It never made sense to me when people ask to picture or imagine something in your mind and then describe it or talk about it like it’s something you see on a screen. I think it wasn’t until about a decade or so ago I learned about aphantasia and I literally can’t imagine how that’s like to have a visual representation of anything visible in your mind.
For me recollecting something is conceptual, it’s an idea, an abstract based on a memory or knowledge. It’s not at all visual. Visual is just what you see and nothing else. If you’re familiar with that image of five heads each with gradually deteriorating visuals of an apple from a very clear picture of an apple in the first head to nothing at all in the last one, I’m that last one.
This BBC article explains what aphantasia is and how it affects certain people.
Those who cannot visualise anything in their mind’s eye are probably among 1% of people with extreme aphantasia, according to a review of studies on the phenomenon.
They are also less likely to recognise faces, remember the sound of a piece of music or the feel of sandpaper, and more likely to work in science, maths or computing.
And up to 6% of people may experience some degree of aphantasia.
That description doesn’t really fly with me, though. I do recognize faces but forget their names often, much like Inspector Gadget who says he “never forgets a face”. I remember parts of songs like no one else around me can. I can often recognize that part of a song comes from another song and if I can’t recall what the song was that had the same rhythm or melody, it would drive me crazy and determined to find it. But I do work a lot with numbers and my career had been almost entirely in the tech scene.
Has it affected me personally or professionally? I honestly can’t say because I can’t compare my experience with what it’s like to have a visual mind but I’m pretty sure I would have experienced things very differently.
AuliaSays 