Topic: Creativity

Far from being a hindrance to creativity, aphantasia often paves the way for unique and innovative forms of expression. Instead of relying on visual imagery, many with aphantasia harness abstract concepts, emotions, words, and other non-visual methods as their creative catalysts. This distinct approach to imagination fosters a diverse spectrum of creativity, comparable to how artists choose different mediums to bring their visions to life. Aphantasics utilize their unique cognitive abilities to conceptualize and create, often leading to unexpected artistic achievements. Dive into the world of aphantasia artists through an array of stories, discussions, and research. These resources offer a window into how creativity flourishes in the absence of mental imagery, providing inspiration and insight into the myriad ways imagination can manifest.

Best-selling author discovers aphantasia. Discover the buzz behind John Green aphantasia discovery and its significance in the community.
I achieved something I had never done before as a visual artist with aphantasia. How I “imagined” light in a dark cave with no mind’s eye.
When I learned about aphantasia I began to wonder... How might the vividness of our individual imaginations impact our design process?
Artists, writers, illustrators, photographers and all people who work with their creative impulses are not limited by their aphantasia.
How do I create if I cannot create things in my imagination? Artist shares creative workarounds for aphantasics.
Master photographer shares tips for expanding your photographic talent with aphantasia in this article on photography, creativity, and aphantasia.
If you can’t visualize, how can you write? Write by patchwork. Award-winning aphantasic author shares tips for how to write with aphantasia.
Discover the art of aphantasia. How Disney animator and 'mind blind' artist Glen Keane creates without visualising.
Squeeze more joy out of reading without visualizing. Aphantasia is an opportunity– and an excuse–to let yourself get distracted by language. Breathe it in, enjoy it.
How embracing aphantasia helped one writer unearth a novel approach to building worlds without seeing them.
January 10, 2022
As an aphantasic I’ve always found long descriptions in novels boring and tend to skip over them. In fact, for a long time I didn’t know why they...
August 11, 2021
Hello all! My name is Kait Ritter, I’m currently a director in animation working at Disney TVA. Before that, I was a storyboard artist, and before that I was...
February 16, 2021
Hello everyone! my name is Victoria Blue I play the French Horn am currently studying for my masters in music performance. I learned I was Aphantasic just a ...
January 20, 2021
I, just today, found out what aphantasia is and that I have it, so the first thing that came to my mind was: could this have an effect on my aspirations of b...
January 16, 2020
Hello, My name is Øyvind Heilo, student in Musicology, the University of Oslo. I’m currently planning on writing a bachelor on Musicality and Aphantasi...
November 14, 2019
I am curious about to which extent an inner eye is a necessity for drawing things without a model. What are your experiences? Are you able to draw, say, a ca...
Whether you visualize – or not – it doesn’t define you, nor does it link with the quality of what you can produce. There are extraordinaril...
YouTuber, Anthony Padilla spends a day with aphantasics. Featuring Founder of the Aphantasia Network, Tom Ebeyer and artists AmyRightMeow and Katherine Yaochen Du.
May 14, 2021
Disney animator Glen Keane creates without visualizing. Watch this video on Keane's creative process and how he found beauty in animating the Beast.
September 3, 2016
Phantasia – the psychological significance of lifelong visual imagery vividness extremes
Zeman, A., Milton, F., Della Sala, S., Dewar, M., Frayling, T., Gaddum, J., … Winlove, C. (2020). Phantasia-The psychological significance of lifelong visual imagery vividness extremes. Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior, 130, 426–440. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.003
Visual imagery typically enables us to see absent items in the mind's eye. It plays a role in memory, day-dreaming and creativity. Since coining the terms aphantasia and hyperphantasia to describe the absence and abundance of visual imagery, Adam Zeman and his team have been contacted by many thousands of people with extreme imagery abilities. Through data collected from questionnaires filled by 2000 participants with aphantasia and 200 with hyperphantasia, the researchers have found some interesting patterns. Participants with aphantasia tend to work in scientific and mathematical fields and have difficulty with face recognition and autobiographical memory. On the other hand, those with hyperphantasia tend to work in creative fields and have a higher rate of synaesthesia. The study found that around half of the participants with aphantasia reported the absence of wakeful imagery in all sense modalities, but most of them dream visually. The researchers have also noted that aphantasia runs in families more frequently than expected. This study highlights the widespread but neglected features of human experience with informative psychological associations.