Thanks for sharing! Being an aphantasiac, I feel I excel in my work compared to those who can visualise things. When I design, I move things around based on what feels like good user experience to me and what makes me feel satisfied based on the sense I have of what it should do, rather than relying on mind's eye visualisation. This way, I don't get as attached to my initial ideas and don't mind redoing it until I'm happy with the outcome.
While reading, despite not imagining what's on the page, I find myself paying more attention to the flow of language and concepts. I particularly enjoy reading sci-fi and fantasy, where although I don't visualize characters, I grasp the concept they represent in the story. This has made me a more critical reader, which I think is lovely
Thanks, Charlie. It’s amazing how the brain works! Interestingly, I have a pretty robust visual brain (overlaid with continual streams of words!) but I have a poor memory for my experiences. I really don’t remember so many events and people from my past. I sort of hate it when someone says, “Remember when … “ because odds are I don’t - at all. I can mentally picture places, things, rooms, even processes, but I can’t remember events.
Thanks for sharing this Charlie! Until sometime last year I’d never heard of Aphantasia and when I came across it, I tried to figure out if I had it but without a reference point of what others can see I found it really hard to be sure! But the more I read about it, the more likely I think it is. I’ve always struggled to create without reference, I remember in my a-level art class being totally stumped on how to move my project on. It made me think I was just a bit rubbish at art even though I could draw well if I copied something. What you mention about struggling to tell stories huuuugely resonates, it’s made me feel so isolated and boring in conversations in the past when I can’t jump in with my own story anecdotes. I just can’t remember them - and now I’ve stopped trying to and accepted it’s not the way I communicate. I also definitely find the pace of conversations too fast and by the time I’ve processed what I want to say, everyone else has moved on. I think that’s why I find 1:1 conversations so much easier to navigate!
Thanks for this post Charlie, it's like you have been inside my mind because this could be about me. I am a full aphantasic, I see nothing at all just a lot of nothing, infinite black. I find it really hard to explain to people that I can still imagine how things would look but like you say its conceptual, a feeling of just knowing. I am also exactly the same with reading, and have recently discovered a love of literary fiction as there is far less description for me to skim over and a lot more about the people, their lives, their emotions.
I do get sad that I cannot relive memories in a more visceral way but often times a scent, location or physical feeling will give me a brief feeling and description of the memory.
One thing I think is a benefit of having aphantasia is that if I see something I wish I hadn't then I cannot recall the image once it has gone, I know I have seen something that wasn't nice or that invoked feeling in me but I can't see it and therefore those images cannot haunt me.
This was SO interesting. I learned so so much from this post and started wondering about my own restraints. Thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing this.
Very interesting how different our minds our. I believe I’m a hyperphantasic, but not for words, they appear blurred like I’ve censored them (I think my dyslexia).
I listen to a podcast called Happier by Gretchen Rubin and she has recently wrote a book about the 5 senses. She recommends writing a memory using the 5 senses: smell, taste, sight, touch and sound. I wondered if that would be a good way for you to capture moments? Just musing. You could even write movement somehow too.
Thanks for sharing! Being an aphantasiac, I feel I excel in my work compared to those who can visualise things. When I design, I move things around based on what feels like good user experience to me and what makes me feel satisfied based on the sense I have of what it should do, rather than relying on mind's eye visualisation. This way, I don't get as attached to my initial ideas and don't mind redoing it until I'm happy with the outcome.
While reading, despite not imagining what's on the page, I find myself paying more attention to the flow of language and concepts. I particularly enjoy reading sci-fi and fantasy, where although I don't visualize characters, I grasp the concept they represent in the story. This has made me a more critical reader, which I think is lovely
Thanks, Charlie. It’s amazing how the brain works! Interestingly, I have a pretty robust visual brain (overlaid with continual streams of words!) but I have a poor memory for my experiences. I really don’t remember so many events and people from my past. I sort of hate it when someone says, “Remember when … “ because odds are I don’t - at all. I can mentally picture places, things, rooms, even processes, but I can’t remember events.
Thanks for sharing this Charlie! Until sometime last year I’d never heard of Aphantasia and when I came across it, I tried to figure out if I had it but without a reference point of what others can see I found it really hard to be sure! But the more I read about it, the more likely I think it is. I’ve always struggled to create without reference, I remember in my a-level art class being totally stumped on how to move my project on. It made me think I was just a bit rubbish at art even though I could draw well if I copied something. What you mention about struggling to tell stories huuuugely resonates, it’s made me feel so isolated and boring in conversations in the past when I can’t jump in with my own story anecdotes. I just can’t remember them - and now I’ve stopped trying to and accepted it’s not the way I communicate. I also definitely find the pace of conversations too fast and by the time I’ve processed what I want to say, everyone else has moved on. I think that’s why I find 1:1 conversations so much easier to navigate!
Thanks for this post Charlie, it's like you have been inside my mind because this could be about me. I am a full aphantasic, I see nothing at all just a lot of nothing, infinite black. I find it really hard to explain to people that I can still imagine how things would look but like you say its conceptual, a feeling of just knowing. I am also exactly the same with reading, and have recently discovered a love of literary fiction as there is far less description for me to skim over and a lot more about the people, their lives, their emotions.
I do get sad that I cannot relive memories in a more visceral way but often times a scent, location or physical feeling will give me a brief feeling and description of the memory.
One thing I think is a benefit of having aphantasia is that if I see something I wish I hadn't then I cannot recall the image once it has gone, I know I have seen something that wasn't nice or that invoked feeling in me but I can't see it and therefore those images cannot haunt me.
This was SO interesting. I learned so so much from this post and started wondering about my own restraints. Thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing this.
Very interesting how different our minds our. I believe I’m a hyperphantasic, but not for words, they appear blurred like I’ve censored them (I think my dyslexia).
I listen to a podcast called Happier by Gretchen Rubin and she has recently wrote a book about the 5 senses. She recommends writing a memory using the 5 senses: smell, taste, sight, touch and sound. I wondered if that would be a good way for you to capture moments? Just musing. You could even write movement somehow too.