I suspect aphantasia is more widespread than we realize, at least that is what I gather anecdotally. The difficulty with autobiographical memory is especially sad for me. Unlike what you describe about spatial awareness, though, I find that mine is quite strong. I've also noticed a weird thing my brain does that I wonder if others with aphantasia experience. I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks while walking my dog in my neighborhood. When I reflect on stuff I've listened to afterwards, I immediately recall exactly where I was walking or standing when I heard this or that bit of information. There is always a spatial/locational element to my recall. Is this something others have experienced? I am looking forward to this condition being further studied and elucidated.
I have zero mental imagery but strong auditory ability. I also have SDAM. I’ve ABSOLUTELY noticed this spatial link, even over long spans of time. While my episodic memory is Nil, I can run past a certain landmark (I run a lot) and know *Exactly* what information I listened to at that location. I’ve wondered how I can leverage this to my advantage, perhaps like a ‘real life’ memory palace technique.
- Could you describe how you may generate the reorganisation presentation, just as an example of how you think in terms of "relationships, logical patterns, systematic thinking"? Do non-aphantasia people share this sort of thinking (but maybe in a weaker form)?
- Could you elaborate on what you mean when you said "Trust is the cognitive shortcut" - did you mean that if two people trust each other, it's easier for you to infer their shared knowledge?
- I'd like to experiment with myself, as in trying to tune out my ability to visualise and think like a person with aphantasia. Would you have any idea on how that could be done?
Hard questions! I don't know, re: reorganization. Because I think in terms of teams and people, that's what I think about. I don't know. But if I trust someone it means I have a sense that I will trust what they do so I don't have to spend energy on checking heir math. I am "new" to having aphantasia so I'm not sure I know enough to answer your questions fully.
Thanks for your answer! I understand what you mean. If in the future you would share more about your thinking process as it differs from people without aphantasia, I'd really like to read your sharings. It's very interesting to know how someone cognitively different thinks.
I stumbled into this Substack after a museum exhibit (Erotic Heritage Museum, Las Vegas) that was talking about how aphantasiacs have a difficult time with or no sexual fantasy. I confirmed for my girlfriend that it’s pretty true to my experience, and also that it affects so many other things in my life - my ability to learn about history is hampered because I don’t “see” stories.
At work (corporate finance), I’m never the person who is going to be your visionary. I won’t be the one with novel and innovative solutions. I will, however, kick your ass with ample receipts if there’s an error and can create excellent audit trails, or I can elegantly organize existing messes of information. My ability to think systematically *within systems that already exist* is far outstanding compared to colleagues.
I find it incredibly frustrating when people ask me to “picture” something without a clear reason why. Usually, I can accomplish the task without making head pictures. I can empathize with a tired parent even though I don’t have kids. I can choose to relax into nature sounds without visual aspects of meditation. I can be creative, albeit a little more difficult for me, if I know what the POINT is. People who don’t have aphantasia rarely stop to consider the point or rely on other skills, which seems a little sad to me. The point of visualization is the point, not the visualization itself lol.
I could go on and on - but it was so validating to learn more about this! I was feeling guilty and sad that I couldn’t remember my late partner’s voice after his death - no one ever told me aphantasia extended to other senses and this was a relief for me.
This article is fascinating. I have aphantasia but I'm in a very different line of work. It makes me wonder what regular parts of my job I navigate differently to my colleagues. Reading this has made me want to pay more attention to how I go about my job and look out for potential differences. I'm sure there are areas where aphantasia is an advantage. It forces you to be logical, systematic and organised out of necessity.
Reading the comments has also got my thinking about what other traits might come along with aphantasia. For example, does it affect our relationship with time and scheduling? Our ability to recognise faces? Personally, I don't have vivid autobiographical memory but my semantic memory is very strong. I also have a pretty good sense of direction. I am not great with faces and often rely on other cues to identify people. This works well most of the time but does lead to the occasional awkward situation. Once I know a face well, I'll recognise it reliably, but I might have had several interactions with a person over many weeks before reaching that stage. I wonder if this is typical for aphantasics or if it is just me.
I agree that we aphantasiacs find cognitive workarounds that enable us to get by (of course we do), but I am convinced that the condition is a severe handicap that consigns us to live much poorer lives. The only compensation is that we lack the imagination to truly comprehend what we are missing out on. I seriously doubt that anyone with this condition would prefer to retain it should a cure become available.
This was so illustrative and helped me understand aphantasia. I learned about it very recently when curiously got me looking for an answer.
I belong to a 2e group lead by a 2e specialist (2e being twice exceptional, all though most have more than 2 exceptions. One being gifted, the other could be ADHD or Autism, etc.) and in this month our theme was visual and auditory processing. In the zoom call where we discuss the webinar and articles we go into breakout rooms. And one person asked us what was our experience visualizing because she couldn't. I suspect she doesn't know about aphantasia. Just like I didn't know about my neurodiversity till later in life.
I was surprised and this is very much interests me because I'm trying to create a smartphone photography course for people to learn visual communication and storytelling with your own style. Aside from the ones that say they have dormant creativity, I now wanted to know if not visualizing affected creativity. That's when in my research I learned the term, and definitely can take what I read into consideration to be as inclusive as possible.
I notice this with podcasts too. I assumed this was typical. But then I also used to assume all references to visualization and "the mind's eye" were just figures of speech.
I'm also aphantastic! Although I didn't know the word for it until reading your essay here.
While it's common to talk at a high level about the benefits of diversity and neuodiversity in the workplace, this discussion of "compensatory" ways of thinking provides a specific lens as to the how/why of those benefits. Alternative pathways to understanding, analyzing, and communicating information can contribute to the strength of the corporate decision-making process.
And also: that diversity (and its strength) can be completely invisible. I doubt anyone outside my family knows about my aphantasia. Our organizations and communities contain multitudes.
It also seems there are strong variations in how visualization (for those of us who have it) itself works. I am outstandingly good in 2D but utterly hopeless in 3D - unlike my father and sister. Dad was an organic chemist, and my sister, a psychologist, had no trouble with neuroanatomy. Yet I have the "builder's mindset" - so found myself in more conceptual domains - software, philosophy.
I suspect aphantasia is more widespread than we realize, at least that is what I gather anecdotally. The difficulty with autobiographical memory is especially sad for me. Unlike what you describe about spatial awareness, though, I find that mine is quite strong. I've also noticed a weird thing my brain does that I wonder if others with aphantasia experience. I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks while walking my dog in my neighborhood. When I reflect on stuff I've listened to afterwards, I immediately recall exactly where I was walking or standing when I heard this or that bit of information. There is always a spatial/locational element to my recall. Is this something others have experienced? I am looking forward to this condition being further studied and elucidated.
I have zero mental imagery but strong auditory ability. I also have SDAM. I’ve ABSOLUTELY noticed this spatial link, even over long spans of time. While my episodic memory is Nil, I can run past a certain landmark (I run a lot) and know *Exactly* what information I listened to at that location. I’ve wondered how I can leverage this to my advantage, perhaps like a ‘real life’ memory palace technique.
I also get the “spatial recall” to an extent.
Say more...
It is so interesting isn’t it ? How different everyone is?
- Could you describe how you may generate the reorganisation presentation, just as an example of how you think in terms of "relationships, logical patterns, systematic thinking"? Do non-aphantasia people share this sort of thinking (but maybe in a weaker form)?
- Could you elaborate on what you mean when you said "Trust is the cognitive shortcut" - did you mean that if two people trust each other, it's easier for you to infer their shared knowledge?
- I'd like to experiment with myself, as in trying to tune out my ability to visualise and think like a person with aphantasia. Would you have any idea on how that could be done?
Thank you!!
Hard questions! I don't know, re: reorganization. Because I think in terms of teams and people, that's what I think about. I don't know. But if I trust someone it means I have a sense that I will trust what they do so I don't have to spend energy on checking heir math. I am "new" to having aphantasia so I'm not sure I know enough to answer your questions fully.
Thanks for your answer! I understand what you mean. If in the future you would share more about your thinking process as it differs from people without aphantasia, I'd really like to read your sharings. It's very interesting to know how someone cognitively different thinks.
I stumbled into this Substack after a museum exhibit (Erotic Heritage Museum, Las Vegas) that was talking about how aphantasiacs have a difficult time with or no sexual fantasy. I confirmed for my girlfriend that it’s pretty true to my experience, and also that it affects so many other things in my life - my ability to learn about history is hampered because I don’t “see” stories.
At work (corporate finance), I’m never the person who is going to be your visionary. I won’t be the one with novel and innovative solutions. I will, however, kick your ass with ample receipts if there’s an error and can create excellent audit trails, or I can elegantly organize existing messes of information. My ability to think systematically *within systems that already exist* is far outstanding compared to colleagues.
I find it incredibly frustrating when people ask me to “picture” something without a clear reason why. Usually, I can accomplish the task without making head pictures. I can empathize with a tired parent even though I don’t have kids. I can choose to relax into nature sounds without visual aspects of meditation. I can be creative, albeit a little more difficult for me, if I know what the POINT is. People who don’t have aphantasia rarely stop to consider the point or rely on other skills, which seems a little sad to me. The point of visualization is the point, not the visualization itself lol.
I could go on and on - but it was so validating to learn more about this! I was feeling guilty and sad that I couldn’t remember my late partner’s voice after his death - no one ever told me aphantasia extended to other senses and this was a relief for me.
Thank you!
This comment has made my day and thank you for sharing it. I love this "the point of visualization is the point, not the visualization itself."
This article is fascinating. I have aphantasia but I'm in a very different line of work. It makes me wonder what regular parts of my job I navigate differently to my colleagues. Reading this has made me want to pay more attention to how I go about my job and look out for potential differences. I'm sure there are areas where aphantasia is an advantage. It forces you to be logical, systematic and organised out of necessity.
Reading the comments has also got my thinking about what other traits might come along with aphantasia. For example, does it affect our relationship with time and scheduling? Our ability to recognise faces? Personally, I don't have vivid autobiographical memory but my semantic memory is very strong. I also have a pretty good sense of direction. I am not great with faces and often rely on other cues to identify people. This works well most of the time but does lead to the occasional awkward situation. Once I know a face well, I'll recognise it reliably, but I might have had several interactions with a person over many weeks before reaching that stage. I wonder if this is typical for aphantasics or if it is just me.
I think we don't know one thousandth of what we will learn about differences.
I agree that we aphantasiacs find cognitive workarounds that enable us to get by (of course we do), but I am convinced that the condition is a severe handicap that consigns us to live much poorer lives. The only compensation is that we lack the imagination to truly comprehend what we are missing out on. I seriously doubt that anyone with this condition would prefer to retain it should a cure become available.
This was so illustrative and helped me understand aphantasia. I learned about it very recently when curiously got me looking for an answer.
I belong to a 2e group lead by a 2e specialist (2e being twice exceptional, all though most have more than 2 exceptions. One being gifted, the other could be ADHD or Autism, etc.) and in this month our theme was visual and auditory processing. In the zoom call where we discuss the webinar and articles we go into breakout rooms. And one person asked us what was our experience visualizing because she couldn't. I suspect she doesn't know about aphantasia. Just like I didn't know about my neurodiversity till later in life.
I was surprised and this is very much interests me because I'm trying to create a smartphone photography course for people to learn visual communication and storytelling with your own style. Aside from the ones that say they have dormant creativity, I now wanted to know if not visualizing affected creativity. That's when in my research I learned the term, and definitely can take what I read into consideration to be as inclusive as possible.
Thank you for writing this.
It was so well explained.
Thank you for writing — it is wonderful how many of us are learning about our inner differences late in life. I just followed you to read your work.
Thank you! Do I have your permission to mention this post?
Absolutely! share widely! Here's another piece I wrote more recently. https://hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-i-read-poems-with-aphantasia
Thank you!
I notice this with podcasts too. I assumed this was typical. But then I also used to assume all references to visualization and "the mind's eye" were just figures of speech.
I'm also aphantastic! Although I didn't know the word for it until reading your essay here.
While it's common to talk at a high level about the benefits of diversity and neuodiversity in the workplace, this discussion of "compensatory" ways of thinking provides a specific lens as to the how/why of those benefits. Alternative pathways to understanding, analyzing, and communicating information can contribute to the strength of the corporate decision-making process.
And also: that diversity (and its strength) can be completely invisible. I doubt anyone outside my family knows about my aphantasia. Our organizations and communities contain multitudes.
Welcome and right? It’s such a strange thing to learn about oneself and look around and have things make so much more sense.
It also seems there are strong variations in how visualization (for those of us who have it) itself works. I am outstandingly good in 2D but utterly hopeless in 3D - unlike my father and sister. Dad was an organic chemist, and my sister, a psychologist, had no trouble with neuroanatomy. Yet I have the "builder's mindset" - so found myself in more conceptual domains - software, philosophy.