Aphantasia doesn't limit creativity. Many artists, writers, and designers with aphantasia work through concepts, emotion, and non-visual methods instead.
Demas · Brain Sciences
Engineered pareidolia functions as externally scaffolded mental imagery where minimal visual cues recruit internal templates. This provides a quantifiable bridge between creative perception, imagination, and clinical neuropsychology.
Lebron Flores and Moacdieh · International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation
Students shown an AI-generated website before designing their own rated the experience lower, and for them imagery vividness did not predict how they felt about it. The authors say AI inspiration should be used with caution.
MacKisack and colleagues · Art Journal
Artists with aphantasia create work through external interaction with materials rather than internal mental preconfiguration. This demonstrates that artistic creativity does not require visual imagery and can emerge from diverse neurocognitive processes.