Research library
Papers about aphantasia and mental imagery, with summaries in plain words. The summaries are generated by AI and may contain errors.
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Suggate, Milton and Tree · Neuropsychologia
People with aphantasia were more accurate but slower than controls on multimodal mental comparison tasks. This suggests that sensory cognition can be successfully achieved through propositional rather than imagistic strategies.
Williams and Suggate · Imagination, Cognition and Personality
People with low imagery reported being less absorbed in stories, especially in seeing scenes and feeling transported, yet still enjoyed reading. This suggests imagery shapes how reading feels more than whether people like it.
Suggate · Behavior Research Methods
Across three online studies with German university students (96, 345 and 448 people), the author tested a quick task in which people hear questions such as which is softer, a pine needle or a blade of grass, and answer as fast as they can. The task gave consistent results, answers about sight came fastest and about touch slowest, and it measured more than general speed. But scores barely related to people's own ratings of their imagery, which the author reads as the two capturing different things. No group of people with aphantasia was tested.
Suggate and Martzog · Developmental Science
In 266 German children aged 3 to 9, tested twice about 10 months apart, more daily screen time at the first test predicted slightly lower later accuracy on questions comparing two named objects (which is shinier, a trumpet or a violin?), after allowing for age, vocabulary, working memory and family background. Earlier task scores did not predict later screen time, and screen time did not predict answer speed. Television and interactive screens showed similar links. The authors suggest ready-made screen images give children less practice at making their own, though other factors could explain the link.