AphantasiaResearch
Explore a comprehensive collection of academic papers, research studies, and scientific publications about aphantasia, imagery, and cognitive neuroscience.
Interoception, insula, and agency: a predictive coding account of aphantasia
Aphantasia results from disrupted insula processing that impairs interoceptive precision, weakening top-down predictions needed for mental imagery. Unlike perception, imagery relies entirely on internally generated predictions, making it uniquely vulnerable to interoceptive deficits.
Silvanto, J. (2025). Interoception, insula, and agency: a predictive coding account of aphantasia. Frontiers in Psychology, 16. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1564251
How Interoception and the Insula Shape Mental Imagery and Aphantasia
This paper proposes that mental imagery depends on integrating sensory processing with interoceptive bodily signals through the insula. Aphantasia likely reflects dysfunction in this integration system, explaining its associations with memory, emotion, and motor coordination deficits. Character count: 237
Silvanto, J., & Nagai, Y. (2025). How interoception and the insula shape mental imagery and aphantasia. Brain Topography, 38(2). doi:10.1007/s10548-025-01101-6
Mental imagery as part of an ‘inwardly focused’ cognitive style
Mental imagery reflects an inwardly focused cognitive style characterized by interoceptive attention and personality traits like Openness and Conscientiousness. This cluster negatively correlates with alexithymia, linking vivid imagery to better emotional awareness.
Kvamme, T. L., Sandberg, K., & Silvanto, J. (2024). Mental imagery as part of an ‘inwardly focused’ cognitive style. Neuropsychologia, 204, 108988. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108988
Only minimal differences between individuals with congenital aphantasia and those with typical imagery on neuropsychological tasks that involve imagery
People with aphantasia perform as accurately as typical imagers on neuropsychological tasks despite lacking visual imagery experience. Response time differences suggest they may use alternative cognitive strategies to complete these tasks.
Pounder, Z., Jacob, J., Evans, S., Loveday, C., Eardley, A. F., & Silvanto, J. (2022). Only minimal differences between individuals with congenital aphantasia and those with typical imagery on neuropsychological tasks that involve imagery. Cortex, 148, 180–192. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2021.12.010
Visual working memory performance in aphantasia
Aphantasic individuals lack mental imagery but show deficits only in high-precision visual working memory tasks. This reveals mental imagery has a specific functional role in precision-based visual cognition.
Jacobs, C., Schwarzkopf, D. S., & Silvanto, J. (2018). Visual working memory performance in aphantasia. Cortex, 105, 61–73. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.10.014
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