Voluntary Imagery

Voluntary imagery is mental imagery you deliberately create, like trying to picture a beach. This is the ability reduced or absent in aphantasia.

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Voluntary Imagery

Voluntary imagery is mental imagery you deliberately create, like trying to picture a beach. This is the ability reduced or absent in aphantasia.

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Voluntary Imagery - Aphantasia Topics | Aphantasia Network

Overview Articles 5 Videos 1 Research 2 Discussions 1

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What the research says

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.

Tom Ebeyer · January 2025

Something to try

Can't Visualize An Apple? Try This Apple Illusion to Experience What Others See

This apple illusion allows people who can't visualize to temporarily 'see' an image that isn't there—using visual perception to demonstrate what others experience through their imagination.

Aphantasia Network · October 2023

What the research says

Impact of Aphantasia on the Reading Experience

Does aphantasia impact the reading experience? Exploring the relationship between reading preferences and mental imagery.

Rosina Williams · April 2023

Something to try

Mental Images and the Design Process

When I learned about aphantasia I began to wonder... How might the vividness of our individual imaginations impact our design process?

Melanie Scheer · July 2022

All 5 articles

Watch

The Body-Mind Disconnect: How Your Autonomic Nervous System Shapes Mental Imagery

November 2025

Research

2026

Pupil changes to voluntary and involuntary visual imagery: A unified paradigm with implications for aphantasia research

Vanbuckhave and colleagues · Neuropsychologia

Pupillometry showed that imagined brightness modulates pupil size, but these changes did not correlate with individual self-reported imagery vividness. This suggests a dissociation between subjective reports and objective physiological measures of imagery.

2025

Varieties of aphantasia

Nanay · Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Aphantasia is a heterogeneous condition with distinct subtypes, including variations in voluntary control and sensory modalities. Recognizing these differences is essential for developing accurate experimental methodologies and explanations.

From the community

Only volontary phantasia

Can anyone relate to having voluntary mental imagery while lacking spontaneous visualization? Looking for similar experiences or terminology.

LB · 3 October 2024 · No replies yet