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 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.
Same. I hear so many people say it's just a different way of living, but this is nonsense; of course, aphantasia is a disability. You wouldn't say a blind person has a different lifestyle, would you? There's no doubt we have a few benefits (no PTSD, no stewing over past problems, no stressing about the day before we go to sleep at night)...but wow, at what cost! We certainly lose a lot by not being able to visualize.
The only thing that stops me from going crazy about it and freaking out is that I'm sure my personality would be different if I could visualize it. I'm pretty happy with my life, and with who I am, so I know my personality would be very different if I could visualize it. Even simple things like letting arguments go - I can get in a fight with someone and forgive them 10 seconds later. 1 hour later, I completely forgot about the argument. This just doesn’t happen to visualizers, they would relive the fight over and over again. So there are benefits.
Being able to hold crazy ideas is also handy. Quantum mechanics confuses a lot of people because things being in a superposition make no sense to them. It's easy for us to grasp this idea because our brain only thinks in superpositions! When we think of an "apple", we don't just picture 1 apple in our minds; we have every apple that has ever existed all in our minds at the same time. It's only when we learn more information about the apple that the superposition collapses into a single object. So there's that too, I suppose.
Yup, I have visual aphantasia and SDAM too. After researching it, it seems our main super power is the inability to suffer from PTSD. It also seems, bizarrely, that spatial data isn't part of the visual system since people with aphantasia performed better than average at spatial awareness tests. Same goes with colors - for some bizarre reason we are better at recognizing colors than visual people (which was a shock to me).
I think 4% of the population is too low though as I've met many other people with varying degrees of aphantasia.
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 don't remember faces at all. I could be talking to you at a party, you could nip to the washroom, and when you came back, I would have no idea who you were. I don't even recognize the people I work with everyday for the last 17 years. If I see them at work, I sort of remember them...but if I see them outside of work, I have no idea who they are. I also noticed that I don't ever dream of faces. In the few visual dreams I have, the faces of the people are always hidden. They might have their back turned to me, or their faces are covered, or they are speaking from another room. I never see anyone's faces. I think there must be a part of the brain that just deals with faces and for a lot of people with aphantasia, that part of the brain just doesn't work.
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.
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.
It is so interesting isn’t it ? How different everyone is?
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.
Same. I hear so many people say it's just a different way of living, but this is nonsense; of course, aphantasia is a disability. You wouldn't say a blind person has a different lifestyle, would you? There's no doubt we have a few benefits (no PTSD, no stewing over past problems, no stressing about the day before we go to sleep at night)...but wow, at what cost! We certainly lose a lot by not being able to visualize.
The only thing that stops me from going crazy about it and freaking out is that I'm sure my personality would be different if I could visualize it. I'm pretty happy with my life, and with who I am, so I know my personality would be very different if I could visualize it. Even simple things like letting arguments go - I can get in a fight with someone and forgive them 10 seconds later. 1 hour later, I completely forgot about the argument. This just doesn’t happen to visualizers, they would relive the fight over and over again. So there are benefits.
Being able to hold crazy ideas is also handy. Quantum mechanics confuses a lot of people because things being in a superposition make no sense to them. It's easy for us to grasp this idea because our brain only thinks in superpositions! When we think of an "apple", we don't just picture 1 apple in our minds; we have every apple that has ever existed all in our minds at the same time. It's only when we learn more information about the apple that the superposition collapses into a single object. So there's that too, I suppose.
Yup, I have visual aphantasia and SDAM too. After researching it, it seems our main super power is the inability to suffer from PTSD. It also seems, bizarrely, that spatial data isn't part of the visual system since people with aphantasia performed better than average at spatial awareness tests. Same goes with colors - for some bizarre reason we are better at recognizing colors than visual people (which was a shock to me).
I think 4% of the population is too low though as I've met many other people with varying degrees of aphantasia.
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 don't remember faces at all. I could be talking to you at a party, you could nip to the washroom, and when you came back, I would have no idea who you were. I don't even recognize the people I work with everyday for the last 17 years. If I see them at work, I sort of remember them...but if I see them outside of work, I have no idea who they are. I also noticed that I don't ever dream of faces. In the few visual dreams I have, the faces of the people are always hidden. They might have their back turned to me, or their faces are covered, or they are speaking from another room. I never see anyone's faces. I think there must be a part of the brain that just deals with faces and for a lot of people with aphantasia, that part of the brain just doesn't work.
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.