Aphantasia: People Who Can't Picture Things in Their Mind
Close your eyes and picture an apple. Some people see nothing at all. Aphantasia was only named in 2015, and many people don't know they have it. What it is, how common it is, and what it's like.
Close your eyes and picture a red apple. Can you see it? Most people see something, maybe fuzzy, maybe vivid. Some people see nothing at all. Not a shape, not a color, just darkness. They know what an apple looks like, but they can't call up a picture of one. That's aphantasia.
It only got a name in 2015
People have described this for more than a century, but the name is new. In 2015, British neurologist Adam Zeman and his colleagues at the University of Exeter published a paper describing people who couldn't form mental images, and they called it aphantasia, from Greek words meaning "without imagination" (in the visual sense).
After the paper got news coverage, thousands of people contacted the researchers saying, in effect, "That's me. I thought everyone was speaking in metaphors when they said they could picture things."
How common is it?
Estimates vary with how strictly it's defined. Studies have suggested roughly 1 to 4 percent of people have aphantasia, with about 1 percent having a complete absence of mental imagery.
On the other end is hyperphantasia: mental images so vivid they're almost like seeing for real. That's estimated at a few percent of people.
What it's like
People with aphantasia:
- Can't "see" faces of loved ones in their mind, even though they'd recognize them instantly.
- Often don't "see" scenes when reading a novel.
- May not count sheep visually.
- Often remember facts about events but not the images.
- Some also can't imagine sounds, smells or tastes; others can.
Many people only realize they have it as adults, when they find out other people really are seeing pictures.
Does it hold people back?
Not necessarily. People with aphantasia include scientists, engineers, writers and artists. Some notable examples:
- Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, has written about having aphantasia.
- Blake Ross, co-creator of the Firefox web browser, wrote a widely shared essay in 2016 about discovering he had it.
Some research suggests people with aphantasia may rely more on facts and spatial reasoning, and some report fewer intrusive images after bad experiences.
Dreams
Interestingly, many people with aphantasia still report visual dreams. That suggests the ability to create images voluntarily and the images that come in sleep may work differently.
Is it a disorder?
No. Aphantasia isn't a disease or a mental illness. It's a difference in how people experience their own thoughts. Most people with it are born with it. In rare cases, people develop it after a brain injury or illness.
Do you have it?
Researchers often use a questionnaire called the VVIQ (Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire), which asks you to picture scenes and rate how clear they are. If you rated everything "no image at all," you may have aphantasia.
For a mind at the other extreme of memory, see hyperthymesia: people who remember every day. And for senses that cross over, see synesthesia.
This article is for general information.
Sources (3)
Zeman et al., "Lives without imagery – Congenital aphantasia," Cortex, 2015 (ResearchGate); Britannica: Aphantasia; Scientific American: When the mind's eye is blind.
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