Abstract
When we live through a traumatic event some of us will go on to experience uncontrollable unpleasant memories of the event. These intrusive memories are one of the hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder. Intrusive memories or flashbacks are typically described as visual, and their vividness predicts the severity of PTSD. If visual imagery is central to the development and continuation of flashbacks then people without visual imagery (aphantasia) should experience less, or different, intrusive memories. To test this, a group of individuals with aphantasia and a group with visual imagery underwent a lab-based PTSD model: the trauma film paradigm. Aphantasic individuals reported fewer intrusions immediately after watching the traumatic film, as well as fewer intrusions in a digital diary app over the course of a week. Despite the significant reduction in intrusive memories, aphantasic individuals still reported having some intrusions, however, the sensory qualities of these intrusions were markedly different from individuals with visual imagery. While individuals with visual imagery reported their intrusions as being mostly visual, aphantasic individuals reported mostly verbal intrusions. These findings demonstrate that visual imagery is related to the number of intrusive memories experienced after witnessing a traumatic event, which may have important implications for the development of PTSD. Further, it does appear that aphantasic individuals can experience intrusions, albeit less frequently and in a different format than people with visual imagery.
What This Study Is About
Researchers wanted to find out if people with aphantasia—the inability to create "mental images" or pictures in the mind—experience fewer scary "flashback" memories after seeing something upsetting. They wanted to see if having a "mind’s eye" makes bad memories feel more intense.
How They Studied It
The team compared 25 people with aphantasia to 23 people with typical mental imagery. To simulate a stressful event, everyone watched a 10-minute video of a real car accident. For the next seven days, participants used a phone app to record every "intrusive memory"—those unwanted thoughts or "flashbacks" that pop into your head without warning.
What They Found
The results were striking! People with aphantasia had significantly fewer intrusive memories than the control group, both immediately after the film and throughout the week.
The *type* of memory was also different. While the control group's flashbacks were mostly visual (like re-watching a scary movie clip), the aphantasic group reported their memories were mostly verbal. Instead of seeing the crash, they might "hear" a narration in their head describing what happened. Because these memories weren't visual, the aphantasic group found them much less distressing and distracting.
What This Might Mean
This suggests that visual imagery acts like an emotional amplifier. Think of it like a volume knob: for most people, the "pictures" in their head turn the emotional volume up. For those with aphantasia, the volume stays lower.
This research suggests that aphantasia might actually offer some protection against certain symptoms of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). However, we have to be careful: this was a small study, and the aphantasia group was older than the control group, which could have affected the results. We can’t say aphantasia "prevents" PTSD, but it definitely changes how the brain processes trauma.
One Interesting Detail
While the control group felt "haunted" by images of the crash, the aphantasic group’s experience was more like reading a script of the event—they knew what happened, but they didn't have to "see" it all over again!