Olfactory Aphantasia

Olfactory aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create mental smell experiences - a 'scent-free imagination.' This can occur independently or as part of multisensory aphantasia where multiple forms of mental imagery are affected. Like other forms of aphantasia, olfactory aphantasia can be present from birth (congenital) or develop later in life (acquired). This variation helps researchers understand how the brain processes and remembers smell experiences without mental simulation. On this page, you'll find aphantasia research, personal stories, and community discussions about olfactory aphantasia.

Olfactory Aphantasia

Reference

Varieties of aphantasia

Aphantasia is a heterogeneous condition with distinct subtypes involving voluntary imagery, sensory modalities, and spatial versus object details. This diversity suggests that monolithic definitions hinder accurate diagnosis and research.

Nanay, B. (2025). Varieties of aphantasia. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 29(11), 965–966. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2025.06.008

recently

Reference

A decade of aphantasia research – and still going!

A decade of research shows aphantasia is a heterogeneous condition with five dimensions of variation, including sensory reach and spatial imagery. This suggests it is a diverse spectrum of abstract rather than experiential cognitive styles.

Zeman, A. (2025). A decade of aphantasia research – and still going!. Neuropsychologia, 219, 109278. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109278

recently

aphantasia definition, aphantasia definitions

Article

Expanding Aphantasia Definition: Researchers Propose New Boundaries

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

recentlyby Tom Ebeyer and

Reference

Definition: Aphantasia

Researchers defined aphantasia as the absence of imagery and proposed specific labels for deficits across various sensory modalities. This provides a standardized framework to improve consistency in scientific research and clinical diagnosis.

Zeman, A., Monzel, M., Pearson, J., Scholz, C. O., & Simner, J. (2025). Definition: aphantasia. Cortex, 182, 212–213. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2024.07.019

recently

Reference

Proposal for a consistent definition of aphantasia and hyperphantasia: A response to Lambert and Sibley (2022) and Simner and Dance (2022)

Researchers propose defining aphantasia as the absence of voluntary sensory imagery across any modality. This unified terminology avoids confusing new jargon while acknowledging that imagery extremes often affect multiple senses.

Monzel, M., Mitchell, D., Macpherson, F., Pearson, J., & Zeman, A. (2022). Proposal for a consistent definition of aphantasia and hyperphantasia: a response to lambert and sibley (2022) and simner and dance (2022). Cortex, 152, 74–76. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2022.04.003

recently

Article

3 Things I Learned From Having Multisensory Aphantasia That Changed My Understanding Of The World

My journey understanding the cognitive profiles of aphantasia and hyperphantasia started when I learned at age 30 that most of you have a superpower I don’t.

recentlyby Steven Levithan

Article

Switching The Focus From Visual Imagery

A case for studying mental imagery as a whole

recently

Article

Think of a Horse: Describing Aphantasia

How do you describe aphantasia? Founder of Aphantasia Network often gets asked this question. His answer? Think of a horse.

recentlyby Tom Ebeyer

You've reached the end of content in the olfactory aphantasia topic.