Exploring the experiences of autistic and non-autistic aphantasics: A qualitative study

Abstract

Visual imagery – the creation of images mentally without the corresponding sensory input – plays an important role in multiple cognitive processes. The lack of conscious visual imagery, known as aphantasia, has been linked to autistic traits. However, there is a lack of qualitative studies exploring the experiences of aphantasics, autistic or non-autistic. The current study aimed to investigate the experiences of autistic and non-autistic aphantasics qualitatively, exploring possible similarities and differences that might shed light on links or differential mechanisms. Qualitative framework analysis and quantifying methods were used to analyse data collected via an online survey. A total of 25 aphantasic adults with a clinical diagnosis of autism, and 25 age-matched non-autistic aphantasic comparison participants, completed a series of questionnaires and an open-ended question, providing data for the current analyses. Three themes were identified, each with four subthemes: imagery (auditory and other sensory imagery, inner speech, spatial and navigation, dreams), thinking (abstract thinking, thinking in words, creativity, memory), and emotions and socialization (own emotions, others’ emotions, social relationship, feeling different). Significantly more non-autistic than autistic participants endorsed the subtheme concerning “auditory and other sensory imagery”, while the opposite was the case for the subtheme “verbal thinking”. This is the first study to explore the lived experience of autistic and non-autistic aphantasic adults through qualitative methods. We hope to promote wider public understanding and appreciation of the different, but certainly not deficient, experiences of aphantasia and its intersection with autism.

Authors

• Sheng Zhong1
• Katherine Jones1
• Kathryn F. Knight3
• Fraser Milton9
• Ginny Russell1
• Adam Zeman20
• Francesca Happé2

Exploring the experiences of autistic and non-autistic aphantasics: A qualitative study

Abstract

Visual imagery – the creation of images mentally without the corresponding sensory input – plays an important role in multiple cognitive processes. The lack of conscious visual imagery, known as aphantasia, has been linked to autistic traits. However, there is a lack of qualitative studies exploring the experiences of aphantasics, autistic or non-autistic. The current study aimed to investigate the experiences of autistic and non-autistic aphantasics qualitatively, exploring possible similarities and differences that might shed light on links or differential mechanisms. Qualitative framework analysis and quantifying methods were used to analyse data collected via an online survey. A total of 25 aphantasic adults with a clinical diagnosis of autism, and 25 age-matched non-autistic aphantasic comparison participants, completed a series of questionnaires and an open-ended question, providing data for the current analyses. Three themes were identified, each with four subthemes: imagery (auditory and other sensory imagery, inner speech, spatial and navigation, dreams), thinking (abstract thinking, thinking in words, creativity, memory), and emotions and socialization (own emotions, others’ emotions, social relationship, feeling different). Significantly more non-autistic than autistic participants endorsed the subtheme concerning “auditory and other sensory imagery”, while the opposite was the case for the subtheme “verbal thinking”. This is the first study to explore the lived experience of autistic and non-autistic aphantasic adults through qualitative methods. We hope to promote wider public understanding and appreciation of the different, but certainly not deficient, experiences of aphantasia and its intersection with autism.

Authors

• Sheng Zhong1
• Katherine Jones1
• Kathryn F. Knight3
• Fraser Milton9
• Ginny Russell1
• Adam Zeman20
• Francesca Happé2