Congenital aphantasia is present from birth, usually discovered later in life. Unlike acquired aphantasia, there was never mental imagery to lose. It can affect one sense or several.

Researchers expand aphantasia definition beyond "inability to visualize." This broader framework impacts how we understand and identify with the condition.
Tom Ebeyer · January 2025

Since 2015, "aphantasia" has reshaped our understanding of imagination, revealing that not everyone visualizes mentally. This discovery, along with "hyperphantasia," highlights the diverse nature of human imagination.
Tom Ebeyer · May 2024
Bartolomeo · Neuropsychologia
In a short conceptual paper, the author proposes sorting aphantasia into at least three forms: neurological, psychogenic and congenital. He offers it as an initial taxonomy for research that has reached contradictory conclusions.
Larner · Neuropsychologia
Historical reports of congenital and acquired aphantasia exist dating back to the late 19th century. This provides a sound epistemic basis for the retrospective diagnosis of aphantasia and supports its status as a transhistorical condition.
Kwaśniak and colleagues · Scientific Reports
People with aphantasia showed reduced activation in the right middle frontal gyrus and right motor cortex during motor imagery tasks. This suggests that aphantasia involves differences in attentional switching and neural processing beyond just visual imagery.
Pounder and colleagues · Cogent Psychology
Six women living in the UK who could not form images at will were interviewed about life with aphantasia. Difficulties with recalling faces, reliving personal memories and finding their way came up most, though each woman described a different mix. All six reported images in dreams, some only rarely; several had sudden images at times of intense emotion or deep relaxation, and some felt their images were there but out of reach. All six said they could not imagine smells or tastes.