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.

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.

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.

Reference

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

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.

Vanbuckhave, C., Huson, N., Lœvenbruck, H., Guyader, N., & Chauvin, A. (2026). Pupil changes to voluntary and involuntary visual imagery: a unified paradigm with implications for aphantasia research. Neuropsychologia, 223, 109378. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109378

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Reference

Varieties of aphantasia

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.

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

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Video

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

What if the key to understanding mental imagery differences isn't in your brain's visual centers? New research reveals why your ability to visualize may depend on something unexpected: how well you sense your own body.

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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

Discussion

Only volontary phantasia

recentlyLB

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

Article

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.

recentlyby Aphantasia Network and

Article

Impact of Aphantasia on the Reading Experience

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

recentlyby Rosina Williams

Article

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?

recentlyby Melanie Scheer

Article

Visualizing the Invisible

What do typical visualizers experience? How does my imaginative experience compare? Designer Melanie Scheer introduces a new way to visualize the visual imagination spectrum.

recentlyby Melanie Scheer

You've reached the end of content in the voluntary imagery topic.

Reference

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

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.

Vanbuckhave, C., Huson, N., Lœvenbruck, H., Guyader, N., & Chauvin, A. (2026). Pupil changes to voluntary and involuntary visual imagery: a unified paradigm with implications for aphantasia research. Neuropsychologia, 223, 109378. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2026.109378

recently

Reference

Varieties of aphantasia

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.

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

recently

Video

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

What if the key to understanding mental imagery differences isn't in your brain's visual centers? New research reveals why your ability to visualize may depend on something unexpected: how well you sense your own body.

recently

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

Discussion

Only volontary phantasia

recentlyLB

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

Article

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.

recentlyby Aphantasia Network and

Article

Impact of Aphantasia on the Reading Experience

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

recentlyby Rosina Williams

Article

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?

recentlyby Melanie Scheer

Article

Visualizing the Invisible

What do typical visualizers experience? How does my imaginative experience compare? Designer Melanie Scheer introduces a new way to visualize the visual imagination spectrum.

recentlyby Melanie Scheer

You've reached the end of content in the voluntary imagery topic.

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