The inability to visualize is called aphantasia (image-free thinking), and this is how you can tell if you have it

adorkastock

114843

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Some of you may know me as the pose lady, or the poser, or the pose-a-day person. I provide reference photos for artists. Yesterday, I had a post go viral in which I mentioned I have aphantasia (I'm a 5 on this scale), and a lot of you seemed really surprised and interested to learn about this condition. Plenty of you had questions, so I thought I'd write about aphantasia, what it is, how you can tell if you have it, and how people cope with it.

Visualizing things has always been difficult for me. When someone said "imagine a..." or "picture in your head a..." I never really understood that some people could actually DO that. For me, no matter how I try, I can't grasp anything visually in my mind. I know what a horse looks like. If you showed me a photo of a horse, I'd say "that's a horse!" I know it has four legs, a tail, and a head. I know it's big. But if you asked me to visualize a horse, I can't see it at all. I could attempt to draw it, but it'd probably come out pretty poorly.

I can't do this. I can't rotate the cow, because I can't visualize the cow. This applies to memories, familiar places, objects, and people. If you have me read some text, say... A description of a room, I can't build that room in my head. I can't visualize something I've written as being a scene in a movie (lots of writers do this I know!) so I have no idea what the lighting is like, the expression on this character's face, the intonation of their voices.

This neat graphic is taken from aphantasia.com which is a great resource for learning about this. The spectrum swings both ways - some people can imagine every single detail about something. I know lots of artists can do this, and their journey as artists are often trying to match on paper what's in their mind. For me, when I draw, I have to figure it out as I go. This is why I started taking stock photos, because referencing helped save precious thinking and figuring out time and produce a better end product.

I'm sure it's not that shocking to know there's everyone in between as well. Some people can imagine general shapes, while others can tell you textures and smells. They can see in their mind that the horse is brown, with black feet, and that she has longer fur around her hoofs and that her tail is braided, her mane is crimped, and her eyes are blue.

The term aphantasia was really only coined in 2015, so it's not a surprise if you've never heard of it before. Aphantasia can affect other senses too. Like I can't pull up a song at whim. If you asked me what "I'll make a man out of you" sounded like, I couldn't tell you, but I do remember (memorized) all the lyrics, and I could maybe sing a little of it (very very likely off-key). I can't hear the clip-clop (I know "clip-clop" is onomatopoeia and I'm just sort of repeating it in my head, if that makes sense) of a horse galloping, but I would recognize it if I heard it.

Parts of songs do get stuck in my head, but usually they're really short sections and they repeat over and over, and they kind of fade out when I'm doing something else.

Before you ask, yes, I do dream, and all of my dreams have senses in them, and I dream in full color. Funny enough though, I can tell I'm dreaming if I can visualize something. So that's one way I can do a reality check. I can tell you what happens in a dream, but I can't re-see the dream. I'm sure I'm capable of hallucinating, but I haven't experienced that.

From Aphantasia.com:

"But you also don’t need mental pictures to excel at certain things.

In fact, aphants tend to be more analytical. We excel in fields like science, math, and engineering (https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/people-with-aphantasia-are-more-likely-to-work-in-a-stem-field/). Of course, there are notable exceptions in the creative industries.

This natural (and intriguing) variation in our brains can have an impact on everything from our education and career (https://aphantasia.com/topic/career/) choices to PTSD sensitivity (https://aphantasia.com/topic/mental-health/) and even the reliability of our eyewitness testimony (but not in the ways you might expect). The stronger your imagination, the more challenging it can be to distinguish what’s real from what’s imagined. Or what scientists call your reality threshold (https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-it-real-or-imagined-how-your-brain-tells-the-difference-20230524/).

All this to say… Our image-free way of thinking can have unique advantages. Often in unimaginable ways."

Just because I can't visualize what something physically looks like doesn't mean I can't know that the horse still has four legs, a tail, and a head. If you asked me to tell you what the horse is doing, I could come up with something! It doesn't mean I can't conceptualize -- I just can't visualize the look of something.

Aphantasia can vary. So, how can you tell if you have it? Try out this test on Aphantasia.com: https://aphantasia.com/study/vviq/ The test works like this:

For each scenario try to form a mental picture of the people, objects, or setting. Rate how vivid the image is using the 5-point scale. If you do not have a visual image, rate vividness as ‘1’. Only use ‘5’ for images that are as lively and vivid as real seeing. The rating scale is as follows:

1. No image at all, I only “know” I am thinking of the object
2. Dim and vague image
3. Moderately realistic and vivid
4. Realistic and reasonably vivid
5. Perfectly realistic, as vivid as real seeing

How'd you do?

I'm sure you have tons of questions! I'll try to tackle what I can, but there's a great FAQ on Aphantasia.com that answers a lot of them: https://aphantasia.com/faqs/

MissivesFromTheTower

#3 It's the cops, isn't it? You don't have to say anything, just look up and to the left.

2 years ago |

TheWombatStrikesAgain

#3 Rotated too hard. Cow got sick and vomitted everywhere.

BlindGardener

I can’t picture a whole horse, but I can picture any individual part of a horse. The problem is horses are too big to entirely fit in that frame of my brain camera. I can picture a whole pony though.

mikewritesbooks

I'm an author. I see full-on movies in my head... and nobody will stop long enough for me to write what's going on, so I do the best I can.

Cronos51101

As a mechanical engineer, this is my super power. Think x-ray vision, but things move and have physical characteristics as well.

RustyRedbeard

Apologies to the cow in my mind that started spinning violently out of control when I read that bit.

TheSwedishCryptid

hahaha omg. I just imagine mine initially moving slowly, like cooking meat over a fire but with your comment I just imagine it spinning at super sonic speed and it made me laugh so hard xD

JinxRocks

This is related to a section of a class I teach on how to be an effective communicator. Not only do some people have the inability to visualize, they often fill their mind with words or sounds instead of pictures. Add that many do not have an inner voice, some think in abstract ways, and some are logical, etc., how you communicate can be received very differently from person to person.

TheVoidSinger

Touch and or the equivalent of a body map. ideas and concepts have shape size distance etc and related words are just different positions around the related concept. That's my world. I can think in words, but don't often because it feels constricting unless I'm actually speaking to someone (or rehearsing the same)

FeChefImgur

If you search for an article by "Blake Ross" on "Aphantasia" it is a great read (there is also links in my bio to it). I stumbled across this article about 6-7 years ago through a news feed and the headline intrigued me so I went and read it and it was both a light bulb and 'holy shit' moment for me. It's what I point people to read when I'm trying to explain it. I'm also going to consider pointing them at this post now :)

cosinewave

Richard Feynman said he visualized the physics of particle interactions while trying to understand how they work. He would do this repeatedly until he felt he gained some kind of understanding of the principles he was studying. Einstein is said to have had similar abilities. Mozart was thought to be able to "see" music. Aeronautical engineer Kelly Johnson could visualize complex airflows around a plane. It is a great tool if you have it but not required to be successful.

Promethianfire

It's hard to know where I fit on this. I can picture things in my head easily enough, but holding on to them is tricky. They'll fluctuate between real life and barely there.

NoIWillNotFixYourComputerWhenIComeOverForDinner

TemplarMuse

The internet should be a gold mine for psychology papers.

Arcblaire

Im not quite sure where I sit on this chart, maybe the no.4 in that first figure. Problem is I can see things in my head but theyre fuzzy and undefinded. I know the rough colors and shape of a cow and rotate it but the image itself is blob like and without a definite position for limbs and head etc. Sucks cause I really wanna be able to draw well but its hard when I dont actually know what anything looks like in my head.

kanybal

Same here. It's funny, Imgur taught me a while ago I had aphantasia, but I recently started realizing I could still visualize some things. Took this post to learn that there are different levels of it. I think I'm a 4

This is going to sound weird but Im curious, in your heads, when you visualize your family members or friends do they actually look like they do in reality? I can recognize my family and friends instantly but they look nothing like the image I have of them in my head, not even close. Different eyes color, hair, height, shape its all wrong and Im curious if others experience that now.

I cannot visualize faces. I can conjure up a vague face shape (the same for everyone really), and then add hair and a beard. Eyes, nose, mouth... Are usually a blur, but if I try, I can pretty much come up with something equivalent to my 5yo's drawings 😅

theANALyzer

I have this friend that it is impossible for him to remember someone's face. Every time he sees your face it is like he is seeing your face for the first time and if he turns away he cannot remember your face. He remembers everything else like your hair, voice, body shape. I said "That's pretty cool." and he said "Yea, but I do not know what my mothers face looks like. I can tell you everything else about her, just not her face." I thought he was lying and I looked it up and it's rare but real.

Yeah I can't pull up faces. I know what they look like, I can tell you that they have brown hair or blue eyes, but I can't actually pull them up. I need to look at a photo.

It's called Prosopagnosia.

Snooj

I have a friend who has it, as does her daughter. It's weird to talk about how they think. Interestingly enough, they both dream normally.

hipifreq

Another total aphantasic here. Nothing but blackness and faintly shimmering geometric patterns when I close my eyes tightly and visualize something. My inner monologue can drone on and on about details but no visuals

Stuey1221

Yup, I have Aphantasia

quelin

I can visualize anything, but I cant describe it out loud. I have a heck of a time converting thought to spoken word. I had an IEP for it back in the 1990s.

Do you daydream?

I have ADHD so yes and no. More like blank staring. I just see thoughts instead of images if that makes sense

HappyTimeHollis

I have aphantasia, I daydream emotions and use my empathy skills to logic what the feelings would be.

sauronater

I'd be interested in psychedelics and how a trip would effect different people on this scale as far as visuals are concerned

onekoolkat94

Well I'm a #1 and, while I don't know if it made things more intense for me, I can say from experience that I have a much easier time keeping control because I have a lot of practice creating things or watching "movies" in my head.

ICampOntheFirstDate

This is interesting. I wonder how related visualizing things are with spatial abilities like the ability to arrange furniture, assemble (or disassemble) something without instructions, troubleshoot a mechanical problem, or even park a car. I use mental pictures for all of those things. It would be interesting to meet a spatial/mechanical type that doesn't use visualization.

thatsmeinanutshell

I asked a similar question on Reddit if you’re curious. . . https://www.reddit.com/r/Aphantasia/s/pqxE0vcDcn

IHaveGreatKittenRecipes

Semi driver here, I have zero visual imagination, total aphant. My spatial skills are incredibly good, actually, even before driving. Mum always had me 'play Tetris' with items she needed to store, or moving boxes in a truck, etc. I can tell at a glance if something will fit into a space even if the space is nowhere near me, but I can't *see* the object or the space. Some part of my brain has the actual facts of both objects, compares them, and just returns a yes/no answer without visuals.

deanbrah

I work in construction, with aphantasia, well somewhere between aphan and hypo. I seem to do fine with, idk what you would ask but I can answer

RunsNakedThroughSwamps

For most of that, I would guess that I'm physically doing the things you're doing in your head. Comparing things side by side, etc. Rotating something is like doing matrix algebra; I have to take each point and calculate where it'll move to.

ADDGirl

I'm on the low end of visualization, like 3.5 if 5 is nothing.
I can think in 3D, like I can look at a flat pattern and tell you if the shape folds up into a cube or not.
I was a mechanical drafter for years and my spacial relationship skills are often better than my husband's.
I say I can rotate images in my mind, but they're not super detailed crisp and clean images. I still know what I'm thinking of though.

moonshadowkati

I can produce 4 in my head: vivid colors and details, movement, scenery, it's all but perfectly realistic. However, if I try to focus on it, like trying to paint that image from my head, the details slip and blur away, becoming more like a 2.

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VolcanoHerder

Yea to me it's kind of like trying to remember a dream, once I try to figure out anything specific the details slip away. I can totally picture a horse grazing in a meadow but can't tell you anything about it.

PackYourBagsGriff

Me too. It makes drawing really weird. Just yesterday, I decided to sketch some pokemon from memory. I can mentally see the classic art for Charmander, for example, but the second I start to *look* at it, look for the details I need to draw, the whole thing just.... fades away. I was sitting there like "BUT I CAN ROTATE THE COW THOUGH"

Oh wait I got the numbers backward.

The scale at the top is opposite of the one at the bottom.

That'll do it. :)

jesseCandyBaroness

Same for me, though picturing something sitting still is hard too unless it is a photograph, so I can picture the horse, smell the hay, hear the snort, see the head bobbing/tail flicking; but if I were to picture the details to draw it it would come out like a Dalí painting. I can only see things in motion so trying to draw a still, everything is blurry/malformed/out of focus.

SaltyCoastie

That's interesting. I am the opposite. At first it is very basic, but I can concentrate and create more detail.

BumpusMcPhumpusAngeletes

Same here, its like I can grasp the whole image but if I try to really nail down any one part the rest starts to change

StepRightUp

Yes! THIS! Wow, how fascinating to realize this is so common!

FrogBotherer

Interesting, I'm an engineer and I have, I feel, a fairly active imagination. I find it useful to construct ideas in my head before committing it to paper or CAD.

I can do that, but without the visuals... more like the way you know the shape of your hand without looking

Same. The machine is already in my head, CAD just helps me explain it to others.

Exact opposite for me, CAD is the first time the thing actually exists for me outside of a concept. Not being able to visualise something makes using visual language to describe it extremely difficult for me, so if I need to explain something I'm thinking of to someone else I tend to draft it out for them. Like right now I'm building a bathroom in an unused space. I can't explain to my mother what is going to happen, but I can sketch plans and show her with objects. Brains are so damn weird.

TheBlueMuppet

I work things out and run tests and document details like how to manufacture a given thing. Given enough time, i can make something through iterative design and the first version irl is more like my 6th. The ability to work backwards and test viability in my mind is extremely helpful and tbh, fun. I wish i had an environment where i could design how i think.

TheMaestro66

Go build that environment! I wonder if it works anything like mine.

I'm not educated in VR and i believe it would have to be VR to really be as immersive.

YouWillNeverFindMe

There's people who don't have an inner voice, unless they say the words out live, they are not thinking it. On topic though, not being able to think in visuals is as strange to me. I can visualize a whole job, with all the tools and items I need, as well as where to get said things pretty quickly, and I rarely forget any items... I already did the whole job visually in my head, after all.

No inner voice doesn't mean no thoughts if you aren't speaking, just no words/sound. I have this at the level of I can think in words, but generally don't unless I'm rehearsing something to say, because it's more limiting than thinking in terms of concepts and how things relate. My spatial reasoning is also excellent despite not "seeing" because to me everything (including word concepts) has shape, size, texture, consistency, shading, and relative position and I "feel" it like I do my own body

infiniteflux

Often I visualize something, then cross it off my list subconsciously because i feel like i have done it. It's worse when someone reminds to do something, in the process of making a mental note, I picture myself doing it and then it feels like I have done it.

sciron

I only have a voice in my head when I'm actively using it. I also don't really visualize things, like you described, I just "know." Like, one second it's all just there.

Same here. I don't 'see' or 'hear' in my mind, it's just instant google information. I can sorta do my own internal voice, but it actually 'sounds' like the same direct information beam with a time delay per word. No associated actual sounds. But I guess because of?- Or maybe despite? -all of that, I have damn near perfect recall of places I've been and conversations I've had. Maybe because the visual and auditory information isn't muddying up the storage? Idk exactly.

RainierCamino

Same here. Which is extremely fucking handy since I'm an industrial mechanic. I can visualize stuff I've worked on, take it apart in my head and put it together. Engines, compressors, conveyors, gearboxes, etc. If it's something I haven't worked on before my brain can sort of fill in blanks? But you ask me what I ate for breakfast yesterday and I probably couldn't tell you. Brains are weird.

CoreConcept

I used to create schematics for a guitar effects pedals in my head and then draw it on paper. I wonder if the ability to visualize is at all related to having an inner monologue?

No idea if the two are related, but I can tell you I regularly wish my brain would shut the fuck up and quit arguing with itself ... or myself? Whatever

Mine is sarcastic and mean.

Kelerain

Speaking personally I have an inner monologue but can only rarely mentally visualise something. Its worth repeating that just because you aren't visualising it doesn't mean you can't conceptualise it. A large part of my job is being able to conceptualise 2d plans as 3d objects which had never been a problem for me.

DinosaursCameFromSpace

The best description I heard is that you may have the image but you can’t interrogate it, once you’re asked for any detail it’s not there

ShadeWilson2

I'm somewhere around the a- to hypo and my experience might be the opposite? If you ask me to picture a horse, my brain "pictures" (it's more a knowing if what a horse is than a picture) a horse devoid of any specific characteristics. If I then think about what colour a horse might be, or what a horse's tail specifically could look, or what a horse might smell like my brain "zooms in" on that detail but then loses the whole horse.

My brain is kind of the same, except the images are low-res and only flash for a millisecond

One of my friends has it and she simply thinks in words. Blank slate.

TheMiamiVicePresident

I remember hearing this as a reason some people don’t really enjoy reading

nevinera

It has to be more complicated than that. I'm aphant, and I read so much and so constantly that it's kind of a problem :-)

But it may very well be the reason I don't like a bunch of "classics" that my wife tells me are amazing - they seem to have a ton of description in them that I just kind of .. read past.

Moby dick has entered the chat. I feel like a lot of this is also just how writing has changed over the years, but agreed, some of the classics like don quixote and 40,000 leagues under the sea are great but Jesus there’s a lot of detail on non-important things

Ay, perfect description! I can see and rotate the cow in my mind, but if I focus on the details of the head, I lose the tail, etc

The 'mind's eye' does use the visual cortex of the brain, maybe that's why it has a field of view and poor peripheral vision?

bitterbirdonabike

It's always a bit of a jolt to learn the differences in experiencing the world. I have synesthesia, and growing up I thought everyone agreed that letters, numbers, names and words have colours, and that smells have a sound. It took me a long time to understand that even more complex impressions, bordering on hallucinations but not interfering with reality and always following the same pattern, was also part of synesthesia. "Synesthesia" is purple, bordering on blue, with a hint of yellow btw.

I have this at a rather mild level, not for letters/numbers, but definitely some color > sound and sound > motion / tactile, and a touch of tactile > taste... my favorite example is nerve pain has a too sweet raw sugar aftertaste

MinervaMeThis

Synesthesia is yellows, blues, and reds for me. It's a colorful word (which is appropriate haha)

BoogaYooga

Out of curiosity, how to you picture a colour called "octarine"? If you want context read my answer below.

It's from Discworld, don't search it before answering. Of course it's never shown bc it's in a book, but octarine is the colour of magic, it's a special frequency that only wizards can see. I love how it's described in the book because that's exactly how I was trying to picture it while it was being explained.

I'd go with stygian greenish violet (one of the so called impossible colors) that fades and shifts if you try to focus on it, based on your brief description. And now I've just looked up the actual description and wasn't expecting what I read.

Grey turning orange.

IlikehowScottishpeopletalk

I can create entire films in my mind. Scenes, songs, wardrobe, the whole thing. I wish I could turn it off sometimes.

discitus

I've done that since I was a little kid. I create sci-fi and fantasy stories and play them out, camera angles and all. At least in my mind, it feels as detailed as watching a film in a theatre.

Malloon

I often workshop a story while dreaming. Add things, change things, go "from the top", etc.

Alvaren

I wish I had a way to easily make these things I see and envision, I'm terrible with art and making that into something that moves and has sound would be even more difficult

Yeah I hate it. I suck at art, and I have all these amazing things in my mind that I can't recreate.

InflationEnjoyer

When I was a kid and my tv got taken away as a punishment, I would make entirely new episodes of shows like The Simpsons and Powerpuff girls in my mind. I can still view the reruns.

StabbyMcMurder

I feel you

How else would you get to sleep? I just watch those movies until I'm unconscious.

Neurisko

Replaying a comfortable favorite is a good way to fall asleep for me. I can do some books too.

xo66nt

ha, me too. i have a few scenarios at the time, and i can go to my ancient roman scenario, or my fantsay novel im writing in my head, but that im not a part of, then i dream up legends and geologies and visualise them; or any other scenario that im keeping ‘warm’

Yes indeed, my favorite scenes from the miniseries I'm never going to finish writing are my go-to.

WeSingLalaWhileTheDevilDoesTheChaCha

I used to think I was crazy for having more than one internal monologue, turns out its pretty common

That sounds both distracting and tiring

Override9636

It's a lot of fun bouncing ideas back and forth between "myself" in like a pro vs. con kind of way. I can really get to the core of a decision quickly that way.

My problem is I also have music playing and it's distracting.

Always with the music! I can't stop myself from singing, humming, whistling, and tapping all the time, much less stop thinking about it.

I think there may be some overlap between these sensory issues and other... diagnoses... but that's a much larger topic.

There is indeed, but one feeds into the other. :)

TargaX

WHAT?! There are people that actually "see" images in their imagination? As if you had your eyes open and were looking at the object/thing??? That's crazy talk! I wish I could do that.

nclu

Allegedly it's something that can be practiced with a technique called "image streaming". Like PT for Aphantasia.

AdrianMole

I wonder what the actual benefits are of practicing. Until I stumbled upon this topic I wasn't aware of this phenomenon, let alone that I lacked an ability most people seem to have.

When I read books, I literally visualize all scenes, interactions and such even if they lack descriptions for such actions like you would watch a movie. Like I can see them talking, moving, simple actions like scratching their head as they ask a question and looking confused. When they say a greeting to a friend, I can hear their voice in excitement and how they run up to their friend to give them a hug.

So lucky that you can do that. I'm jealous!

It's difficult when I try to write my short stories, because when I imagine them. It's like I'm literally peeking in as a ghost seeing EVERYTHING. I literally see my characters how I imagined them look and how they do things, what they sound like, every little item in the background. If there's animals in the background. And I want to include all of it in the story as that's how alive it is to me...But that really kills the pacing of a story x.x

That was the first thing one of my kids asked me. "Don't you daydream?" Sure, but daydreams/fantasies for me are like making up a story (like writing a book) in my head. I can *picture* the scenes, but not actually SEE them. As I told my kid: It's probably impossible to explain what goes on in my head to someone who actually sees images in their mind. Maybe if you try to recall someone's face you knew from childhood, and you can't recall all the details?

FiveShiftOne

NO. God. I hate how everyone explains it because no for very, very few people is it like looking at the thing with your eyes. I can imagine things as they would appear without having to describe them, but it's not like seeing it with my eyes. I really think most people are just fucking terrible at describing it and they give y'all the wrong impression.

I'm surprised how few of us there are in the comments. I used to think people were just trying to be special when they'd say things like books are movies for your mind. Then during a road trip my partner had to turn off an audiobook because he couldn't see the road. People are out there hallucinating full-time, and we're the ones who aren't normal?!

I can't do that either. Until 10 minutes ago I wasn't aware others see images in their imagination. I wonder if I'm missing out on something.

phoenix071

It's not as if I had my eyes open, you can tell it's different. I don't become blind and only see the thing I'm imagining

I'm doing it right now! Another comment mentioned a horse so I'm typing this comment while looking at my mind horse. He's brown, with a white strip down the nose.

My horse is Applejack. Canonical, not Elbow'ed.

spacebaIIstheaccount

Yeah I can't believe it either lol

Mikeiller

You want to know something really crazy? I can see an image of YOU in my head. I don't even know what you really look like, but I can make an image of you in my head right now reacting to this post. And you can't stop me!

Mmrnmhrn

Now rotate TargaX. No one can stop you.

This is me, circa 1982:

This is me now:

SamaelQliphoth

I can imagine you setting up and taking this picture, in IMAX clarity. In fact, I can put any number of background songs to said mental video, and change them on a whim. Or have someone else narrate over it. Then proceed to continue it to a myriad of conclusions, regardless of realism. Hyperphantasia is fun.

dasklaus

It's not the same as having your eyes open, but it has overlap. Can you rehearse music or words in your head, or "hear" an inner monologue when thinking? It's like that but for vision.

All else aside, I have no idea how you guys masturbate. Do you just read a porno in your mind or simply enjoy the pleasure without the full blown movie set involving a rotating cast of characters?

Feralkyn

I hadn't even thought about that.

When I was young, Playboy/Hustler magazine. Many times, just the physical pleasure of stroking. Nowadays, "the internet is for porn", as they say. I'm depressed now, knowing I've been missing this super power of actually seeing images/movies in my mind.

Kbantar

Words have power on their own without requiring visual elements for me at least.

LapsisBeeftech

I just use a biology textbook.

The clitorus is easy to find when it's labeled "clitorus".

skipweasel

I was in my 50s before I discovered everyone else gets pictures with their thoughts.

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bgsteiner

Now think how much scarier it is to be alone with our thoughts in the dark void.

TMCybersnark

Don't feel bad. Some people don't even get thoughts.

Oh, I get plenty of them - like a Catherine Wheel in my head throwing off ideas and stuff all the time.

AgainstMethod

I still think this is a semantic confusion. I can't see it like it's an object in front of me in space refpecting the light in the room. I can picture it, but the visual experience is different from the one that happens when light hits my retinas. So is that "seeing a picture"? Two people with identical experiences are likely to answer that question differently.

zFUBARz

But if I said close your eyes, picture a horse with black and brown speckles, and a long mane, it's tail swatting flies lazily. Now picture it in the room in front of you. You could probably come up of at least an approximate image of that in your head from the sounds of that. Maybe a little blurry, or flat, but something. That thing I just described I literally have nothing at all if I close my eyes. Blackness, or maybe some swimmy eye squiggles if it's bright out .

byerss

Like if you think of someone you can think of their face? And you can’t imagine naked ladies?

MediaBlitz

What are your dreams like? Do you have images at all?

For me dreams are perfectly vivid, albeit usually boring, although I personally don't remember them often at all

USKillbotics

Weirdly, I only get strong images *when* I dream. When I imagine, it's all motion and feel.

Lovely intense dreams - but not with pictures.

That's actually pretty fascinating. Being able to experience other people's dreams would be wild.

Muffinburgler

So are they just sounds and other senses? No visuals?

Not even that - plenty happens but it's as if it's being narrated to me non-verbally. I can't really explain it.

Semphir

Wow... Now that is weird. I have aphantasia as well. But when i dream it's like a movie or vr. People can shift appearances, but i still know who it is supposed to be

xFryla

I'm a 1. That's why I loved books as a kid and got disappointed when the movies weren't the same as my mindscape of the book.

Omnislash9

Same!

NOYLL

Not sure if I'm a 1, but that's the reason I never saw the Harry Potter movies. I love the books, and I didn't want the image I had in my mind to be replaced by the movies.

AsABiologistWhoIsNotFunAtParties

omg I was so disgusted when I saw the first movie I refused to see anymore. but eventually I was on an airplane and they were playing the 5th movie and I watched it. I think because it had been so long since I read the books I had forgotten many details and so the movie didn't seem so bad. I can now enjoy all the movies, but I'm sure it's because I don't remember many book details. Still annoys me they didn't even dye Radcliffe's hair black.

I'm a 5 and still loved reading as a kid, I don't think that has much to do with it. The second part though could have some merit to it.

Rhythmaster

It's possible that you loved reading because of the rich visuals, OR that reading was part of how you developed that ability. I was a voracious reader and I had very vivid imagination that started to fade somewhat as I got older... but i also read a lot fewer books these days.

JTP117

I find I'm much better at creating scenes from what I'm reading than trying to recall an image I've seen with my eyes. Though, that could be an issue with active memory vs. long-term memory, I suppose.

xmsbeanx

I hate when I watch a movie first then read the book after bc my mind keeps fighting with itself. It wants to create its own image from the descriptive writing but the movie images are too thoroughly burned in.

Can you use your other senses to "see" it? That's what I find myself doing.

BigFatFailureTurtle

I'm at the other end of the scale. It baffled me when people complained about only seeing actors when they reread books where they previously saw characters reflecting people they knew. I read LotR and Harry Potter before the movies, and if I reread them today I don't "see" Ian McKellen or Daniel Radcliffe. I "see" a boy with messy black hair, broken glasses and a scar - because that's the description given. It never occurred to add other details that weren't there.

CJFoxx11

I have a mind scape. It’s in my imagination, but not my eye seeing place behind my eyelids.

Might I ask how a movie can look different if there's no image to compare it to?

Dont know how the person you asked do it. But words.. They have weight.... A dark room sounds more ominous than an unlit room. Even though they both could describe the same thing, a dark room sounds like it doesn’t have windows, so the feeling of the room i get is different.

yourfriendlyneighbourhoodtzimisce

The post uses contrary 1-5 scales. I think the previous commenter meant to put themselves at a 1 for the John Green scale & a 5 as per the later scale. I'm the same. Character looks/voices & cinematography/sound design can vary wildly from internal visuals when reading vs a real movie, which can be disappointing. I also get more sensory input from reading that won't transfer when I'm watching something, like descriptions of smell or touch.

GenesisNynja

The words on the page create an image and scene in your mind, and if the movie doesn’t match the images that were created in your head, it can be disappointing

I'm a 3.5 and I am always immensely disappointed when a movie isn't as awesome as the book was in my head.

SailorPupitar

I don't get disappointed, more like "oh that's how they pictured them?"

Interesting thought, I wonder if there's a parallel there about people who care that the movies aren't like the books.

Pyrowolf1

I'm a 4 and I love reading and hate when movies don't match the books (I think it's more of a continuity thing)

Lurkernomore

I'm only one datapoint but I'm a 5 and love reading.

ProjectDA

im a 5, wish i loved reading. i do love audio books though.

Puvaradivi

For myself I find it hard at the start of the movie when characters don't match how my imagination pictured them. But so long as the movie is done with decent actors, my mind tends to morph the image to that in the movie (from that point on).

Mamaof2QTs

Me! My friend is making me read a book that is huge with lots and lots and lots of description and I’m dying over here reading it. I’m in the “vague outlines” visualizer and reading all these details is super boring. Like I get they’re on a mountain side in the forest running from wolves. Anything more detailed than that is a waste of my time reading about.

Edit to add, I do enjoy reading and read a book a month. It’s just the ones with superfluous details I dislike. For example the Hobbit and Dragonborn Chair.

You should avoid any Terry Brooks books. Great stories but the dude can spend two paragraphs saying "there were clouds in the sky".

mardukkur

Movies can be not like books in lots of different ways though.

magicrhombus

I have no image of any book characters in my mind, so I don't care at all if the person cast in the role "doesn't look like" they are supposed to. Other changes from the book still can bug me though, particularly if they screw up a plot point in a way that makes the whole fucking story not make fucking sense.

SenfinaZeit

I'm still mad at the Hunger Games movies for ruining my two favorite scenes. No matter how bad it had been if they had nailed those two scenes I would have given it a pass. But they didn't.

TheSmoothSayer

This was very interesting. I have the opposite, I have hyperphantasia. I can visualize things I’ve seen, like people, animals, entire places I’ve been, the smells, the physical feeling of the walls, carpet or anything else with extreme detail. It’s nice for fun memories and creating art, but it is terrible for traumatic events because it feels like I relive them over and over and it takes me a lot longer to get over them compared to other people.

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TalleyZorah

This is wild, thank you for sharing. There is a character in Mass Effect (Thane) who recalls every memory as if he were experiencing it again in real time-- I wonder now if hyperphantasia was the inspiration for this.

BrentenIreland

There's an NLP technique that might help this. Visualise the traumatic event, then visualise yourself watching it on a screen at the movies, then visualise the screen getting further away then in black and white. And smaller and smaller,, you can also visualise the other people in front of you in the theatre and focus on them not at the screen at all.
Not sure it will help, but it has for me

rugtiestheroomtogether

This!!!

stvgrc

TIL I live at the far end of hyperphantasia. Instant visual and audio details. Makes things easy which is why I don't try. I can just do stuff because I saw it or heard it. Neat trick but is hollow.

AllistairTheSpaceNinja

I’ve discovered that’s how I remember some concepts from text. I can visualize the book or text page and just read it again.

zenxan

What is the main thing that distinguishes your imagination from real life, other than that you know you're imagining it?

hoytfam423

For me, this is the skill set I utilize to be a good writer. That and also my autism which has always made me hyperverbal. Example: in 8th grade I was tested and had the vocabulary of a junior in college. Obviously I've continued to grow my verbal comprehension and acuity so I'll let you do the math

Dionysus187

I have to have hyperphantasia. I can imagine things so clearly its frustrating I can't get other people to grasp it quickly enough. I figure out mechanical engineering problems in my head by imagining the full mechanics working within the laws of physics along with where the failure points would be. I did this recently with a custom mixing tank, didn't have to draw or even create a mock model. Got the parts and knocked it out first try.

Chronomechanist

I have hyperphantasia with visual imagery only. Smells, tastes, even touch, I can't recall or imagine.

simsimbalabim

Wait...you get over the bad things? Lucky!

friendofafriendofyourfriend

Just like Thane in Mass Effect 2

PrincessUnikitty

Yeppp. I was attacked by a dog in 2021. Ever since I've struggled with imagining its teeth in my face at night.

engineeringwombocombo

It can be bittersweet too. I can clearly imagine the feeling of my rabbit's jaws purring and the fur on her head as I pet her, the little growl she gave when she wasn't done being pet, and the warmth of her sitting in my lap giving her attention. It's nice to be able to remember her so vividly, but painful that I'll never get those exact feelings again. I'm terrified what will happen if I lose a human close to me.

garbuhj

PREACH!!!! I'm the same way! My imagination is so vivid it's almost like I'm actually back in whatever moment I'm remembering. This is extremely useful in many ways, but in actuality it's at least as harmful as it is beneficial.

prestonpiggy

I can't put myself to that scale of 1-5. But I feel like I'm close to you. It's discouraging to do art or any visual stuff when your mental image of a thing is 3d, shaded, texturized etc and your input was it canvas for example can't match that image.

FlavorIntensifies

I've had that same experience, traumatic events hit hard for longer, but I can visualize complex designs (both physical and systems/software), with textures, mechanical components, interactions and integrations which really makes my work much easier and my hobies more enjoyable

SIDSOS

I have OCD and sometimes my brain likes to put up an image/video/gif of something traumatic or something I have a phobia for. Just as a little treat I guess. It's almost impossible to get rid of the images and I see them very vividly

zephyrbell

I'm the same

SirButcher

Oh yeah, same here. I have to evade ANY sort of horror because they stuck with me for YEARS. Every single detail.

NationalistCanadianMooseWarrior

Lol same. I have an entire blueprint for the jeep I'm planning to build that I can recall, rotate, and zoom in on in my head. But I also have a 4K surround sound recording of my dad falling down a cliff on his bike (he's ok now) that involuntarily plays in my head sometimes.

Idsertian

Oh, so you're Thane.

bmg50barrett

Bro. You can't visualize a smell. Pfffff. What a rube.

Senguie

Oh same here, I can even imagine stuff I have never hold or touched. and what it would feel like. reading books or playing DND really blows my mind.
Playing whole songs in your head is also a fun one.

daementia

Same boat, I tell people remembering everything as an accessible file sometimes only brings pain.

Beezlebubble

I'm in the same boat. The worst part is how STRONG the memories can be. I associate feelings and experience with mine, so if I have a strong, negative feeling, you bet your ass I'm gonna remember everything that happened in fine detail...it's like watching a movie on repeat. Sometimes I can even dissociate in the memory and sorta "see myself" from a third person view at the same time as the first - trying to distance myself from what I experienced

WienerBeener

I too do this. I got emotional at picturing the horse. Its hard when you can picture every detail of awful things... I'm only glad my mind doesn't plague me with them as it does others. I am forever grateful to be able to turn it off. It does make doing things difficult sometimes. Paralyzing fear comes easy to me. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

finniss

I have this and recently learned this is not normal. Makes sense why I hated gore movies more than others growing up, and yeah, I have some haunting memories. Thankfully I’m really good at turning them off.

Noevilgifs

I have phantasia, and i can remember the face of a lady who was tossed from a car during a crash; her eyes lookimg at me as i ran up. i wish i couldn't.

I'm a 4 with a poor memory, and often considered the mild upsides to my condition. And being able to move past and literally forget trauma to a degree is a big one.

My memory is hyper as well, when it works. I had a traumatic childhood and it took me a couple decades to figure out how to stop my brain getting stuck in harmful memory loops from specific school years and other times. But I have a really hard time accessing random memories without a "handle" on them, like a very specific and unique multi-sensory memory (usually negative.) Large swathes of my life, especially my childhood, are just... missing.

It's much easier to construct new visualizations in my head. I've always been very creative in the sense of making new variations on things, combining things in new ways. But sometimes the sheer number of possibilities gives me analysis paralysis. Someone gives me a box of Lego bricks and I see a billion things I can build, but I can't choose between them, they are all equally valid.

mebe21

I'm the same. Long lost memories also get triggered vividly by me seeing the place or a similar event. I can even hear what things sounded like if I close my eyes and focus enough on visualizing something specific.

KittenVonCatsworth

I'm on the most extreme hyper- end of the spectrum. I can see the horse with photorealistic quality, smell its breath, feel its hair under my imaginary hand. I'm a novelist and run entire worlds in my head with all five senses flowing like I'm experiencing it firsthand. I didn't know people COULDN'T do that until very recently.

Zyxs975

I'm the same way and I thought everyone just has a constant movie going, i can space out at any time and im somewhere else. I always got super annoyed with my mother talking about... gross things during a meal (she's a doctor).... turns out she's not seeing it and feeling and smelling it like i am, only found this out like 3 years ago...

inchoroi

Yep! I'm the exact same way, for the most part. The trauma and depression has damaged some of it, though.

blzrdphoto

It seems like I have this but lucky for me most things I’ve experienced don’t really strike my brain as “trauma”. Sometimes I will imagine my kids breaking bones or accidentally falling on a knife or something bad like that and that’s quite an unpleasant experience but I’m able to quickly skirt the images. Mostly it seems to be a plus for me because those images mean I’m hyper vigilant about making sure they wear proper protection in sports and that dangerous objects are put away.

DemonDarakna

I think I have this as well. Especially if I'm not on my antidepressants. I feel like antidepressants dull this a bit, which makes it easier to not obsess over bad stuff (theoretical or real) that happen. Great for writing and daydreaming, bad for overall mental state in a not-so-good society.

Telharmonius

OMG! Me too! I used to demonstrate drawing by putting up a blank sheet and then waiting for the image to appear before me. It comes in a few seconds. I see it as though it is a living thing, with all the sounds and smells. Then, I use my pencil to trace what I see, posing it as I go. I see details, but I do them last concentrating on proportions and weight. When I get to folds in clothes, I "feel" them; the weight and movement of fabrics, the lights and darks of shading. It's intense!

Hazilo

Yep, exactly the same here. Even my inner monologue is more like an inner vivid constant movie... seems like adhd plays a role in this.

Hadn’t thought about ADHD being part of this. I’d be curious to see some data correlating the two things together to see how closely related they are.

dyac

Yep. Also ADHD here, often I find i can give what people consider to be freakish levels of detail in memory but it's because I replay the scene and then extract information. Like they'll remember we've been to this restaurant before, a few years ago, and I'll be able to replay the scenes in my head and from there tell them where we sat, who was there, possibly what each person ate etc. Can't remember the date though, as that's not visual!

aNomadicPenguin

For a counter point, I've got adhd and am on the opposite end. No pictures, just lots of thoughts bouncing around a void.

kahooki

Same here. Could all be awesome detailed and/or turned up to eleven. For example the above mentioned cow: I instantly visualized a highly detailed mash up of the cows from Kung Pow, Cow & Chicken, Barnyard and several real and comical memories heavily spinning with surrounded lightning. Sounds funny but sometimes my mind "pukes weirdness" nonstop. Sure I like it 99% of the time but I can be stressful to my wife quite often I guess.

ADHD?

Honestly I don't know. But if any then "only" ADD, I guess. No physical hyperactivity. Also more of an introvert in general. Expressive with words and thoughts, yes. Maybe I should let myself getting checked, although in my mid-fourties I suppose it's a lil late for that.

Btw when I close my eyes right now I see a dark blue gem with shaking wonky facets shimmering in front of a blackish/greenish background. The gem reminds me of goatse w/o hands and twerking somehow. Can't explain it better rn.

They call that "ADHD-PI" now, PI meaning "Primarily Inattentive", ie. Daydreaming, distractedness, trouble converting desires into action. I got diagnosed in my late 30s, it was validating and helpful. I think it would be helpful at any age to know one way or the other and to be able to access support if required.

Thank you for the insight and explanation! Should get myself tested as well I suppose. That's pretty much me you described with additional "funny quirks" regarding my social enviroment.

registeredpsycho

Same. I agree.

Smoretank

I have a weird combo of hyperphantasia. Like I can remember very vivid details of certain things. My 3rd birthday or even that night in 1st grade when I had that nightmare. I also have severe combined ADHD. My memory recall is shiiiiiiiiiiit. There will be gaps in my memory or I only remember that ladybug crawling across my hand and not the tree house exploding. It's very frustrating. When it comes to art I can never express what my brain sees into my work. There is just too much.

Meebers

This is familiar to me, too. Things get visualized aggressively and in great detail, except I have no control over what pops up/ gets remembered and what doesn’t. Or it’s like how another commenter mentioned— I can vividly visualize A Horse, but it’s also 16 overlapping shifting images of A Horse, like seeing multiple possible permutations at once. I can remember or visualize the randomest things in excruciating detail, and other times it’s completely blank. There’s generally no in-between.

KittyKlimt6

Neurodivergent? I have this, too

jenhiMlemBaron

When I can't sleep, I walk through my Grandmother's house from when I was a child. Agreed about the trauma though.

This is a GREAT IDEA considering my grandma's house was my happy place. The smells, the sights, even the textures of her curios...I remember them all vividly.

WhiskeyAndEggs

Woah! I’m excited to try this at bedtime. And yeah, the vivid traumatic memories are rough… but on the plus side, I can flip a cow in my mind and the police can’t stop me!

Ha! I did it immediately when I read that! No cops yet! lol

Evolutionm0nkey

True and one of the worst things is when people open up about their own traumas I have to fight to keep myself from essentially living that experience for myself in my head. I tend to be quiet and people open up to me a lot about the things that've happened to them and it may sound strange but it hurts me to hear them. I can visualize the pain, the sounds, the sights, the smells, the fear, the anguish. All of it swarms in my head and twists my stomach into knots.

I haven't ever told anyone for one because saying you can feel someones own trauma is very disrespectful in my eyes and two because I dont want anyone to ever feel like they couldn't open up to me if they needed to. My own suffering is meaningless in the face of their pain and I'd prefer them to feel accepted for who they are and have become. I'll just keep distracting my brain and going to therapy.

acidpigeon

You deserve and should have boundaries, though. That's healthy. It's okay to say no. Your suffering isn't meaningless, it's also real.

You can say you hear them and then redirect the conversation to protect yourself. That's okay. You are not their therapist.

I can do this too. I work in tech. I can visualise/simulate quite large complex systems in my mind based on just written specs and it's both a curse and a blessing - it's a blessing because it makes my job much easier for me, but it's a curse because it turns out most other people CAN'T do this and so I find they act like I'm a freak while also trying to get me to do their job for them.

CoherentLemur

Same here. I was constantly asked for modeling, and physics help. I can build complex mechanical systems in my head before I ever touch the computer. On the other hand I struggle with equations. You can give me a physics problem and I'll solve it no issue, but if you give me the exact same problem as a math problem, no can do. I can see the physics, I can't see the math.

This is exactly why I’ve learned I have to be VERY careful with what media I consume. Being able to very vividly visualize things like broken bones and other, uhm, scenarios is basically like Surprise Imaginary Trauma.

rpgaff2

Oooohhhh, maybe that's why I prefer escapism-esque media...

lemdarel

Right? I work at industrial site and can imagine in nauseating detail what it might feel like if I tripped and impaled myself on a piece of rebar, or what being in a pickup that is struck by a swinging excavator boom if a heavy equipment operator made a grievous error.

probably the worst one I ever saw is still in my mind playable in vivid detail. I don't even want to describe it well in case it can be put on someone else. Basically a drug cartel making a short term living example out of an informants son first in front of his father and then the father.

RumRunner42

I'm really lucky that I'm close to this but I have "shaders" that I can use. As an artist I can not only remember a place I've been in exquisite detail but I can also back out and imagine it rendered by Pixar, or painted by one of my favorite artists. I think cause I can "third person" my memories. I have a wild imagination and can fill in blanks, walk into houses I've seen, and makeup interiors, logical or otherwise. Which means I can pick and choose how I remember my traumas.

This is wild. I can do this to a point if I really try but it doesn’t seem to come natural and it never occurred to me that this is something others my not be able to do. Seems like it could be a really cool skill to have if it’s possible to hone it by practicing. Maybe I should try.

Bhockzer

This. I do this as part of my job building 3D models for construction that I’ve learned to apply the same principles to memories so I can “third person” an entire memory as though I was watching it in 3D.

SupernaturalReactions

I have horribly vivid dreams where I have died in numerous violent ways: high def, in colour, feeling every stab and slice, the taste of blood in my mouth, and waking up with the smell of burning flesh in my nostrils. It's exhausting.

howwouldyoudescribeyourself

Oh. I'm not alone. For me it was rape. Again and again, including body odours and alcohol stench of the attacker. Even though, IRL, I never actually was raped. AFAIK ... Then the dreams started to include my very small kids. That broke me. It ceased when I had some real breakthroughs in therapy. I'm terrified of them coming back tho.
But there's still a lot of dying in other ways. And my father trying to kill me. It's like being forced into a movie theater you hate, every day, again and again.

Half the time I know I'm dreaming. I have Severe Sleep Apnea and as a result, I experience REM sleep earlier in the sleep cycle than most, leading to dreams when still half awake. So, I'm just stuck there knowing that I am dreaming, not able to control it, and still experiencing every damn thing.

I can't say how sorry I am. Because I know how horrid it is. I more than once felt like I had real trauma from sth I've "only" dreamt. Mostly the stuff that included my children.

It is real trauma. We are our brains. Whether it's an event remembered or an event imagined; if it's vivid and detailed enough, the trauma that results is from the same process. Worse even because you feel like you have to discount it. Don't minimize your pain or your right to feel it.

MoonMoon89

When I picture a horse, it isn't ONE picture. It constantly morphs to everything horse like on top of each other. Draw birb? BE NOT AFRAID.

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neverpostsoriginalcontent

Ahh, I'm familiar with this condition. Your brain is stuck on what I call the platonic loop. It's where, completely behind the scenes, your brain is constantly trying to discern what is the true form of an object. But since that "form" exists in only outside of the material divide, you can never actually picture a true form. Therefore, you're doomed to unconsciously imagine all possible forms of something until, eventually, your brain just gives up. Unfortunately, this condition is always fatal.

GiveYourBallsATug69

Similar for me. Unless I've very recently seen a horse and am trying to remember how that specific one looked, it's just gonna be a slideshow of what my brain has catalogued over the years as "pictures of horses". And it doesn't feel like I hit the pause button on the slideshow.

unclesporky

Try this: instead of picturing a horse, picture a picture of a horse on a page. Picture it like Cameron looking at the painting in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a still image that zooms or cuts to other parts of the image. It stays consistent that way.

ticktockbent

When I picture something I get a sort of outline with a list of common characteristics. Like.. imagine the outline of an apple with a small tag pointing at it that says apple. Beneath that are things like Red, Green, Round, Crisp, Food, Tasty, Good. Things like that. I never considered that some people just see an apple in their heads.

ClikeX

The level of detail of my imagination also wildly differs per subject and moment in time.

Trollingstoned

I just tried...It seems sort of possible if I concentrate real hard. Like there's a stamina meter for it.

EvaisaDev

I can get the general shape of a horse but the last image i saw is superimposed over it

spinbutton3

Right, all the horses I know, and images of horses that love all come to me....I can see Stubb's Whistlejacket right now. I wish I could draw as well as I can picture in my mind

Couchwarrior1337

I tried to picture a horse and it started Fortnite dancing. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!

If you're 13. Nothing, if you're older.... Well then we have a problem

spiceass9000

What the fuck

Yeah I get analysis paralysis. I see too many options, can't choose.

vin23

My mind goes: Eyes, hooves, stable, hay, fur, manes, teeth, teeth, head

ThatJerkOnTheInternet

That's like how it is with me. I can visualize details but overall it's the concept of a horse, then visually a horse

I have this, plus it's like in the center of a hurricane. And then it starts to get weird.

ourari

The perspective also changes. Close ups of ears, eyes, nose, mouth. The entire horse from several angles, etc.

DeadOnionSaysWhat

Yeah, my brain kind of goes 'which horse?' and runs through a bunch of stock photos my brain has for horses.

SSWJari

Very much like this. Also, I just tried picturing an orange (easy round shape, yea?) except I got an apple. Then I realized I have the wrong fruit, it morphed into a pear... Hmmh.

I'm more like this as well. Also, my dreams are constantly morphing visual representations of things. I've been with my SO for 10+ years and she still takes on multiple forms when I dream about her. I know it's her, but when I wake up and recount the image, it looks nothing like her.

atoyot

That just sounds like LSD with fewer steps.

Youhavinagiraffe

I always struggle to work out where on that scale I am because my mental images don't stay static and can be very vivid in random unhelpful ways I can't consciously focus on... maybe I have ADHDantasia

3Davideo

The platonic ideal of a horse.

pixelsnader

So, a sphere?⚫

"'Taint what a horse looks like, it's what a horse BE."

quzar

For me it's less so that it explicitly morphs, but more that it's static but not very 'graspable'. Attempting to focus more causes morphing.

I'm very happy with this comment and it's replies because they describe me - I always felt alone in topics about aphantasia because everyone else is like "yeah, of course, I'm a 3 on this scale" or smt like that. I have a collection of references in my head and I'll mix them when trying to "picture" something. I'm obviously not "viewing", but it's like I'm "remembering" it, even if it's for the first time.

comacomacomacomachameleon

now you understand why AI image generators fuck up small details

Probably because of this I like books that give as few details as needed of characters and places. When they're too detailed I spend too much time trying to build the places and characters and it gets really frustrating.

Jackpot7777777

When I rotated a cow in my mind, it turned from a spotted cow to a brown bull. I guess my mind is fizzy.

myotheralt

The authorities have been notified.

Did you see the red barn in the background, the puffy clouds, and the UFOs waiting for the cow to stop spinning so they could abduct it?

C0baltBlue

Which axis did it rotate on? Just the one, or somehow 2 or 3 at the same time, but also individually? My mind can't pick one, so it sort of does both X and y.

Looking from the side. Facing left, front, right, away from me. On grass, but not scuffing it up into a circle of mud.

You're rotating yours anticlockwise? That somehow feels unnatural to me. Mine is also doing the "Is your milkshake worth it" rotation.

Anticlockwise from one pole is clockwise from the other pole.

Malibloo

+1 to this. I can go as hyperdetailed as I'd like, rotate, zoom, morph, but just don't expect me to keep the horse the same, or at the same angle, or still in my mind for more than a tenth of a second.
It's -the- reason why I can't draw what I like.

stickywiggit

I have this too. Staying focused on an image down to the hair follicles lasts maybe 0.5 seconds because every image is moving for me. I HAVE to use references when I draw. Ironically, while I can visualize almost any figure, I can't do it with text. If there is text on an image in my memory it's completely blank.

CatsHTM

This! I never know if I can picture things or not, because for me "picture an apple" never gives a static image. So can I do it?

AManWoman

I'm like this, and I'm an artist. I also have a hard time recalling the events of stories I've read because I have vivid memories in my mind of the places and characters in those stories, but can't necessarily remember what happened

And when you start describing any single part of the scene, it changes context.

dReDone

Yeah like when she was describing the horse and the length of hair on the hooves my mind zoomed in super close on the hooves without me really directing it.

The context of the scene is made in my head. It's not as if I imagine something, and it randomly changes into something else, like when you look the other way in a dream.

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