Finding out you have aphantasia often brings a mix of emotions: confusion, relief, grief for how you thought everyone else's mind worked.
Zeman and colleagues · Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Replying to a proposal that aphantasia reflects broken mental "rendering," this letter argues that conscious object imagery is unlikely to be a useless by-product. Links with memory, empathy and emotion suggest it may support social life.
Balaban and Ullman · Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Researchers propose that visual imagery links to social reasoning and autobiographical memory indirectly through emotional activation. This suggests that "graphical rendering" in the mind serves as a vital building block for emotional and social processing.
Kvamme and colleagues · Heliyon
In 591 young adults, more vivid imagery went with an inward-focused style: attention to body signals, mindfulness, and openness. In statistical models, imagery related to mental health only through this style, partly through lower alexithymia.
Chen and colleagues · Empirical Studies of the Arts
Higher sensory imagery ability is associated with increased emotional valence, arousal, and aesthetic appeal when viewing paintings. This suggests that mental imagery capacity significantly enhances the richness of aesthetic experiences.
Monzel, Nagai and Silvanto · Scientific Reports
People with aphantasia report significantly lower interceptive awareness and emotional engagement with bodily signals. This suggests that mental imagery plays a key role in linking internal bodily states to the recall of personal memories.
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.
Cui, Kong and Zhang · Frontiers in Psychology
Aphantasic participants showed muted neural responses and minimal autonomic changes during romantic imagery compared to those with vivid imagery. This suggests that mental imagery is a crucial driver of physiological and emotional arousal.
Monzel, Keidel and Reuter · Journal of Research in Personality
People with aphantasia scored lower on empathy when distressing scenes were described in words, but not when they were shown as photos. This suggests written empathy tests may partly measure imagery rather than empathy.
Holmes and colleagues · Behaviour Research and Therapy
Researchers propose that mental imagery acts as an emotional amplifier in bipolar disorder, fueling mood volatility and anxiety. This suggests targeting imagery could improve cognitive behavioral treatments for the disorder.