I Have APHANTASIA (you might have it too - please check!!)
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- I have Aphantasia. This means that I cannot see images in my brain! Do you have this too? Please check and let me know in the comments!! I really want to find other people who have this. Thank you!
What is aphantasia? Aphantasia is used to describe being unable to see images or moving pictures in your mind's eye, or maybe you also can't bring a smell "into your mind" or hear music playing in your brain. Answer the questions Stefan asks in this video to find out if you might experience this too. The way that Stefan experiences aphantasia means that for most of his life, he thought that the phrase "imagine you're on a beach" was just an idiom, a saying. He had no idea that most people around him actually were literally IMAGING something in their mind's eye when "imaging a beach". Now he's looking for other people who have experienced something similar! So, do you have aphantasia? Please let us know in the comments below!
So my question for you is: Have you ever experienced this? Do you have Aphantasia? If you can see images in your mind's eye, would you prefer not to?
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I had to stop and google this. Interestingly, I’ve never thought about this. But I do not “see” an item that I think about. Like I know what a banana looks like and I can vividly describe it from memory, but I don’t see imagery. Didn’t even realize other people do see imagery. Interesting and confusing.
Exactly. i can describe a pool with people in my imagination but I don't "see"it.
Same for me.
Same. Also with people. I do of course know, what my friends and family look like, I just can't see them in front of my inner eye
SAAAAAME
Same for me, also I can't imagine smells or soundd. In dreams I see, but I can't imagine it later
At the ripe old of 27, I just realized I can’t recall smells at will. I didn’t know people could do that. 😨
Same here, just search and replace 27 with 36 :S
I always thought that was the invention of Süskind's 'The perfume'
This seems to be very common, though. I don't think I can, either.
For me it depends on the situation. I cannot summon it, but if a memory pops up I can also imagine the smell very vividly...
I got very confused about that part... I don't have the most vivid imagination but I can always recall images. My musical memory is very good and I can "hear" entire songs in my head no problem. But smells?!? WHAT!?! I never knew anybody could sense that
I can’t imagine not having music playing in the back of your mind my head is basically a radio😅
@Mia Emilia Same here 😅 I literally have ALWAYS music in my head, from the second I wake up to the second I fall asleep, and in really EVERY situation.
Same here! And often it is the most annoying songs, all day long!!
Me too! Always random music, I'll sing it sometimes, seriously music I haven't heard in over 20 years just pops in my head.
Just now came onto this video. Not fully aware that some people have no memory/recall/visualization of images, sounds, or smells. Right now, I'm imagining the pepperoni pizza we had last night at home. I can imagine in detail the banana Dana described, or the car I drove to work, or a map from a set of directions. Just today, I had this silly Three Stooges song in my head: ua-cam.com/video/cPVpCdvlBPY/v-deo.html
I can remember melodies really well, get "earworms" and all that but I don't "hear" them I just feel an urge to hum them.
I didn’t know until just this morning that I couldn’t conjure images, smells or sounds and that was abnormal. I always thought when people said “visualize it” they meant it conceptually.
yes i can do that smell taste and heard my imagination and i can do imagine my self on my future and pass thats my routine:)everyday and any time
When I realized the word "imagination" comes from "image" my mind was completely blown away. I know it's obvious, but I never thought of it as an intentional analogy.
wow i didnt realise i had this till i fell down the youtube rabbithole
I have multi sensory Aphantasia as well. I see black when trying to visualise any image. I always though 'counting sheep' to get to sleep was just a phrase. I didn't realise people actually saw the sheep. I don't summon imagery associated with tastes, smells or touch. I also have no inner voice narrating my life. My girlfriend says that I vocalise my thoughts and that she hears me talking to myself at my work PC. Must be a way I try and get around not being able to discuss it quietly in my mind. If I know I have a difficult conversation coming up I will verbalise it to myself to work out how I'm going to approach the conversation. I must seem mad talking to myself. My son has ADHD and he daydreams. I now know I have no concept of what that is.
@@stuartwilson5913 It's amazing the variety we humans have
I have total aphantasia! Can’t see, taste, smell, hear, or feel anything in my mind. No internal monologue either. I’m always completely present in the moment, which can sometimes be really shitty. I also get over things really really quickly, because I simply don’t have to emotional attachments that would tie me to a specific trauma or event. Im also a creative, I love to paint and write, which is my only real way of channeling my thoughts and emotions. Another thing is, I’m always listening to videos or podcasts or audiobooks bc I can’t stand the silence.
That's so interesting, I was wondering whether someone with aphantasia could be artistic.
Really? Like, you can't even think? I'm so sorry for you, I just can't imagine how would it feel. Not hearing music in your head, not making scenarios or animation, or even not having a monouloge? I mean jeez, that must be so hard, when you can't just imagine something else in a boring or hard situation. Also I can't really imagine smells and I didn't think that some ppl could do that.
Exactly the same! No smell, sound, poctures ...
A Evans wait wdym
A Evans I know but I’m exactly the same so I want to understand
It just came to my mind how boring reading a book must be when there's no 5D-movie playing in your head ...
from my experience it's really not. I love to read and I really appreciate an intricate decription. I also have no problem describing something in detail, I just don't "see" it.
I can't see a picture when I read a book and I love to read books. I might have a scene in my head as I read the exact words, but I don't see it like a movie or an image. Just a bit of black and white image. I was just reading about a man riding a bike down the street and I can imagine that but there is nothing else there.... I don't also see houses or other people and as soon as I have read it, the idea is gone. So am I not as bad as Stefan maybe but I have to admit I never worried or thought about it until now. I think people with this lack......also are not worriers as they can't/don't conjur up what could happen....... I also don't dream.. well maybe I do but I don't remember any.
No it's not. You still can enjoy a good book and get hooked into the story, I guess it's just a case of you don't know better and you can't even imagine how different it could be. It's like you should imagine a new color. Yeah it might be good to see more colors than others but you do not miss the missing color you can't even imagine if you happen to be not able to see it. At least I would imagine it that way
I read like 80 books a year and I absolutely love reading. I’ve only been sad that I can’t have a movie playing out in my head since I’ve learned about Aphantasie 😩 Before that I thought everyone thought like me and now I’m jealous 🙈 But I still love reading so so much
I love this discussion! Differences in perception are facinating.
I have this, too! I can't 'pull up' an imagine in my mind of how my family's or even my own face looks like. I have no problem recognizing them when I see them, but I just can't 'see' their faces without actually laying eyes upon them.
I can kind of imagine a banana and other things like that, but I don't see a clear imagine of it, I just kind of know what it looks like, without actually seeing it.
Fun fact: You are so familiar with your own face that you pay so little attention to it, that if you'd see yourself in a crowd you couldn't recognize yourself
SAME I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!!!
Pretty much the same, but I don't think I fully have aphantasia because I occasionally imagine pictures with great clarity (e.g., how one of my coworkers would look in a certain costume...)
I have aphantasia and it blew my mind couple of years ago when I heard that people can see pictures in their inner eyes. I don't visualize anything my eyes closed or open. I have an excellent sense of direction and I'm skillfull in calligraphy and watercolors.
When I walk in the woods my mind is always computing something in a conceptual level. When I say that I'm thinking nothing, it means I'm not thinking anything in particular. My mind is never quiet or blank (again, in conceptual level. I don't have minds eye or inner hearing).
I think you are paying much more attention to what your 'mind' does than most people do. Most people have even trouble to understand what you mean by that, let alone observe themselves in that way. I have had a lot of experience in trying to explain such things to people, that's how I come to make that assessment.
I have aphantasia so does my daughter, but my wife has an inner ability to see things in her imagination.
People can imagine smells? I can't do that. I can see pictures in my mind's eye, I can remember music and have definitely had ear worms, but I can't imagine smells.
Yeah I also have problems with smells, but can do the other things. Also can imagine the feel of textures and such.
I can have "ear worms," but I can't imagine what anything looks like, feels like, smells like, etc.
I have a minds ear, a very faint minds eye, and nothing else.
Smells are the hardest by far for me too. It takes a lot of concentration and even then they are never very 'vivid'. On the other hand, I find smells are the most powerful evokers of memories (usually of place), and such evoked memories can be extremely vivid visually.
So when you smell sth that has intensive smell e.g. coffee, and then stop doing it - the smell vanishes right away in your perception?
Wait what?! Back in school a teacher told us to day dream and asked us what we saw. I didn't really get the task/question. This irritated me so much that I still remember this, about 10 years later. And now you give me this explanation?! Stefan, you found another person like you.
It’s the same for me, I can’t imagine anything and my whole life long I thought it’s normal to don’t. It’s already been 5 years since I know of aphantasia. I figured it out myself after a good friend told me to imagine something and I told her I don’t get it, she looked at me like I’m crazy. Later on I googled it and finally realized that people could really see things in their minds and that I’m different. I was 12 at that time and I didn’t really now how to feel about it. No one I told about it believed me or took me serious, even making fun of me and I felt very lost. With time I just accept it and hoped that research would be done. Now I’m glad to see that more and more personalities in the media get open about aphantasia, it shows me that I’m not alone.
And to answer the question, I’m really bad in remembering the directions to a place and I also have a problem with recognizing faces I’m not really familiar with. But on the other hand I have very vivid dreams, which I can remember, even if I had multiple dreams I can remember most of it, I don’t see them after waking up, but I can describe what happened and sometimes in my dream I realize that I’m dreaming and I can observe the dream from another perspective if that makes sense. Being able to dream so clearly gives me hope that I’ll be able to imagine someday
similar experience🖖🏼
you should be hopeful and actively practise imagining. start with easy simple geometry .
the fact that you have vivid dreams shows your brain is able to create imagery, you just need to translate that into daily life while being awake.
Have you heard of Non Verbal Learning Disorder, (sometimes called Non Verbal Learning Disability) You need to look that up. It's a type of learning disability (the American definition, not British). It causes people to have poor visual spatial skills and not be able to see things in your mind.
Pascal G thank you for the tip. I already tried it, but no matter how hard I try I can’t even get a simple shape or line and I would just ged a headache from squeezing my eyes desperately trying to get a image which doesn’t work.
Melissa0774 thank you, I looked it up, but I can assuredly say that most of the symptoms aside from not seeing images don’t apply to me.
I really just suffer from aphantasia.
I read somewhere that one can lose his imagination after a traumatic event, and since I had a very bad early childhood I think it might be the cause... But I’m not sure, all I know is I can’t picture can’t smell, I can’t hear aside from my own inner voice
It has taken me nearly 70 years to workout that other people can do all this. I experience life just like Stefan with the exception of directions ( can’t remember the instructions), no dreams or nightmares, and I am really good at finding lost things.
I vividly remember the moment i noticed i have aphantasia.
Hi Stefan, I'm exactly the same as you. No pictures, sounds, or smells 'inside' my head. I also don't dream (that I know of), have no problem remembering a route, even after just looking at it once on a map, and love reading. What struck me most in the video was when Dana asked you what you were thinking about; that's the same for me, absolutely nothing, and it's not a problem at all - it just 'is'! For some reason this is hard for many people to believe?!?! Personally I don't think I'm missing out on anything as I've never had it and am not sure I could cope with all that stuff going on in my head ;-). Kev
Stefan, does this mean that you never ever have an annoying song stuck in your head???
Literally what I was coming to ask.
I can't speak for him but I am fully Aphantasia and yes, I never have earworms really. It's actually pretty hard to remember songs though if it became something I wanted to work at I could. I've remembered a few when i did want to. But I don't hear them at all when i'm just remembering them.
I have Aphantasia and do suffer from the occassional earworm.
I have aphantasia too and I get songs stuck in my head all the time but it's only a certain loop of it and it's not the actual song it's my inner voice singing the song terrible and off key 🤣😩
Inga Galinaitytė I don’t really have songs stuck in my head
But sometimes I can’t stop humming a song, I guess that’s my version
I didn't realize "in the mind's eye" wasn't a figure of speech until I was 28. And your comments around the 9-10 minute point about not relating to the idea of having poor ability with visual puzzles, etc. are exactly how I don't relate to those ideas. In fact, during a recent psychological baseline testing, they had a test where they showed a panel of six geometric images (say a circle with a line halfway through it), and I was able to replicate 5/6 after one view, and 6/6 after a 2nd few second view, and also after a delay with some other things between having seen it. I'm pretty good with directions, as well. It's in there somewhere, but it is absolutely *nothing* that I would call "visual" about it, at all!
I remember being frustrated when people would say things like, "visualize a flower" -- OK, I can conceptually imagine a flower, just not at all visually. Then they continue, "What color is your flower?" Um, it has to have a color? OK, how about a blue flower, there aren't many blue flowers, so I'll think about a different colored flower than most people. "What kind of petals does your flower have. At this point, I'm internally getting irate. "I have to decide what the (ahem!) petals are like now? What are you going to ask next? What kind of leaves it has? How's the root system on that flower?! This is *ridiculous*!" That was before I had any idea that other people could "see movies" in their heads, and whatnot. Which, frankly, can't possibly actually be true, because that's just crazy talk. Am I right? I'll just say it. It's "un-image-inable.
You might also want to look into SDAM - Significantly Deficient Autobiographic Memory - which isn't remembering from a 1st Person, sensory point of view.
Oh, and dreams are *very* rare for me. If I have a visual dream it freaks me out totally. Especially since once a visual dream actually happened months to a couple of years later.
There are a few Facebook groups with a lot of people, and the experiences are all over the map. Some people with no senses, others with only no visualization, etc.
I loved this video!
This is so interesting! I have had the same experience. I also realized only recently when the term "Aphantasia" popped up everywhere that others do see images in their mind. It never occured to me others would see something in their head because that idea is totally alien to me.
HOLY SHIT! I never knew that was a thing! I thought everybody was like that.
I'm terrible at remembering directions but I'm really good at reading maps.
I'm absolutely hopeless at verbal descriptions of complex things but I'm really good at understanding them if I can see a crude sketch.
Hi Stefan - All my life I have had Aphantasia and never knew it until three days ago. Like any good plot twist, all the clues were there but I missed them until I stumbled onto a random tweet that described this, and I realized it was my experience, too!
It’s actually pretty mind blowing to realize, after 51 years of life, that nearly all the people around you have this amazing mind power that sounds like science fiction. And it’s real. And possibly a huge part of daily life.
Almost everything you described about yourself is the same for me. I have no problem at all with directions. The only thing that is different for me is that I do generally dream in pictures. They tend to be a quite dim and lacking in visual detail, except maybe once a year I will have a vivid, lifelike dream, and I wake up in total awe of the experience.
I also have aphantasia and just now realized I dont hear my voice while I think, its just thinking to me. But my mind is rarely empty as I get lost in thought a lot but theres no sound I think to me it is like walking through concepts and pinging different parts of my brain. Im not thinking about things around me Im just thinking about my own life a lot and get lost in that. Im really good at remembering where things are and locations but its like i remember the pattern of getting there. I have trouble following someone giving me directions because I cannot see a map in my head and follow it and when they list off ways to get there in steps I get lost. I thought it was because I couldnt memorize them word for word. I cannot walk somewhere in my head but if I walk there irl I remember the steps to get there.
Late to the party here but i also have aphantasia, or parts of if because i can conjure sounds but not images or smells. It was really interesting to hear you talk about your two perspectives and the potential plus and minuses! Hope you are well!
Yeah, I used to think I had face blindness (prosopagnosia), but eventually I just realized I have aphantasia. It seems like Dana has hyperphantasia. I do seem to have a slight ability to imagine sounds, though. Sometimes I have lucid dreams, and I'm absolutely flabbergasted by how vivid the imagery in my dreams is.
I feel the same! Got into lucid dreaming, it's so cool to induce and just live in that world where you can decide what to see :o
Hyperphantasia is about the intensity, fidelity and degree of control, when it comes to recalling smells, sound etc it's a common thing just like conjuring pictures. An exception is the inner monologue of which apparently 40% of the population doesn't have it
Thank you for sharing your video. I have aphantasia and it was a long journey, struggling with learning even though I went to college and graduate school for an engineering degree. People tell me that I think differently and I attribute that to aphantasia. If I could flip a switch and all of sudden have the ability to visualize, I would do it in a heart beat. One day this might be possible, but for now I focus on appreciating whatever positive/unique skills that aphantasia has allowed me to explore. Thanks for sharing your story. Rest assured that you are not alone.
Yes I do have this experience.
I had never realised other people actually see things in their mind.
Your spread sheet description was spot on.
Stefan, wie ist das, wenn Du ein Buch liest? Siehst Du dann auch nichts? Sind das für Dich nur Sätze? Bei meiner Schwester ist das so. Ich fänd für mich das Leseerlebnis sehr arm ohne meine Bilder.
Ich sehe auch keine Bilder in meinem Kopf und ich kann sagen, dass ich beim Lesen eine interessante Beschreibung sehr zu schätzen weiß und sie mein Lese-Erlebnis sehr verbessert auch wenn ich nichts "sehe". Ich "weiß" auch, wie etwas, dass ich gesehen habe, ausschaut, nur "sehe" ich nichts.
IrianGaming Das ist bei mir ganz genau so. Ich liebe es allerdings trotzdem zu lesen!
Ich sehe beim Lesen ganz ganz grobe Bilder von zB Räumen, wo die Geschichte spielt. Allerdings sind das immer Räume, die ich aus dem echten Leben kenne, zB sieht die Große Halle bei Harry Potter für mich aus, wie die Aula meiner Grundschule 😅
@@lenastorm6280 Ich auch! Ich schreibe auch selber gern und habe (glaube ich) keine Probleme, etwas visuell zu beschreiben obwohl ich nicht im Kopf sehe. Möglicherweise lege ich etwas mehr wert auf sprachlich interessante Beschreibungen, aber das ist jetzt nur eine Vermutung...
Wenn ich ein Buch lese, dann kommen bei mir auch keine Bilder. Für mich sind das auch zunächst nur Sätze. Um das Geschehen in meiner Vorstellung zu visualisieren, müsste ich mich konzentrieren. Ob ich dann aber gleichzeitig lesen und visualisieren kann, weiß ich ehrlich gesagt nicht, weil ich das noch nie probiert habe. Bin noch nie auf die Idee gekommen, mir das Gelesene wirklich bildlich vorzustellen. Ein sehr interessantes Thema.
I can't "see" things in my mind's eye, nor smell, or taste. I can hear songs and I do dream, but lately they have been nightmares as well. You are not alone!
i don't dream, or if i do, im unaware of it
I also have Aphantasia, so has my daughter. I have never met anyone else with Aphantasia. I found the word about 3 years ago but discovered I am different 45 years ago. I think in words, they are everything to me. I can think music, songs are easy, sometimes with a flavour of the original singer but only the melody line. Your description, Stephan, of your world is like mine. I have just learnt that others can "Remember" smells - must be very strange. I too can remember directions very well but "Visualising" things, then give me paper and pencil please.
I just recently discovered that Aphantasia is a thing. I definitely have it, and my mind is blown that the majority of the world works differently in their brain than I do. It's making me realize soooo many things about myself and why I am good/bad with certain things. I do have the inner monologue where I think with a sort of self-conversation in my head. The rest of the senses though...not so much.
I only just found out a few weeks ago that i had aphantasia and i never knew that other people could see things in their minds. I thought that counting sheep was a metaphor
How does your banana look?
Haha that sounds so wrong😂
It's dancing with a hawaian skirt and an ukele in it's hand wearing sunglasses singing banana phone.
It - obviously - is very big. :-P
B I G
I know that I am picturing a banana, and I know that my brain thinks it can see it, but as soon as I actually try to describe what I’m seeing through my minds eye, without pulling up facts about a banana, I can’t see anything other than a faint curve, and I’m mot even sure about that.
I have aphantasia as well, i found that out two days ago and i am traumatized, people can see things in their mind ! It must be sooooo magic ! I would have been so different and maybe way better without this "sickness" (?). I know i am not alone and there is worst situation, but i have the feeling we are missing 50% of our lives
I just learned about this (& have it, I think!) and am shocked to now find this video by you as I think I was following you when this was posted! Good for you to bring more awareness!
I'm 50 this year and I've had this all my life but only found that it was a recognised thing with a name a couple of days ago. What's really weird was that before looking up videos today, I had this exact discussion with my wife - down to the detail of what thoughts you have while walking in the woods and being unable to picture our wedding day.
I have aphantasia 😊 Found out a few months ago. To be honest is really bothered me at first (I'm an artist and it made me feel like a fake.) I'm ok with it now, I've decided that I am an artist because I have aphantasia. Thanks for bringing this topic up ❤
Just watched your video. I just discovered a couple weeks ago that I have Aphantasia and am trying to find as much info on it as I can. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I've got it just the same :D I don't have images, sounds, smells, feelings of touch. I also pull things out of the database and I also like the silence in my head. When I found out that other people had it differently, I was shocked. But I think it suits me this way :)
Ich höre lieber Radio, als dass ich fernsehe. der Grund: Im Radio sind die Bilder schöner!
I have a few questions:
Do you ever have a Deja Vu?
And, if you ever, for example, drive past something you've driven past before, could you ever say: " oh i remember this, i've been here already"? If you understand what i mean
I have aphantasia as well, and I've had Deja Vu's before. I can remember having been somewhere, though I might not be exactly sure about having been somehwere when I was there in my youth and didn't remember the name, though it's different for everyone.
@@cooky2991 i can agree with you there. i also had deja vus before and i can also remember places i have been too, if i see them again, but if you would ask me to describe a place it wouldn't go much into detail and only stick to the most basic facts. i could not even describe my mothers face in detail to you past the most basic things like blond hair, blue eyes.. but ofc i still recognize my mum when i see her even tho i could not describe her face to you or don't see her face when i close my eyes and try to imagine what she looks like... aphantasia does not mean that people can't recognize places they have been to or faces they have seen before, it simply means we can't see anything if we close our eyes and try to imagine something... it is just black
@@crappiefisher1331 yess, I get that too. Do these two have any relation?
Stefan, you are not alone! When I first heard that people could imagine (and actually see/hear/smell) objects and settings in their mind I was astounded. I was jealous of these people who have this ability, but now that Dana explained the advantages of being able to 'turn off' your brain I should reconsider 😁
I have it,omg..im 50 years old..learnd about it in a potcast this morning..good video..grtzz from belgium
Y’all are blowing my mind!! 😅 gunna go research myself now 😂
I can't imagine or smell either When I close my eyes it's just dark. When I do look at pictures I can remember the times. I never knew how rare this is until you brought it up.
Yep- this is me! I found this out a few years back too. Thanks for the great video to help explain to my friends how this works :)
Woa, that's so weird! I always assumed everyone could imagine things. It never ever crossed my mind to question it! :O And speaking of imagination, I cannot imagine not being able to imagine stuff, hehe.
I can’t see things either. I can imagine songs and conversations in my head , but neither images nor smell.
I only need to see a map once and can find my way most of the time. Don’t have a navigation system or use my phone as one.
I love reading, but I can’t see a character, just like if their description is good.
So I can feel you in that regards. Don’t really dream as well.
When it comes to reading i cant see a character aswell, but i feel the character, like based on their personality, i also dont see faces in my dreams. that sounds like really creepy, but like i know if a person is good or bad, i even recognise them. I just "know" that this is that specific person based on the way their hair fall, how they walk, speak and interact
This is so fascinating! I can’t decide if I’m jealous of Stefan, or if I very slightly pity him. I’ve always felt like my imagination is not as ‘strong or vivid’ as other people’s. Trying to “picture” something in my mind has always been difficult, except for when I find a book that really speaks to me, very few authors use words on a wavelength that allows me to disconnect from what IS. However, I’m also constantly reliving emotions, if I feel embarrassed at some point in my day, that feeling keeps affecting me for days afterwards, and I struggle to recall in my mind’s eye what actually caused it. Humans are so interesting! This video has made me think that we really are unique, and not one of us experiences life in the exact same way. Thanks for sticking around to read all my ramblings! And way too personal to ask, but what do Stefan’s nightmares look like to him?
I have never heard about this, thank you for sharing Stefan!! There is really advantages and disadvantages to everything!
I have the same thing! Can’t picture images in my mind! The closest I’ve come to doing so is during meditations that involve guided visualization. Then I can sometimes sense imagery, although it’s shadowy and not life-like at all. Yet I do have a very active mind when it comes to thoughts and also music (I’m definitely an auditory rather than a visual person). Stefan, I’m totally with you when it comes to not seeing images in my “mind’s eye”! Thanks for this, very interesting 😊
I discovered I had aphantasia a few months back! I'm exactly the same when it comes to dreams. I can never see or really have them, but I still manage to have nightmares. Rather than see them, I feel them. I'll wake up with my heart racing, and I'll be short of breath, but I won't remember ever seeing and hearing a thing. I also can't see my fiance's face. I need a picture in order to really describe it in detail. It really is crazy! I also think it has contributed to my lack of interest in reading. I have a very hard time remembering or comprehending what I've read because I have no image of what characters look like or the scene in which the action is taking place. I can describe the characters, but I've never actually been able to visualize them. That's why I actually prefer movies, so I can put a face to a name! It really is fascinating!
It's so interesting to hear about your experiences, Stefan!
I can imagine things and sounds, but no smells. Also, I have a problem with faces - I kind of get the whole "idea" of a face, but I just can't see faces in my mind, not even of my loved ones. When I dream, I always know who I'm dreaming about, but I can never see their faces. Also, I can't ever imagine what people in books would look like, even though I can imagine e. g. the clothes they're wearing, their eye colour or hairstyle.
In general, I'd say that I can sort of relive memories, but I have problems imagining anything I haven't seen before, like landscapes, buildings, or people described in books.
And my whole life my mum told me to not film things coz she said it better to have it in ur memory and now I can’t replay those amazing memories which my siblings can
if i’m asked to visualize something simple, like a banana, i can recall memories of when i saw a banana but i have lots of trouble when creating new images in my head that i have never seen before. i could not change the color of the banana because i’ve never seen a banana that’s wasn’t yellow and if i really tried to, it’s the concept of a different colored banana but i cannot imagine it. i can imagine songs in my head and vaguely do smells but images is very difficult (i can imagine touch very vividly though). i also have trouble with imagining things in space. in an empty room, i cannot imagine what it would look like if a couch was there. i just can’t imagine furniture in an empty room
I have extremely vivid imagination. Combined with a problem of seeing blood this lead to some situations where friends told me something about surgery or some medical problem and I just fainted. So it's really not all positive!
On the other hand though I enjoy a lot that I have a continuous playlist of songs in my head which keeps on entertaining me
Very interesting video! I had never heard about aphantasia before. I have a very vivid imagination like Dana.
Oh my god, I 100% relate - sorry I'm here because of the twitter hype! But Stefan literally described me!! I'm brilliant with directions but I can't imagine someone's face at all - I need photos! I definitely could when I was younger because I remember talking about it with my friend but I haven't had that for a long time now.
It's actually quite sad
Stefan, thank you so much for your video. I experience life, pretty much exactly as you describe it except, the only major difference is, sometimes when I am in that place between being awake and asleep, I will, "see" images. I completely relate with the feeling jealousy, especially since someone very close passed away in 2016. I can't explain how I stored her face in my brain, -but it wasn't by an image. But now, each year I'm losing more and more of that memory. That sucks😤 But, enough feeling sorry for myself 😌, I am otherwise happy & extremely excited to find someone else like me! 😊
Hej Stefan, mir ging es genau so. Hab vor ca 2 Jahren erfahren das es so etwas wie aphantasie gibt bzw. genau genommen, dass andere Leute in der Lage sind Bilder zu sehen die sie sich vorstellen. Was ich besonders spannend find ist wie schwer es ist sich vorzustellen wie es ist seine Vorstellung im Kopf zu sehen, aber auch wie schwer es Leuten fällt sich vorzustellen wie es ist das nicht zu können.
Hab in den letzten Jahren auch mit vielen Freunden drüber gesprochen und oft kommt das Missverständnis auf man könne sich nichts vorstellen. Ich mein ich kann mir ne Banane vorstellen und ich kann mir Szenen vorstellen. Ich schreibe ab und an auch Geschichten und die Charaktere in meinem Kopf entstehen. Aber ich sehr sie nicht, es ist mehr als entstünden in meinem Kopf beschreibungen dessen was ich mir vorstelle. Also eher wie n Lexikon und nicht wie n Bilderbuch.
Ich kann mich auch gut an Sachen erinnern aber eben nicht in bildliche Art. Dein Vergleich mit der Database ist auch ganz gut.
Allerdings träume ich, wenn auch selten, und auch meistens Albträume.
Das macht mich etwas traurig, dass du das nicht kannst. Vor allem als Kind träumte ich wie ich über die Landschaft geflogen bin. Sturzflug um es genauer zu sehen und dann sich vom Wind weiter treiben zu lassen.
Ich kann auch nichts in meinem inneren Auge sehen oder nur manchmal, wenn ich sehr starke Emotionen habe. Meistens ist es eher wie ein Roman, der manchmal Comic-ähnliche Illustrationen hat, den ich in meinem Kopf habe.
Ich kann alles wunderbar genau beschreiben und mir auch Geschichten ausdenken, aber es ist eben eine Beschreibung und kein Bild in meinem Kopf. Auch meine Träume sind eher so eine Art vorgelesener Roman als ein Film, der abläuft.
Gerüche kann ich auch nicht abrufen und mir vorstellen, dafür läuft aber immer irgendwo Musik im Hintergrund. Die dafür sehr genau, mit allen Instrumenten, Stimmen und Sound-Effekten.
I have it too. Kind of.
The only thing I can imagine are voices. And emotions. So it’s a bit different.
Very interesting topic and video!
Only found out there was a name for my lack of mind's eye last night...! I had it until some time after an illness (lyme disease) and one day I realised I couldn't recall faces, scenes, anything, maybe a very brief, grey image, then nothing. Can't imagine smells, but can 'play' music in my head and recall conversations. Glad I'm not alone, I've mentioned this to some doctors and they couldn't shed light on it. Google is your friend, I typed - have lost my mind's eye and it came up with Aphantasia !
I’m finding this really weird, I’ve never really seen anything in my minds eye I guess. Anytime I remember back it’s like it’s all being narrated by my inner monologue not like I’m actually there. I can’t fathom literally smelling a smell or visualizing something, if I did this I’d wonder what drug someone slipped me. I do have vivid dreams but those are like million times different then active thoughts. I like the database metaphor that’s exactly what it’s like for me.
Finally we discover with Dana 🤣🤣🤣 when you ask a man: what are you thinking??? and he say: nothing..
Most of the time we just lose a thought as soon as you ask, like we 've been thinking, but not in a conscious way
@@thehobbitilei1987 Every detail counts, so that's why we ask, but we are not allow yet..🧚♀️
Watching this video made me cry, someone is the same as me. Thank you Stefan for such a good explanation of aphantasia. However, it makes me sad that my memory is so bad.
I have it!! Its awesome that u guys are making a video about it, thank u
I think I have olfactory aphantasia, if something like this even exists... (I can't imagine smells. Weirdly, I _can_ imagine taste, which is mostly handled by the same receptors as smells)
Imagining pictures is a bit hard and looks very "vague" in my head but I'm pretty good at imagining sounds
Same here. I can remember different smells like rain on warm asphalt but I'm not really smelling it in my mind. It's more like knowing the smell and being able to recognise it again. 🤔
That's interesting. I can imagine smells and pictures just fine and sounds really well, probably the best of them all, but I do have trouble imagining taste. For some reason that's quite difficult for me.
I don't have aphantasia, but my images are not as "wild" as Dana's either. Like with the banana I just saw a normal banana in 3D with black or dark surroundings, floating in the air. When you asked for it, I could rotate the banana and see different angles. Same with the pool. I saw the pool, the surroundings and the shapes of people, but I didn't hear or smell anything and the people didn't move. I again, could change the angle of my view like when you described that I was laying on the towel, I changed my view accordingly.
Since I can't smell like normal people, I can't imagine smells. In real life I can only smell very strong smells like in a perfume I only smell the alcohol it contains and a vague hint of "something else" that makes me able to distinguish between two or more different perfumes. I have never smelled a cookie or roses or coconut or anything like that. Only when I am lucky I can catch a very faint hint of what those things smell like.
On the other hand, I am great at imagining tastes. Right now I have the taste of Pizza Margherita with oregano in my mouth and it makes my mouth water.
Your condition doesn't make sense the way you are describing it... if your sense of smell only reacts to strong smells then what ever you eat can only taste salty sweet sour bitter or Umami...
"Tasting" happens 99% with your sense of smell.
Only reasonable explanation would be a problem with your nasal canal, prohibiting airflow through your nostrils. But I guess you would notice that...
Sounds like me. My brain did visualise a banana, fairly realistic (with the black spots that are often on them) but with a sort of cartoony colour grading and no shading. Then it had some surrounding environment until I was asked to rotate it. My brain had to get rid of the surrounding area and spin the banana on its own. With the pool, my brain drew the pool first from an aerial perspective then added things as they were mentioned. When the towel was brought up my brain moved the camera to ground level, added the surrounding area in and upped the draw distance for surrounding buildings etc. Then it added sound because the video asked for it.
Then the video mentioned smell and I just got the Metal Gear Solid exclamation sounds and exclamation mark because my brain cannot simulated that. My sense of smell is either awesome or non existent in real life
You are not alone! I'm a total aphant that can't see, smell, taste, feel or hear in my mind. I'm also great with directions and spacial relations.
I can hear music if I think of it, but I can’t smell smells or see pictures in my brain.
Me too~
This must be SO strange! I have images, moving pictures, sounds, music, smells and everything else in my brain 24/7. They are even there when I'm not really awake in the morning, and they never stop and to be honest, I love that! I cannot even imagine how it could be otherwise.
EDIT: Here on youtube, there is a channel called "AmyRightMeow", she has Aphantasia as well and made a video about that, and what's even more interesting: She's a cartoonist! She deals with visual stuff all the time, but she can't see any of it in her head! So crazy....
Same here! I love coming up with some great idea, and then I lay on the bad and phantasize about it the entire evening listening to music, experiencing the phantasy, getting excited about the possibilities etc.
That's not strange. Because you live with that since you were born.
Ich bin sehr realistisch: Ein kilo Bananen mit Plastikband im Regal in der Gemüseabteilung vom Supermarkt
Ich seh immer nur ne leere Bananenschale, weil Bananen ungegessen unvorstellbar sind.
Meine hat einen Chiquita-Aufkleber
Ich seh die Bananen, die aktuell in unserer Obstschale liegen. Wahrscheinlich, weil ich sie genau vorhin angeguckt und überlegt habe, dass man die mal essen sollte.
Die Frage hierbei ist doch warum die Bananen in der Gemüseabteilung liegen? 🤔
I knew there was a reason I enjoyed meditation :) Some comments below…
Thirty is young to discover this! I’m 54 and I only discovered that I had aphantasia a couple of years ago. The articles I’ve seen say 1 in 50 people, though research is ongoing.
I think the reason you might be good at finding directions etc. is that spatial relationships are processed in the parietal lobe of the brain. It might be that we don’t need to *see* spatial relationships in order to understand and remember them. Visual imagination is thought by some to be the parietal lobe sending the imagined images to the occipital lobe (which also processes images from the eyes). Perhaps it is this connection that doesn’t work in us aphants. Certainly I can “feel the shape of things” in my mind, even though I can’t see them.
I’m a writer, and my descriptive passages are good enough for most people, so perhaps I do some sort of variant of Stefan’s “spreadsheet database”. I’m really not sure, but somehow I do come up with enough details to describe fictional scenes. Reading, on the other hand, is probably a rather different experience for me than for most people. I love books, and I enjoy reading descriptions of scenes, but I can't actually see them. It honestly doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the story at all, especially if the characters are interesting or the plot is clever.
AND... I’m also a musician and composer: I have sat and written an orchestral score with almost no mistakes, straight from my imagination onto manuscript paper. I didn’t actually hear a single note, and yet I could “feel the pitches and harmonies”. If you’re confused… don’t worry, so am I! I have no clue how I could do that!
I have imagery in my dreams sometimes, but often I don’t: I just “dream in ideas”. When I do have images, they tend to be vivid only for brief periods, then they become vague again. I'm actually a bit puzzled about this. If I can (however rarely) see things in my dreams, why is it that I can never see things while awake? Oh wait... there was one time I hallucinated after too much coffee (yes, that's a thing), and had an out of body experience, floating up to my own ceiling. That's probably the only time I've ever seen something, while awake, that wasn't real.
This is a wonderful video, which is going to be great for sharing with people. Thank you!
I just found out about this yesterday, on tiki's Tok. I was gobsmacked. It's crazy to me how people can do that. I can't see anything, can't smell or taste. Exactly like you, I do have loads of nightmares but when I wake up I rarely can describe them, some thoughts come up in my mind about the dream and I can vaguely describe it but no images. I do remember seeing images in a dream two times when I was a kid but it was a lucid dream.
Huhu :) wow das ist mal ein interessantes Thema! Ich habe nie darüber nachgedacht, aber aufgefallen ist es mir schon bei ein paar Freunden, dass es ihnen schwer fällt sich etwas vorzustellen. Wir sind aber nie weiter darauf eingegangen, haben es einfach hingenommen. Ich für meinen Teil habe eine sehr ausgeprägte Fantasie. Wenn ich zB jemanden anrufe (beim Arzt oder einer offiziellen Stelle), stelle ich mir unfreiwillig vor wie derjenige wohl aussieht und wie er oder sie am Schreibtisch sitzt und mein Anliegen bearbeitet. Ich wundere mich im inneren ob derjenige einen Bleistift nutzt oder einen Kuli um etwas zu notieren. Wenn ich dann in eine Warteschleife gesetzt werde, geht das Kopfkino weiter ohne dass ich es aktiv möchte, und so kann es passieren, dass ich total überrumpelt bin, wenn der Gesprächspartner wieder zurück ans Telefon geht. Mein Hirn stellt sich fast ununterbrochen eine Situation vor, eine Erinnerung oder eine zukünftige. Das kann nett sein, ist aber auch oftmals störend, wenn man sich konzentrieren will 🙈 ich stelle es mir sehr still und emotionslos vor, das nicht zu haben, allerdings ist es mit Sicherheit auch sehr angenehm nicht abgelenkt zu sein sondern 100% bei der Sache zu sein :D also sehr gerne mehr Videos dieser Art! Das regt zum Nachdenken an :) liebe Grüße
Wait until you get into lucid dreaming. It's like a meditative state where you interact with your mind and can do whatever your heart wants.
Can't do pictures either! I can do music :) But the idea of aphantasics being less creative somehow is weird. I spent 20 years being a lighting designer (I guess I managed it by using my version of your spreadsheet) . Now I'm a writer and again aphantasia's not stopped me. It's maybe even inspired me, my firsf book was SFF and set in a world that has no light at all! Great to hear your take on all of this. All the best, Paul Arvidson.
I appreciate the video... I have this too, and am just now finding this out in my 30's. I am not able to imagine anything in my head... see, hear, smell, taste or feel. I know that I have memories of things because as soon as I see them, they are easily recognized... but without seeing them in person or pictures there is no vision in my head. I can remember the notes and words of songs and therefore sing them in my head, but it will always be my voice (sort of like reading silently).... I don't see this as the same part of the brain as imagination.
I look at imagination as a sixth sense. I do want to gain this ability and will be working towards doing so, but I also believe that it can be very negative if you cant control it. If you've experienced a lot of negative things in your life, it may be difficult for you to stop replaying these things. This leads many people to drugs, alcohol and suicide. If this part of the brain is too open, there is also the belief that images, words, etc. can be put into your head by outside sources. I could imagine (not literally) how things constantly being planted in your head without your control could drive a person crazy.
I also think it's important to recognize the difference between recollection and imagination. I believe that how you feel about an experience can effect how you imagine what happened. So when you replay an experience in your head, that is how you imagine the memory... not the memory itself. It may be very close to reality, but it can also be off. This may be partially why so many people "remember" things differently... the actual memory may be gone or vague and the rest is filled in with imagination.
If you do have a good understanding and control over your imagination I can see how this could be very positive though... Being able to re-live good experiences, take yourself to a relaxing place, etc. would be pretty cool.
For now, all I can do is live in the moment.
Funny thing about picture memories: they are fake. The brain doesn't store the actual images - it reconstructs them from the information it has. I was once thinking about the ceremony where I got my Abitur. People of my class were on stage, but then I remembered that one of those guys in that image hadn't actually been there, and that the view was from the audience, even though I was actually on stage at that time. :D
Also: imagining controlled 3D movies requires me to focus, while motionless images just fly into my head randomly without me being able to entirely stop them.
That's not just true for picture memories, but all kinds of memories. They are re-constructed each time they are recalled. Which also means they are slightly changed each time they are recalled.
That leads to this kinda sad issue: Let us say, two people kiss but then they part. Years later they meet again. One of them has thought about that kiss a lot. The other one did not, in fact this is the first time in a long time they even recalled it.
The first person, to whom the event was so much more significant, who thought of it so often, their memory is most likely much more altered than the memory of the second person. The second person has probably the more accurate memory of the situation.
@@silkwesir1444 that's also a huge issue for witness accounts in crime investigation. That's why people's accounts of an event can change over time or why when you have several witnesses their accounts often differ from each other. It's a whole can of worms, the human memory
Questionable, if the brain itself does store anything at all, for no scientist has ever extracted memories from physical structures. So they can't even tell, what memories are. You can say, that Neurobiology has identified structures associated to originating memories, but not memory itself. So the brain probably doesn't store, but the mind does surely.
The way Dana describes what she sees describes what I see when I imagine something.
Fascinating!!!
I have it too. You're definitely not alone.
I have constantly music playing inside my head! Which is pretty useful when you are stressed. Just tune in my davourite song!
Well now I realize how deficient I am...I just never thought about it but I can't picture or smell
It's not a deficiency at all! I'd even call it a superpower and I've had it my whole life long. There are endless possibilities, like watching horrormovies and astounding others by being able to not even bat an eye at the horrific slaughter scene, a second after you can't picture it anyways. You can talk about all the gross things you want and while you don't picture it, the one you want gone do, why do you think telling people to imagine the ugliest people they can imagine to have sex with each other, makes others physically sick?
This concept is fascinating! I read an article about this once, and took a test about it. It basically said I have the opposite of aphantasia, because I can vividly recall sounds, images, smells, and even what things feel like. I was astounded to learn there are people who can’t. I love to read, largely because I’m picturing things as I read them. I’d never want to give it up, even though it’s pretty much impossible for me to “shut off” my thoughts, which often causes me a lot of anxiety. And I would especially miss conjuring the images of loved ones who’ve passed away. Do people with aphantasia like to read? If so, how does one enjoy a story if they can’t picture it in their mind?
hello! i have aphantasia. when i was in school and for example the teachers would have us write down what we thought about when we heard said word, i never could do that, i would just think the word and then "what am i thinking off?" so...yeah (i dont know if thats just me)
now, i do not like to read since i cant picture what i am reading. althrough i like to read a story with pictures. therefore i love watching movies, series, anything like that! thats what gets me emotional.
I'm not sure I have full-blown aphantasia, but I think at least a basic version. And I love to read! I don't really understand why we wouldn't either, haha. The story can grasp you so well without having actual 'pictures' with it.
I've subscribed to you for two years, how did I miss this video?!? I'm 0 to 1 on the scale. I see black too. Sometimes I can get a flash of an outline in my head for something I saw very recently but it fades almost instantly. Mostly I rely on touch, taste, and smell. I could never understand why people who were asked whether they would rather go deaf or blind would have to think about it until I was this many years old (50!). Blind, would be my obvious answer because, apparently, I'm half blind already.
Stefan du bist nicht allein. Mir geht es genauso wie dir. Ich hab mir nur dazu nie Gedanken gemacht. Auch ich dachte bisher immer, dass es so wie bei mir normal ist und dass mit dem sehen der Bilder nur eine Umschreibung des ganzen ist.
I wasnt able to imagine things in my mind when I was a kid and I remember this very well. I first realized it when a teacher in kindergarten told us to imagine some stuff... But one day, years later it suddenly worked. And it still does. My banana was just a banana though... without a face :D
This gives me hope! I'm gonna practise tryig to see
I think I was the opposite. My primary school reports always said I daydreamt too much:-) I think I must have unlearnt the ability somehow, as I associated it with being 'bad'. I have fantastic vision when I am dreaming but it switches off when I am awake.
Love that video!
I just realized I had aphantasia last week. I was in therapy for awhile, and one of the exercises my therapist went through with me several times was 'picturing' a peaceful, relaxing place. I never could do it, and felt SO bad, since this was supposed to be helping me. I thought the same, picture it was just a saying. I also can't smell something, just because I think of it. I do hear songs in my head, though.
Oh my gosh, I heard about this a few months ago and it blew my mind that people SEE things! When I “imagine” things, it’s more like I’m hearing myself give a description of it. I can “hear” songs but it’s more like I’m just singing the lyrics in my head. I can’t smell things! I can recall how things smell but I don’t smell it. I do think about things, but it’s just basically me talking. My brain is a novel, not a movie.
Danke Euch für das interessante Thema.
Wenn ich in der Vorstellung etwas sehe, höre, rieche, schmecke, eine Berührung oder etwas im Gleichgewichtsorgan spüre (z.B. Seegang vom Schiff), dann ist das eine Erinnerung, und wenn ich darauf aufbauend weiterdenke, dann können solche Sachen passieren, wie einen Gegenstand in Gedanken zu drehen.
Stefan, bist Du in der Schule im Kunst-Unterricht klargekommen, obwohl Dein "inneres Auge" das nicht macht? Hast Du eine "innere Stimme", also spontane Einfälle (können auch Erinnerungen an einen Punkt auf Deiner To Do-Liste sein) und spontane Ideen (unkreatives Beispiel von mir: "Lass uns heute nachmittag einfach mal woanders spazieren gehen") ?
Wie nimmst Du Musik wahr, speziell Filmmusik, die aus dem Gedächtnis der Zuschauer bestimmte Emotionen abrufen soll, um den Film interessanter zu gestalten?
Also hat Stefan auch nie Ohrwürmer??
Das dann auch nicht. Vielleicht kann man ihn mit einem BeeGees-Song heilen.
Sonnenschein242 Für ihn persönlich kann ich das nicht beantworten, aber ich habe auch Aphantasie und ich habe dauernd Ohrwürmer, aber ich höre das Lied in meinem Kopf halt nur in meiner eigenen Stimme
@@alissa33 Echt? xD Hahaha das stelle ich mir total lustig vor
Also ich hab Ohrwürmer aber das sind dann Sachen die ich vor mich hin summe oder singe, nichts das ich höre.
@@JennyKravitz ich dachte das wäre völlig normal einen Ohrwurm in der eigenen Stimme zu haben. Quasi singen in Gedanken
Wow! Das haut mich total um! Ich habe ZU VIEL im Kopf. Ich bin hochsensibel, habe ein sehr ausgeprägtes "inneres Leben"... ZU VIELE Bilder, ZU VIELE Geräusche, Gerüche, manchmal Geschmäcker.. unglaublich viele Erinnerungen und Vorstellungen von Dingen, die (noch) nicht stattgefunden haben. Ich träume enorm viel, habe auch tagsüber eine Art Träumerei - ich bin IMMER Bildern vor meinem inneren Auge ausgesetzt. Selbst wenn ich mir richtig viel Zeit nehme und versuche, an nichts zu denken und den Kopf frei zu machen. Das kann ich nicht.
Ich kann mir absolut gar nicht vorstellen, wie das für mich wäre, einfach n-i-c-h-t-s innerlich zu sehen 😱
Beim Lesen verschwindet für mich sogar nach den ersten Sätzen der Text. Ich lese automatisch, sehe aber keine Buchstaben und Wörter mehr. Ich SEHE stattdessen, was da steht.
Mir gar nichts vorstellen zu können wäre einerseits bestimmt sehr entspannend, andererseits furchtbar gruselig und eintönig 😂
I’m the same as you no picture no music just pitch black.
I also work IT and when I try to picture something in my mind I just remember the properties of the object.
It’s blew my mind when I read that people have pictures, music and video in their mind
I honestly never knew that some people couldn't imagine pictures, music and video in their minds! Most of my thoughts have always included those.
I can't imagine smells. I can imagine the rest.
I cannot see smell or hear anything either however my brain is always going
Another negative of having a mind's eye, are intrusive thoughts... certain environments/people can bring up memories, images, and emotions that hinder your ability to function or uncomfortable within a seconds notice and make it extremely difficult to come back to a calm relaxed state of being...
I'm 30 years old and until today I thought, that it was normal to "see" nothing... I really thought it was like this for everyone... Kinda mindblown right now...Thanks for the interesting video :-).
Haha, same name, same age, same experience 🙌
I’ve learned, working with many autism charities, that most “disorders” are spectral. Rather than «Choice A) You have it» and «Choice B) You don’t», it’s: Everybody has it. It’s in all humans. Rather, we only notice it when it manifests with severity. We’re all - ALL of humanity - technically autistic. But the majority of us rate merely at 1 or 2 on a scale of say, 50. Perhaps we all lie on a spectrum of memory and imagination abilities. That’s fascinating, Stephan. I still find your filming and editing wildly creative, btw. Cheers! -Phill, Las Vegas
My Aphantasia is interestingly not related to sound or music, only to visuals and smells (and touch but I doubt anyone is actually "feeling" something in their mind)...
Same here! The 'hearing' is definitely different (than real/physical hearing), but it's there, vividly, realistically - especially when it comes to songs or song snippets. As to your other comment about different vocabulary - an interesting thought, I had a similar one when I first heard about aphantasia ... The interesting/frustrating thing is, we'll never be able to experience the world the way anyone else does, we're limited to our own mind/brain, and explaining what goes on in there always falls short to some degree ... We can't even be sure that when I say "this object is blue" and you agree that it is, that my "blue" and your "blue" look the same - if you know what I mean? Having said that, I think if I could imagine images and smells I would know, because I know I can imagine sounds, or hear sounds in my mind.
I also have this, with pictures as well as smells and sounds. I think your database explanation is how I would explain it too. I'm also really good at remember directions and stuff too which does feel kinda strange now. I've also been told I'm very creative and imaginative, I write fantasy worlds, so it's also sort of ironic. It's a very strange thing to come to realize.
Hallo zusammen,
Euer Video finde ich super spannend. Von aphantasia hatte ich bislang noch nie gehört und ich war mir bis zu Eurem Video auch überhaupt nicht der Tatsache bewusst, dass andere tatsächlich Bilder oder Filme in ihrem Kopf sehen können. Nachdem ich hier auf youtube und bei google ein wenig mehr darüber gelesen habe, habe ich für mich festgestellt, dass ich weder Bilder in meinem Kopf sehe, geschweige denn ganze Szenen, noch kann ich Gerüche im Geist riechen oder Stimmen hören. Für mich ist das vollkommen normal. Bis zu Eurem Video wusste ich nicht, dass das bei anderen tatsächlich anders ist.
Beim Googeln bin ich auf einen für mich sehr lustigen Kommentar gestoßen, von jemandem, der auch keine Bilder im Geist sehen kann. Die Person schrieb „How do these people get any work done. I‘d be watching shit in my head 24/7.“ Ich finde das super witzig!!! Wenn ich so darüber nachdenke, bin ich eigentlich ganz froh, keine Bilder im Geist sehen zu können. Das würde mich vermutlich wirklich ständig raus bringen.
Was auf mich auch zutrifft, ist die schlechte Orientierung. Darin bin ich grandios schlecht. Auch im Finden von Sachen. Mir geht es bei Autofahrten oder Gassigängen oft so, dass ich denke, dieses Haus oder Baum oder etc. hab ich hier vorher noch nie gesehen. Dabei wird es vermutlich schon ewig da gewesen sein.
Allerdings lese ich sehr gerne Romane. Dabei habe ich aber nie Bilder im Kopf. Ich stelle mir die Personen auch nie tatsächlich im Bild vor. Wenn ich mal eine Verfilmung eines Buches sehem, bin ich immer enttäuscht, wenn die Geschichte auf einmal in Bilder umgesetzt wird.
Einen „Ohrwurm“ habe ich aber öfter. Allerdings höre ich keine Stimme in meinem Kopf, sondern muss einfach ständig an einen Song denken, den ich mir dann lautlos vorsinge oder summe. Wenn ich allerdings versuche, die Stimmbänder und Zunge nicht mitzubewegen, kann ich mich auch nicht mehr auf den Song konzentrieren.
Ich finde es super faszinierend, dass andere Bilder sehen, Dinge riechen und Stimmen hören. Allerdings vermute ich, dass mich das nervös und unruhig machen würde. Ich genieße es, dass es in meinem Kopf ruhiger zugeht. Allerdings denke ich auch meistens über etwas nach. Nur ohne Bilder. Einmal gar nichts zu denken, kommt bei mir sehr selten vor. Meistens beschäftigt mich etwas.
An traurige Geschehnisse kann ich mich aber auch intensiv erinnern. Zwar nicht in Bildern, Filmen und Gerüchen, aber in gedanklichen Worten. Das kann auch so intensiv sein, dass die Tränen nochmal neu fließen. Auch ganz ohne Bilder.
Alles in allem, bin ich froh, wie es bei mir so ist und möchte auch nichts daran ändern. Ich habe es ja auch nie anders kennengelernt. Insofern ... alles ist gut. Grüße an alle