Do you have aphantasia?

Apologies for posting this here - the MFT forum is the busiest and friendliest photography group I know of, I can't think of anywhere else I might be able to get a decent number of helpful replies. If mods don't want this here, you may naturally delete the thread. (I've tried elsewhere with no luck.)

Aphantasia is the inability to create visual imagery in your mind. I am curious to see whether it might be more or less prevalent among photographers vs. the average population, where its prevalence is estimated to be up to 5%.

When prompted "think of an apple", a normal visualiser can see an actual visual representation of an apple in their mind's eye. It will look at least something like a real physical apple. Someone with strong visualisation (a hyperphantast) may even see a completely life-like apple and be able to change it in any way they wish. Colour, shape, bitten etc.

An aphant such as myself sees nothing. I know perfectly well what an apple is and will of course recognise one when I see it, but when I prompt my mind to conjure up the image of an apple - or a family member, my own face, my house - nothing happens.

If you are not sure what aphantasia is and would like to take a professionally developed visualisation test, here's a link:

Not something I have previously heard of!

For myself I don't have any issues visualising things including a good spatial awareness of for example 'seeing the insides of a car engine' made better by looking at a service manual when I used to do all my own DIY servicing and you have to reach into places you cannot actually see and work but touch & feel to identify what you are doing!

Box Brownie said:

Not something I have previously heard of!

For myself I don't have any issues visualising things including a good spatial awareness of for example 'seeing the insides of a car engine' made better by looking at a service manual when I used to do all my own DIY servicing and you have to reach into places you cannot actually see and work but touch & feel to identify what you are doing!

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That sounds like a very handy use for visualisation indeed

I'm not sure what to say. When I try to visualize an apple or hammer or tractor I see a vague representation of the object for a very brief time (I have to do a constant refresh if I want to keep seeing it). I can put a worm half way in the apple or change its color but again, nothing stays for more than a split second and no minute details. It's hard to explain but kind of like I don't really see the object but just an idea of the object, which is the reality isn't it?

Ranlee said:

I'm not sure what to say. When I try to visualize an apple or hammer or tractor I see a vague representation of the object for a very brief time (I have to do a constant refresh if I want to keep seeing it). I can put a worm half way in the apple or change its color but again, nothing stays for more than a split second and no minute details. It's hard to explain but kind of like I don't really see the object but just an idea of the object, which is the reality isn't it?

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Thank you for sharing. Sounds like you may have hypophantasia, i.e. a lower than normal ability to visualise.

Normal visualisers see more or less an accurate visual representation of the object they imagine, rather than "the idea of an object". Those with vivid visualisation (hyperphants) can often see it just as clearly as they see with their physical eyes, for however long they please.

Visualisation can be hard to grasp if you have always had aphantasia - it's a bit like being born blind and trying to imagine seeing: you have no frame of reference.

It is very obvious to those who lose their ability to visualise after eg. brain damage. This is one example of that, although it may be experienced differently by different people.

What I can say is that normal visualisers and hyperphants would not say they see "the idea of the object" since they actually see a visual representation of the thing in their mind's eye. They simply see the object visually in their minds. Possibly not entirely life-like but not entirely unlike either, depending on where exactly they are on the visualisation scale.

I myself seem to compensate with a relatively acute spatial sense. I do not see anything in my mind's eye, but I have a "mental sonar" which I can use to manipulate objects in my mind without seeing them - much like I imagine someone born blind would. I can map out my surroundings mentally and rotate objects in my mind, although this is not accompanied by the usual visual representation of those objects.

A dumb question maybe, but does this condition also affect your ability to dream visually?

Revenant said:

A dumb question maybe, but does this condition also affect your ability to dream visually?

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Most of the time, no. It affects your ability to create visuals consciously, rather than subconsciously; it seems that those run along different pipes in the brain. These visuals disappear quickly as you wake up, and although you may remember what you dreamed of, you can't "see" it anymore when awake.

There are some people with aphantasia who also do not dream, but that is probably a different condition.

Sundre said:

Revenant said:

A dumb question maybe, but does this condition also affect your ability to dream visually?

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Most of the time, no. It affects your ability to create visuals consciously, rather than subconsciously; it seems that those run along different pipes in the brain. These visuals disappear quickly as you wake up, and although you may remember what you dreamed of, you can't "see" it anymore when awake.

There are some people with aphantasia who also do not dream, but that is probably a different condition.

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Ah, I see. Very interesting. Thanks for the reply.

It was many years before I learned that some people "see" the apple in their head, others like me understand what an apple is and have some sort of descriptive logic available to describe it.

If I think "chair" I don't see a chair but have some sort of plan or description in my brain that makes up what a chair is.

If I think "Sydney Opera House" I have some sort of abstract curvy shape idea in my mind and could probably describe the building and surrounds, but only because it's all mapped out in my brain and is not by any means a complete picture of the building that I can "see" inside my head.

Guy Parsons said:

It was many years before I learned that some people "see" the apple in their head, others like me understand what an apple is and have some sort of descriptive logic available to describe it.

If I think "chair" I don't see a chair but have some sort of plan or description in my brain that makes up what a chair is.

If I think "Sydney Opera House" I have some sort of abstract curvy shape idea in my mind and could probably describe the building and surrounds, but only because it's all mapped out in my brain and is not by any means a complete picture of the building that I can "see" inside my head.

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Thank you for sharing. One photographer I know found it very odd that I can take photographs without composing them in my mind beforehand, which he says he always does. He generally sees the photo he wants in his mind, and then goes looking for it.

The human brain is a very interesting piece of machinery.

Guy Parsons said:

It was many years before I learned that some people "see" the apple in their head, others like me understand what an apple is and have some sort of descriptive logic available to describe it.

If I think "chair" I don't see a chair but have some sort of plan or description in my brain that makes up what a chair is.

If I think "Sydney Opera House" I have some sort of abstract curvy shape idea in my mind and could probably describe the building and surrounds, but only because it's all mapped out in my brain and is not by any means a complete picture of the building that I can "see" inside my head.

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Though, thinking back many years, some odd times "seeing" does work.

I remember one time maybe 40 years back I did some visit to a guy's office re some computer install or maintenance work that we had to do.

Back at my usual office the boss asked me "what was his name?" I am bad with names and as I said here once before, my forgettory works better than my memory.

So I did a brain exercise, I remembered going up the stairs, down a corridor and turned right and looked at his door, then I "saw" his name on the door, and could tell my boss. That image has faded though in the last 40 years so can't get that one back.

The brain does a maintenance tidy up and dumps stuff no longer needed while I sleep but it is often a bit too keen on using that delete button.

My current "seeing" effort is remembering PINs for credit cards, I can still sort of "see" the piece of paper that was posted to me years back with the PIN on it. That is about the full extent of my ability to "see" at this time - but even that is some sort of vague logical image, not exactly a pixel by pixel exact image.

Sundre said:

Thank you for sharing. One photographer I know found it very odd that I can take photographs without composing them in my mind beforehand, which he says he always does. He generally sees the photo he wants in his mind, and then goes looking for it.

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I'm in the group that gets to a place, can see directly what looks interesting, and then frames it and captures it. No prior design or seeing what to take.

Sundre said:

The human brain is a very interesting piece of machinery.

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From https://www.cnsnevada.com/what-is-the-memory-capacity-of-a-human-brain/ I see....

"....so the average adult human brain has the ability to store the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes digital memory."

Though mine has problems at times with storing a single byte. :-(

I've never heard of this before, and I find it very interesting. Thanks for sharing this information and your personal experiences.

My head's full of images, hard to imagine but good to know this can be different/blank for other people. Something to think about.

Just beginning trying to grasp the concept, but I'd expect that people who paint/draw are an even more interesting group to examine than photographers. Curious how you think about that.

Are you a photographer yourself? If so, does it influence the way you workm?

Interesting discussion. Hadn't rally thought about it before. I know that my wife when trying to find something goes 'looking for it' in her mind visualizing different places and hopefully 'seeing' it in one of those places. Her subconscious remembers it but she needs to go through this exercise to remember where it is.

I have a very poor memory for faces, I would make a terrible detective.

This brings up something I've noticed that when I'm relaxing, getting close to sleep, I will suddenly have a detailed image of a room or a place that I've never been, sometimes I can even look through the doors, and then, within seconds the image is gone. It's not vague like a dream... for a few seconds it's very real.

Cool discussion.

Guy Parsons said:

I'm in the group that gets to a place, can see directly what looks interesting, and then frames it and captures it. No prior design or seeing what to take.

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Yup: in this respect I see 2 types: those who create an image in their mind and try to reproduce it in real life, and those who can translate an unforeseen situation (quickly) in thekr mind into a pleasing image. Both are skills that can only partly be trained, and may have a relation with the ability to visualise but in a different way.

Photongraphy said:

I've never heard of this before, and I find it very interesting. Thanks for sharing this information and your personal experiences.

My head's full of images, hard to imagine but good to know this can be different/blank for other people. Something to think about.

Just beginning trying to grasp the concept, but I'd expect that people who paint/draw are an even more interesting group to examine than photographers. Curious how you think about that.

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I think painters with aphantasia tend to rely heavily on photographs. This article explores it in depth, with a painter who used to be able to visualise but lost the ability after a stroke.

Photongraphy said:

Are you a photographer yourself? If so, does it influence the way you workm?

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Not a pro, no. But I take a lot of photos, of course!

It doesn't seem to affect my photography per se, except for one thing - model photoshoots. I need to tell the model to do this or that, and the only way I seem to be able to do it is trial and error. Keep trying different poses sort of randomly until something feels right. Maybe I can get better at it, who knows.

My visualising photographer friend sees the right pose in his head and simply asks the model to assume the pose he visualises.

Thanks for posting. That's extremely interesting. I've never heard of it. I can visualise things quite well, not in deail so much. However, I don't seem to have any artistic creativity at all. Is there a word for that? I love love and admire art but simply can't create it. Perhaps it's a matter of training. Sadly, too late now

Photongraphy said:

Guy Parsons said:

I'm in the group that gets to a place, can see directly what looks interesting, and then frames it and captures it. No prior design or seeing what to take.

Click to expand...

Yup: in this respect I see 2 types: those who create an image in their mind and try to reproduce it in real life, and those who can translate an unforeseen situation (quickly) in thekr mind into a pleasing image. Both are skills that can only partly be trained, and may have a relation with the ability to visualise but in a different way.

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Good point, definitely a possibility. I can't visualise and I definitely prefer photographic opportunities I can grab quickly as I notice them, rather than crafting them. Street photography etc.

Guy Parsons said:

Guy Parsons said:

It was many years before I learned that some people "see" the apple in their head, others like me understand what an apple is and have some sort of descriptive logic available to describe it.

If I think "chair" I don't see a chair but have some sort of plan or description in my brain that makes up what a chair is.

If I think "Sydney Opera House" I have some sort of abstract curvy shape idea in my mind and could probably describe the building and surrounds, but only because it's all mapped out in my brain and is not by any means a complete picture of the building that I can "see" inside my head.

Click to expand...

Though, thinking back many years, some odd times "seeing" does work.

I remember one time maybe 40 years back I did some visit to a guy's office re some computer install or maintenance work that we had to do.

Back at my usual office the boss asked me "what was his name?" I am bad with names and as I said here once before, my forgettory works better than my memory.

So I did a brain exercise, I remembered going up the stairs, down a corridor and turned right and looked at his door, then I "saw" his name on the door, and could tell my boss. That image has faded though in the last 40 years so can't get that one back.

The brain does a maintenance tidy up and dumps stuff no longer needed while I sleep but it is often a bit too keen on using that delete button.

My current "seeing" effort is remembering PINs for credit cards, I can still sort of "see" the piece of paper that was posted to me years back with the PIN on it. That is about the full extent of my ability to "see" at this time - but even that is some sort of vague logical image, not exactly a pixel by pixel exact image.

Click to expand...

when i use a pin i just type the numbers, i don't visualise them i just know the numbers, i'm terrible with names...... i must admit it is down to laziness more than anything, also here in the Netherlands people have to me weird names which makes it worse, but, i play classical guitar and i could probably from memory play about 15 pieces without any recall problems

i lost a teleconverter a couple of years back, i tidied it up and put it somewhere thinking i won't forget the place..... i can visualise me doing it but the damn thing simply isn't there..... buggered if i know the answer to all this

Sundre said:

Thank you for sharing. One photographer I know found it very odd that I can take photographs without composing them in my mind beforehand, which he says he always does. He generally sees the photo he wants in his mind, and then goes looking for it.

The human brain is a very interesting piece of machinery.

Click to expand...

That's interesting. I never preconceive an image to photograph. It sounds too hard but I'll give it a try. Basically, for me, the fun in photography is discovery. I look for interesting things, capture them then see how I can explore the interesting thing in post.