How do people with aphantasia think without pictures? Often in words, concepts, or other non-visual patterns, without any apparent limit on thinking itself.
Peruski · Journal of Neurophysiology
Aphantasics showed reduced right-brain activation and increased left middle frontal gyrus activity during motor imagery. This suggests they use compensatory semantic strategies, indicating mental imagery is not essential for motor cognition.
Nanay · Neuropsychologia
Aphantasia is not a monolithic condition but a heterogeneous spectrum with diverse underlying causes. Recognizing this complexity helps researchers better understand the interpersonal differences in imagery vividness across the entire population.
Scholz, Monzel and Liu · Current Biology
Neural activity in aphantasia during imagery tasks lacks the perception-like representational overlap found in typical imagers. This suggests that neural activity in aphantasics reflects alternative non-perceptual strategies rather than unconscious mental imagery.
Monzel and colleagues · Cognition
Aphantasics showed a reduced Stroop effect for accuracy compared to controls, though response times remained similar. This suggests that mental imagery contributes to the interference between words and colors by competing with actual perception.
Krempel · Erkenntnis
A philosophy paper argues that wordless, imageless "unsymbolized" thoughts and total aphantasia challenge the view that conscious thought needs mental images. It concludes they are evidence that conscious thoughts can occur without imagery.