Multisensory Aphantasia

Multisensory aphantasia means missing imagery in two or more senses at once, not just vision. It affects roughly a quarter of people with visual aphantasia.

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Research

2026

Multisensory Imagery Enhances the Aesthetic Evaluation of Paintings: A Virtual Reality Study

Chen and colleagues · Empirical Studies of the Arts

In a preregistered study, 45 Chinese university students viewed paintings in a virtual reality museum, sometimes told to imagine being inside each painting with as many senses as possible and sometimes told simply to appreciate them without imagining. Imagining with several senses made paintings feel more vivid, more arousing and more appealing, and students with stronger imagery across the senses rated paintings as more vivid and appealing overall. Vividness statistically accounted for both links with appeal, and arousal also did for the instruction. The authors suggest multisensory imagery practice could become part of art education.

2025

A decade of aphantasia research – and still going!

Zeman · Neuropsychologia

Ten years after aphantasia was named, Adam Zeman argues it likely has several subtypes and that most abilities are spared, with memory for one's own past differing most. He urges an open mind in this young field.

2025

Aphantasia, hyperphantasia and sensory imagery in a multi-cultural sample

Bruder and Zehra · Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science

Among 636 adults in Qatar, 5.0% scored in the aphantasia range and 12.1% in the hyperphantasia range, similar across cultures. Middle East and North Africa participants reported weaker imagery than Southeast Asian and Western ones.

2024

Definition: Aphantasia

Zeman and colleagues · Cortex

This short definition, published in a special issue of the journal Cortex, describes aphantasia as the absence or near-absence of imagery, most often the inability to picture things while fully awake, as opposed to simply thinking about them. Aphantasia affects deliberate imagery, may affect spontaneous imagery, and often leaves imagery in dreams intact. It can be lifelong or acquired, and the note proposes labels such as visual, auditory, multisensory and global aphantasia, while recording that some researchers keep the word for vision alone.

All 5 papers

Multisensory Aphantasia

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Multisensory Aphantasia

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What’s It Like to Be an Artist With Aphantasia?

Imagination Beyond Mental Images

Decoding Without Pictures - Aphantasia and Literacy in the AI Era

Thinking in Pictures Isn’t All That: We Are All Beautifully Unique

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When Mental Images Get in the Way: How Aphantasia Reveals a Hidden Advantage in Reasoning

The Shape of Things Unseen: Conversation with Dr. Adam Zeman On The New Science of Imagination

Invisible Rehearsal: How Aphantasia Affects Motor Simulation and Rehabilitation

Research

Multisensory Imagery Enhances the Aesthetic Evaluation of Paintings: A Virtual Reality Study

A decade of aphantasia research – and still going!

Aphantasia, hyperphantasia and sensory imagery in a multi-cultural sample

Definition: Aphantasia

From the community

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