is key."