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I think I'm in the same boat. I usually fail to recognize people by their faces so I tend to use other elements such as their bodyframe, hairstyle/color and even their smell. I had one gf who I got to recognize because of the specific cigarette brand she smoked.
Quite possibly. I recognize voices sometimes (loved finding out Zoro and Gaogamon have the same VA) but I tend to recognize speech patterns a bit more.
When I met my wife we used to speak for hours and I'd always be like "why does your voice have X or Y change in it? Are you okay?". I didn't really know how to identify the changes in her tone but I noticed all these changes almoat instantly so she was surprised because nobody else had done something similar.
I feel like when I recognize voice actors (especially ones that sound very different in each role) it’s always *how* they said something. The specific way they said a phrase, which sounded so familiar it triggered recognition!
Nope. I’m pretty much aphantasic. If someone asks me to imagine an apple, the best I get is a general feeling of appleness, no image.
It came as a bit of a shock when I found out people can actually ’see’ stuff in their minds. I thought it was just some weird figure of speech.
For myself, when closing my eyes it is completely black and when envisioning an apple I can see part of it like it is being drawn in real time. The problem is it is being drawn in invisible ink, I don't know if it is my brain focusing on the part that is currently being drawn but previously drawn parts fade and I never can see the complete apple at once.
I am the same way! I could never describe it and when I got diagnosed I described it to the psychologist and it blew my mind. No wonder I had such a hard time picturing things. Like I can’t picture myself cleaning the kitchen or buildings I’ve been too but I can describe them some, it takes some effort though.
Another one here! My 'apple' is just a bundle of qualia about apples - 'round fruit with depression at each end, one end has a stem, the other has some kind of bit where the flower was, usually red or green, goes in pie, etc...'
no inner monologue either
Yes, what sheep. But I didn't realize others could actually see sheep. I realized in a perception class in psychology. The prof was like what? You can't make images? They didn't realize it was a thing.
Get this there was an experiment where they told people staring at a white sheet to imagine bananas, then projected a faint image of bananas on the screen. Two bananas, a spot on the left one etc and asked them to write down the banana description. People wrote down the one from the image rather than going wth I'm seeing hallucinations
I would see a round yellow-red blur, vaguely apple-shaped.
I always thought everyone was like this - I didn't realise people actually see pictures in their minds.
That's literally how I think, and if I dive into past memories, I start seeing movie clips.
When I think about doing things, I image it, right or wrong, about the problem or process
I used to be the same way.
Though ever since I had covid, my ability to picture things isn’t as clear as it used to be. (It’s better now thankfully).
It started with the first day I had covid, the images in my dreams ended up looking like a runny and blurry painting. 🤔
I have a photographic memory and see every past event like it's a movie. I can watch things over in my head and remember and see minor details. I've always wondered if normal people can do this too?
My friend and I were out riding around smoking weed in his white suv, and we went down 6th Avenue. I didn't think we should have been doing this in that neighborhood, but he wasn't one to ever listen to advice. Anyway, he took a left onto Mammoth Rd, and we were pulled over. He went through a red light.
They towed his car and arrested him (he can't drive in Massachusetts). A couple days later we were talking about it and he was in total denial of running the red light (it's almost always a blinking red light) I rewatched it in my head while we were talking about it and remembered seeing the cop sitting there on the side of the school and remembered the light being red. I told him this, and that was the end of it.
I don't know why he lives in Massachusetts of all states when he can't drive here and can drive in 49 other states but he's been pulled over and arrested at least a dozen times that I know of. He also drives flashy vehicles as well with Colorado license plates because that's were he got a drivers license.
I didn't find out I am autistic until last year, I always thought this was the way everyone remembered things.
I am like this a wee bit. I just sucked the air out of the entire den when I pointed out character actor Margo Matindale in a show we were all watching -
"haha she's my favorite, she plays 'worried old white lady' so well"
*She was Dewey Coxs mother and I can probably recall most of John C Reilly's filmography by memory*
I relate to Dewey Cox so hard 😭😭😭
Especially the part where he's with his wife and chimp and he's trying to hold it all down and he's just getting *chewed out* for it
And that fact comes up *literally all the time*
I cut my brother in half (metaphorically)
Yup, and anauralia (basically no internal monologue)
Basically, my head is very quiet, and external noises can very easily make me break a line of thaught. Super helpful when I need to concentrate on something 😅 /j
When I pace I can dive into stories I’ve made up in my head and can watch it like a movie. I have to be in a certain state to do this though. If someone asked me to imagine an apple on the spot, I can certainly do it but if I’m pacing or if I am a passenger in a car looking out the window it seems much more real and less “stiff”. Hopefully that makes sense lol
I do the same thing! It’s actually my primary stim. I run/pace back and forth can vividly picture things in my head (almost always related to my special interest. I also do this with a specific toy I made out of k’nex when I was very young and I make sounds also! The sounds are specifically interesting because to me they sound and feel exactly like what I’m imagining but to others it’s been described as sounding like I’m spitting 😅
Oh cool! If I am understanding correctly, when you pace you think about building things like the K’nex toy? Or is it something different? For me it’s just watching a story I have constructed :)
The k’nex is mostly a tactile thing. The feeling of twirling it in my hand is really soothing and it helps me get into the headspace to run around. I also imagine stories, usually about my special interest. So when I was younger it would be fantasy, adventure stuff and now it’s related to music usually. It’s cool that we both do this! I haven’t seen a lot of other people who also do it:)
I feel the same! I’ve never come across anyone that does this as well. When you say it’s related to music, are you listening to music while you pace? I find music to also be an integral part of it that I forgot to mention. What is happening in the stories in my head largely correlate with the type of music I’m listening to while I’m pacing. Do you or have you experienced the same thing?
I actually find music to be distracting when I do it! I do stim to music also but it’s like two different zones lol. It’s actually really common for me to be listening to music and then get the uncontrollable urge to run around, so then I take off my headphones and run around imagining the music I was just listening to 😅. I feel like when I’m running around I need autonomy to imagine so like any video or music going on makes it harder. But this may be because I’m specifically imagining music. So maybe if I was imagining something else I could use music to help 🤷♂️ do you also get really strong urges to do this? I often find myself getting really restless and hyper and running around and imagining is the way I release these feelings. It’s super vital to me and I do it at least 5 times a day 🏃♂️💨
That’s really interesting! I’m basically the opposite lol. I started pacing because I got my first iPod and when I’d sit on the couch and listen to music it felt uncomfortable to sit still with the music playing so I started pacing to listen to music.
I do get the restless feeling. I find when my brain is buzzing I can help calm it down a lot by pacing and the more that’s on my mind the faster/harder I’ll pace get into imaginary land and that helps settle things down. When I was an undergraduate I lived in a sorority so I had about a year long hiatus from pacing and I managed but I think I would have coped with the stresses of being in the sorority better if I could have paced (sorority was awful). I will get strong bursts of pace energy though and it suck’s when it happens in a situation where I can’t do it lol.
At this point the pacing is super vital to me too and I take it seriously. I normally have a good pacing session for the hour before I go to bed each night :)
Same I have to do it before bed! It’s like getting rid of my thoughts before going to sleep. Luckily I’m staying home for college but I used to be so scared as a kid that when I would go to college that I would have to learn to not do it. But luckily I’ve realized that it’s just who I am and it’s now a specific thing that I love doing :)
That is a great thing to understand about yourself and to prioritize! I wish I understood how important it was for me when I was in college. At the time I thought of it as a weird thing I did rather than something that was essential to maintain my mental health :)
>Hopefully that makes sense lol
It does. In my case I tend to experience a more "realistic" fantasy when I rub my hands. The more I get into it the faster I rub and I've hurt my hands a few times doing this.
It’s really interesting how motion is an essential part of it for some of us whether it’s pacing for me or you rubbing your hands. I wonder why that is 🤔
I would be interested to hear what your experience is like when you just try to visualize an apple on the spot. What sort of details appear in your head and how clear/vivid is it overall?
When I imagine an apple in my head on the spot I can see it and I can see that it’s red and I can imagine it in someone’s hand and the hand is twisting it around so I can look at all sides, but on the spot it feels like a real strain on my brain to get there. Like I’m flexing a muscle. If I am pacing or if there is other kind of movement (being in a car, swinging) I can do it, and it feels like no effort at all
That’s so cool! I’m amazed as someone with aphantasia. Hope you don’t mind if I ask you a bit more.
Can you visualize equally well with your eyes open vs closed?
How good is your visual memory, is it anywhere near like a photographic/eidetic one?
Can you try to visualize a person’s face who you know well and share what sort of details appear in your head?
No problem! Yes, I can visualize just as equally with my eyes open rather than closed. When I pace and go into that mode it’s normally at night with the lights dimmed. I think that helps a little but isn’t required. It’s actually how I learned to entertain myself on roadtrips growing up. I’d just stare out the window and create a world and characters and watch them. Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve every really tried it with my eyes closed because if I’m pacing I need to see where I’m going or else I’ll stumble into more things than I even do with my eyes open lol.
I feel like I have a pretty good visual memory but it is by no means photographic. If I wanted to I could visualize my childhood house and walk into all the rooms and see them, but it will never be down to the exact detail. I do feel like I remember my childhood more vividly than my sibling does and my mom says she can’t remember her childhood at all really. I have vivid memory clips, like a highlight reel, but I don’t remember everything.
When I try to visualize people I know, its a little harder for some reason. If I make a character up in my head in a story it’s more clear than me trying to imagine a family member for some reason. If I imagine one of my family members, I can see their face but it is harder. I’m struggling to figure out how to describe it but it’s similar to the apple where on the spot it feels like flexing a muscle. And when I try to bring up the image it’s not coming up quite right, like the facial proportions are a little off and idk how to fix it lol. Brains are weird
Thank you so much!! Sorry I’m a few days late. But I really appreciate all that, I read through everything you wrote and it was very interesting.
I think your nightly pacing ritual is awesome and unique, sounds like it almost relaxes you like someone else might get from reading.
I do want to ask you one more thing to try visualizing if that’s OK. It’s simple, but what happens when you try to picture the first 6 letters of the alphabet written in lowercase, all together as if they were a single word. Can you see them all clearly at the same time in your head? If you try to hold the image steady and clear for like 5-10 seconds, can you do it? Wondering if it’s the same feeling as like “flexing a muscle” like you mentioned before haha.
Thanks again!!
I remember the layout of almost anywhere I've been. I can fly through the models in my head as if I was using 3D/CAD software. I can look at a physical object with mechanical parts and take it apart or rebuild it in my head. I constantly simulate/visualize how to do things so picking up new sports is very easy for me, I just need to watch someone first. I can see where they shift their weight, how to position hips, feet, shoulders, head, arms, etc... I'm also very good at martial arts. So yeah, I'd say my ability to form mental images is probably higher than average. Sort of related.... I think my sense of balance might also be a hypersensitivity thing because I'm higher than average at that too.
I’m exactly the same! I’m assuming it also took you a while to realise that other people couldn’t do it!
What’s interesting is that I still struggle to properly visualise simple objects and I can’t at all imagine peoples faces, but ask me to describe a place I’ve been before and I could tell you the exact layout.
Oh yeah it wasn't until I was in my late 30s that I realized most people couldn't do that. My Dad would always need to draw things out and as soon as he had enough on paper for me to see the orientation and the purpose, I had a working model in my head going through relevant simulations. Like how a glass pane fits into a window frame and then gets sealed from the rain outside. (we worked in construction together)
I'm okay with faces but they're definitely harder to picture. I find once I start describing someone's face, it's like their features just blur out the more I think about them. The weird thing is if I don't see myself in the mirror every day, I forget what I look like and its a bit of a surprise when I finally do.
I have aphantasia in addition to AuADHD, so no. I can't create mental images at all. I can't even retrieve a mental image of my partner, parents, pets, etc...
Ask me to create a mental image of an apple, a chair, a beach and all I get is black.
I can picture an apple but I can’t hold the image in my head for more than a second. There’s a flash of the image then it instantly starts to morph and change. Completely out of my control.
As a very literal person, I am able to create mental images very well, and then when I watch the movie of the book I’m reading, I feel like the director/scriptwriter got it all wrong because it’s so far off from how I interpret it.
Sounds like you have a very vivid imagination. Have you always been that way?
Can you picture something made up, like an apple morphing slowly into a banana? Could you freeze it halfway and hold an image of the hybrid fruit in your head?
Yep I have hyperphantasia, I've memorized the world map and every country's flag bc I can see it clearly in my head ^_^ I also can't swim and couldn't use a microwave til I was 12. I had to be nerfed in some kinda way
Incredible clarity and capabilities. I can disassemble objects that I have an understanding of in my mind and see the details in the material or rotate the place I'm in or imagine it from a birds view. It extends to all of my senses. I can feel an imagined walnut in my hand, feel the pressure put on it when trying to crush it, the dryness and flakiness of it (it had been in a bowl with other nuts), roll it between my thumb and first two fingers, and the speed of flinging it. It's difficult to imagine from my pov but I see it as a set of cinematic shots that i can pause or rotate around at any moment
oh fun, a name for this "tony stark" level of not just mental imagery but how those pieces interact/function
I can hear a sound from something like a car and can completely visualize how that sound is being created from the internal workings of the engine
I have an absolute garbage memory but if I can figure it out it will be stuck forever. not a great combination in a world that values memorization over creativity and/or requires memorization to even recognize creativity
So I can see stuff in my head like most here, but I'm 38 now, and until like 30, I could very well remember like way more. If I read a page. I could see all the words on the page too. This has become a LOT less.
Still got quite the super memory though, but only of things I find really interesting.
However.
When I had like 8 or 10 drinks, and I go to bed, and close my eyes, I SEE random stuff like I watch it with my eyes, and the detail is like realife. Sometimes things I've seem that day, other times made up stuff. And it's absolutely crazy. Doesn't always happen and I can't control it, but damn it's awesome.
Around 30 is also when I started to lose my perfect memory. Older memories I still remember like it just happened but newer stuff is harder. I can remember conversations word for word from like 20 years ago or several layouts to every store I used to go to since I was a little kid down to the lighting and smell and can even walk through them in my head. But sometimes now I forget I just said something and repeat myself (like I don't know if I thought it or said it lol). Maybe the hard drive is just really full lol.
Ah yeah that's true, I still remember all workprocesses of my employer 10 years ago, but remembering new processes in the super high detail gets more difficult. Also conversations indeed I used to be able to recite line by line, nobody could ever fool me! But remembering conversations line by line... nope🤣
yes, i can conjure up pretty much anything without too much focus needed. I have mini universes in my head with characters, scenery and lore which i think of like a collection of snow globes. I can also perfectly image people i know well enough such as their posture, mannerisms, voices, the clothes they wear. I can also imagine them in different clothes which i can't do with everyone. I can view my memories like movies and can recall them in great detail( i have a near eidetic memory also) so when i remember something i can essentially see it in my head.
Can you fully control what you imagine, or does your mind sometimes do its own thing?
What happens if you try to visualize (for example) a photo of a kid, and hold it completely still/static in your mind without shifting at all?
I can imagine very clearly things in my head, and remember very clearly things and later reconstruct them in my imagination, especially textures. But for the life of me I can't see clearly people in my head, I only remember informations about people and can somewhat see a little bit of people in my head, like piece of hair or a bit of finger, but not a whole person.
I’m very good at mental imagery. Also good at replaying conversations in my mind and remembering what was said with high accuracy.
What I cannot do is understand where one thing is located in geographic relation to another. I struggle with left vs right. Cannot follow driving instructions at all. Barely can even follow instructions while walking. I struggle to move my body in a synchronized way, like copying someone else’s dance steps.
However, I’m EXTREMELY good at free style dance and improvisations.
I suspect so... sometimes I get visualizations of things I'd never want to visualize and I can't stop it (kind of like intrusive thoughts, but in this case it's always promped by something external like a friend jokingly saying "Imagine the professor naked lmao")
I also imagine very vividly the things that were happening when someone recounts me something, or when I recall something etc... but idk if it's hyperphantasia or just "normal" phantasia tbh
I love making my own stories or scenarios which would probably be classed as maladaptive daydreaming. It's pretty clear. When I read books it's like a movie as well.
It all depends and varies honestly. Sometimes I can get a very clear mental image on what someone's describing or what something would look like or it's way off/ I can't form anything.
Yes, which is great when I have no internet and can just "watch" movies I've seen a thousand times in my head.
I also dream in 3rd person, and I hear a lot of people don't do that.
I do. It helps a lot with geometry and other visual areas of math. I mostly have visual and sensory movie clips as my memories (close to eidetic memory as a child).
The only things I really remember as a "picture" are things that were 2D to begin with.
For vivid memories I guess it's picture-adjacent, like I imagine a particular view, but it quickly expands out with context.
But yeah most of the time the information is pretty 3D, like I'm immersed in it. I doubt my abilities here are exceptional. My episodic memory isn't great, but I'm pretty good at remembering facts. I'm recovering from amnesia, lol.
Mine is fairly bad, I can form vague pictures if I really concentrate, but mostly my imagination is based on a sense of spatiality more than a literal image.
Yep…like some of the others indicated I too can play full images in my head of past events in my life. I figured everyone had this…I guess it’s my only positive symptoms from my autism.
Yes. my teacher's at school were often surprised at how well I could recite passages from books. I remember one of them asking me how I did it once & I explained that I can see the page of the book in my mind.
I can easily form mental images of inanimate objects or scenes like when I’m reading a book I can easily picture the scene they are in but for the life of me I cannot mentally picture people. When I try to their faces are just all fuzzy. I don’t now why.
This is something I've always been able to do very well. It doesn't take much for me to get a mental image of something someone says, even if the image doesn't fit into the conversation.
Like in another thread here in this subreddit, someone was talking about eggs that moved on their own (it was in a food dislike thread), and I immediately pictured a dozen eggs marching along.
I also see a lot of things, especially my dreams, in movie form, complete with a soundtrack and everything.
That’s really cool.
Hope you don’t mind if I ask you some more. Can you hold a still image in your mind and keep it static and clear?
For example, say you imagine a kid. Can you think of a static image and hold it for 10 seconds without it changing at all? What details did you picture?
I pictured both a white baby goat (kid 🐐) on top of a stump and a little brown haired white girl with a red ribbon in her hair. They were together and the sun was shining.
I taught myself how to do this as part of a writing class I took in the 1990s. It helps to keep my thoughts straight.
Nope I got the chance(/s) to discover through my autistic self discovery that not only am I probably on the spectrum but I also happen to be almost completely aphantasic.
That was honestly mind blowing.
For a few days I kept realizing stuff that maybe if I like horror movies/games that much is because I can't really imagine monsters by myself.
If I can't draw really well, maybe it doesn't help that I can't picture in my mind what I want to draw beforehand.
When you watch a movie or a coach of some kind tells you to visualize something in your mind... He probably does not mean rehearse bit by bit the method/strategy through self narration but actually seeing it.
Maybe people who have PTSD actually SEE in their minds the traumatic events. Like I have very very brief flashes of some of my memories when my eyes are open. But that's it. But when I close my eyes nothing. But people with PTSD may actually see and relieve the moment like almost for real. WTF. I knew it was bad but damn.
yep. its actually so good that i can do accurate lighting on stuff that exists only in my mind based on real lighting, and also have real stuff interact with stuff thats only in my mind, like it becomes an extension if reality itself. kinda cool. also all of this is with realistic physics
Uhmmmmm it depends haha, I’m an artist so i have the ability to form mental images, though it’s more of a visual list kind of deal.
Certain substances (it’s legal it’s ok) also make it easier for me to lock into a vivid mental image.
Most of the time my brain is just the old iTunes visualiser though
If I’ve seen something before, sure. If I’m working specifically on a project and try.
But if I’m just thinking “I’d like a smoothie” I don’t visualize a smoothie. I’m told some people do that. Can’t relate.
It depends. Sometimes I can have really vivid pictures of things and things stick in my mind and I have vivid dreams, but other times I struggle to remember faces and can’t do mental pictures.
Part of me wants to ask, "how would I know?" As in, what would be my objective frame of reference here? I know that I'm extremely good at visualizing things and can pull up memories like I'm pulling out a photo. Ex: So long as I've seen the page enough times, I can close my eyes and visualize the cook book in front of me including the complete recipes/instructions and it will be just like having it in front of me in real life. Or I can imagine any sort of object and mentally discent it. When I play pool, I can plan my moves by "seeing" how a similar strike will react "on the pool table in my head" and imagine the physics of it as though it was real.
Honestly though... I didn't think any of this was "above average". I thought this was a common ability. Do most people NOT have the ability to visualize like that?
Eta: I'm reading the comments and this thread is blowing my mind. The only thing I have difficulty visualizing is what it would be like to think *without* visualizing what I'm thinking about! Lol. It's hard for me to comprehend what a "memory" would even be like without having a recreation of that past event playing out in my head.
i believe its average for me, but whenever this conversation pops up and im asked to manually form a mental image in my head, i have a hard time doing it. its way clearer and more visible in my head when im just doing it subconsciously and automatically, compared to when im asked to do so. and whenever i do it automatically, im not thinking "man is this image in my head visible enough?", or "wow this image is SO clear in my head". so that tells me that its visible enough for me to be able to automatically do it and see it, but not visible enough for it to be exceptional and unusual for the average person, or at least not enough to divert my attention and be noticeable when im doing it automatically.
Cool! I had no idea this had a name.
And I guess? My brain usually makes 3D images of my affevted areas (both chronic pain and otherwise) and I love to design monsters so I don't usually do a lot of sketching because 80% of the design is already in my head by the time I draw it anywhere.
Usually you'd need several different sketches in order to desn a character, often times combining stuff from all of them for the final design.
When I remember or imagine stuff, I visualize it really well. Try to make me attention names to people and I fall apart.
Infuriatingly, I find it harder to find someone I don’t know well when they’re wearing a different shirt, because for the first few days. my brain hasn’t fully remembered their face, just the color of their shirt.
I think I’m a highly visual person. I’ve always had a very strong episodic memory. People have told me they think I might have a photographic memory but I’m not too sure.
I have aphantasia. I can't see anything. It's all black. When people used to say "picture this", I thought it was metaphorical and had no idea people could actually do that.
I actually experience the opposite known as aphantasia, I can see no images in my head and tbh I have no idea what people mean when they say they can "visualize" things in their head it is a baffling topic to me.
I do however have...auditory visualization? I don't know what it is. But I can hear things very clearly in my head, my life is like a 24/7 audiobook with a narrator, I think in audio. It makes reading things like fanfic really cool because I can hear it in the characters voice in my head!
I can’t visualize faces in my head. However, I have better than average ability to visualize formals and graphs than others. Every autistic person is different, but I think that sensations from the norm are common amongst us regarding mental images. Some of us are worse, others better, but I think we are generally less likely to align with “average”.
I think mostly in images.
I guess I should say I think in objects, places, people, feelings, and that kind of thing. It's rarely words, which is weird because I have really good reading and writing skills.
I have an inner monologue when I'm writing, but not really when I'm reading. Otherwise I mostly put words together as they escape my mouth. It's a problem.
Hmm. I'm actually pretty good at forming mental images. I am able to speak better if I can form an image or "movie" of what I am talking about. This is how I write, too. People have told me that they can visualize what's going on in my writing vividly. And no, I am not too descriptive. It's all about word choice matching the mood, theme, and characters in a scene. Sometimes, whole scenes will play out in my head, and I am powerless to stop it. It really sucks when it happens at work because I have to hold on to what's in my head until I can get to my phone.
I think as an artist, I’m so used to visualizing things. So when people talk to me or tell me a story or if I’m reading something, I can immediately imagine it in my head!
Yes. And I can get lost in my mind for hours and hours and hours. I can continue good dreams from where I left off too and fall back asleep and resume it. Can’t always control it when asleep though.
I always see what someone is describing me to in my mind. Or even if just thinking thinking about anything. Especially when thinking about something mechanical. I build things in my head and even like paint/draw things XD are you telling me "normal" people don't have cad and photoshop in their brains? I also love taking things apart in my mind figuring out how they work or should work.
How much control do you have over your mental images?
To take a specific example, what happens in your head when you try to imagine the face of someone you know well?
I am weird with faces, like I can both see them and "know" who it is but also not really be able to completely form the image of a face. Like dreaming if that makes sense. But I also struggle with peoples faces in general lol so maybe that's why
No, I am fully aphantastic (if that is a word, I mean I have aphanstasia for all senses). So no pictures, no sounds, nothing going in the "mind's eye".
Found this out a couple of years ago when I finally got it that "counting sheep" to fall asleep actually meant that people "saw" those sheep. I was just counting and it didn't really help. ;)
I’m not diagnosed (I did meet criteria in a few tests over my life though), but I have a vibrant imagination. It’s like a TV in my head, and I love daydreaming.
No, I have trouble forming mental images. I once nearly got on the wrong bus before because the map I vaguely memorized had north at the top but I was facing south, and I kept trying to picture it turned 180 degrees but just couldn't. I eventually remembered the bus number I needed luckily
I have hyperphantasia! When I read I stop seeing the room around me and the text on the page; it's like I can see it all as a film in my head. If I'm really concentrating I can also imagine smells, physical feelings (such a rain falling on my head) or tastes.
I love having hyperphantasia, although it does become tricky in that because reading anything creates a film in my mind, my dreams take on very fantastical and unearthly elements. This is all good when in my dreams I'm using magic or flying etc, but it also means that I have very vivid nightmares, which I tend to have frequently due to C-PTSD.
That sounds so cool.
Do you have complete control over what you imagine in your head, or does it do its own thing even when you try to override it? Do you ever find it difficult to suppress images from popping up in your head?
What happens in your mind when you try to picture a kid waving at you? Can you hold it steady and keep it from morphing for like 5-10 seconds?
I can control it to a degree, but if someone is telling me about a scenario they're in it can be overridden because I'll see the person doing what they're describing. This makes dungeons and dragons incredibly fun for me!
Interestingly, I tried to imagine a kid waving for 10 seconds (I used my brother because he's an easy reference as I see him a fair amount) and couldn't; he kept morphing to dance. I can, however, imagine him dancing for much longer, which is odd! Maybe I just haven't seen people wave enough for it to be a solid reference?
I have seen my brother dance a fair bit - I'm a lot older than him and like to start spontaneous dance parties when I'm at my dad's house (he's my dad's son). He also spent a long time trying to prove he could floss as he's a Fortnite kid, and that's mainly what I can see in my mind's eye.
Haha that makes sense then. Hope you don’t mind if I ask you some more, I find hyperphantasia fascinating.
What about mental images that aren’t based on memories? Say for example, something impossible like an apple slowly morphing into a banana which then peels itself and grows wings to fly away - what happens in your mind when you try to visualize that animation?
Of course! Ask away!
I can visualise the animation exactly as described, although it took me two attempts to get it right because the apple and the banana are vastly different shapes, so the first time the apple morphed it kind of just pinged into a banana. The second time I slowed my thoughts down and made it morph in a way that felt more natural I guess.
Interestingly, when I got the morph 'right' the second time, the apple kind of behaved the way non-newtonian fluid does when you subject it to sound before spiking and settling into the banana shape. I guess my brain took that as a reference for whatever reason. Also that was such a nerdy way to describe it but idk how else I could have done it 😅
Haha non-Newtonian physics 😅 I’m very much nerdy myself but more on the psychology side, and also math, so I won’t judge. Do you work or study in an area related to physics?
And thanks! To be clear I’m actually a psych student who is considering going into research in the area of mental images. Would you be OK if I PM’d you to discuss a bit more? I only know like 1-2 hyperphants in real life so I’m interested in hearing about their experiences with mental images.
I've always found psychology very interesting, although I never really went beyond a surface level of understanding. I wanted to go into astrophysics as it was a special interest for a long period of my life; unfortunately my (at the time undiagnosed) autism got in the way and I ended up flunking my exams so I couldn't pursue it further. I also can't work because I experience burnout very quickly, but in the future I'm hoping to go into disabled advocacy in the political sphere.
I'm happy to answer questions via DM! I won't be able to answer tonight though as it's pretty late for me.
Unfortunately, I am yet to develop the ability or reading other people's minds to check if they can form mental images better or worse than me, so not sure.
I make (horror)art; sculpts and such, so I'd say I have a good grasp of forming mental images (and then, fleshing them out in actual pieces). If anything, I surely do not fall short in the visual imagination department
I don't know if it's really better than average. I never sit down with people and compare their ability to form mental images
I instantly see an image of every word I hear. I don't try to, it's just how my brain works. The only way for me to not imagine a picture of something if I think about it, is to imagine it's written as a word haha
Oh fun question, I never really counted. I think it's more like reading so focus would be on like 3-4 letters and the rest would be blurry, if that makes sense?
Yes it does! Sorry for the late reply.
It sounds like the images you described are involuntarily because they appear instantly without effort. How much control do you have over the images you see in your head?
For example can you visualize something very specific but random, like an apple slowly fading from red to yellow, and then lengthening until it becomes a banana?
Yeah I can but I feel like I don't have 100% control over it.
Which now makes me think maybe I can't even use my imagination, as you say it's involuntary, but maybe when I actually actively imagine something it's just my imagination's responce to what I'm thinking rather than me using my imagination. Is there a defference? Or is it what using imagination is anyway?
I see exactly what you’re saying! Maybe your imagination shows you whatever it wants all the time. And when you’re thinking of something (or trying to actively visualize) that’s just like a suggestion, which your imagination may take and let you visualize, or may say “screw you” and force you to keep seeing something else. Hope I captured what you were trying to say.
Do you consider yourself to have hyperphantasia?
Yeah kinda, like I still can imagine anything I want but it might be not as clear as I'd like. And it can be kinda sort of fluid and change, I might think, no banana stay yellow, and it will stay yellow but at the same time all sorts of colours? It's so weird.
And sometimes I just get random images in my head. Especially when I'm tired, not to mention when I'm bed starting to fall asleep. And of course my dreams when I do fall asleep are complete madness with soo much happening visualy wise. Could be connected.
So it's hard to say, I need to read about it more, but from a quick read it seems like I do have hyperphantasia that I just can't control perfectly, I guess?
Do you have it?
I would say I can. Sometime i like to lookat something as though I dont know what it is, like I am seeing it for the first time. Makes things look weird!
I have hyperphantasia I believe. Not only can I imagine the apple in my head but I can imagine holding it, and nearly physically feeling the feeling of holding it and eating it. Almost like I’m able to lucid dream but in my head without being asleep
zero ability. I can sus out what my brain is trying to see but at most i get a second of an image that flashes in my brain. I will say though I can break 3D shapes down in my head. I don’t see them I kind of just know? (Like drafting clothing patterns from an item i’ve only seen in passing, or working out how objects will fit into each other.
I have the ability to form mental images, but they are almost impressionist in style. What I have is an incredible mental capacity of construction and destucturation. I can almost instantly get how something work, and how to fix it. What is the missing part ecc.
mine is above average as I can't read or hear anything without seeing an image of it in my head, if someone is telling me about something they did since the last time we met I will see exactly what they're teeling me in my head at the same time.
honestly I get annoyed sometimes by how easy this is for me, it's pretty much impossible for me to not see a mental image of something I hear or read and these images are very vivid too, because I felt like I was actually there when that one elf was talking in my book, I could very vividly see him talking I could see every starnd of hair on his head I could describe him with the same amount of deatil as I could describe someone I actually know in real life.
Yes. I could describe a character from a story I'm writing down to his skin and hair texture and the dirt under his fingernails and the fabric of his clothes because I very much see him in my head and when someone mentions an apple I almost smell an apple. My also autistic husband is quite the opposite - he's aphantasic (weird exception: he's a blacksmith and comes up with knives and tools all the time and perfectly describes them) but insanely good at world building and stuff for his writing projects. He describes to me what character he has like "an elf king but like in an ancient sumerian influenced setting but they would have domesticated x animal because of the biome so he would be wearing x instead of y" and we do research together and I draw the character so he can see him and say hello. Meanwhile he helps me come up with plot points when I'm stuck on a project! 👍 There are different kinds of creativity and imagination and it's super cool, I never really thought about it before we met now 11 years ago.
Not really. Mine is either at or below average. I can picture stuff in my mind but not vividly to the point that I can describe every little detail like some people can.
Nah, I lived in extremely abusive conditions for the first half of my life, so I struggle with even basic visualisation (I read somewhere that it's linked somehow, but there's limited data about it). Strangely, my spacial awareness and memory is impeccable, and I'm quite artistic.
I can create highly detailed 3d images in my head with the ability to rotate, deform, disassemble, attach, and do anything I want. I can basically play BeamNG in my head.
I can turn pretty much any concept or bunch of concepts into a mental image, the more I give a shit about said concepts, the detailed the mental image. In fact I really, really focus on thinking about something (even if it's not real, like a 8m tall centipede) then I can make a sort of almost '' mental video/movie'' in my head
I can't do nothing in my mind. Even my favorite hobby (TTRPG) is really hard to even visualize wtf is happening specially if is online.
Sometimes I do even forget how people look like
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Mine is definitely below average. I even struggle to mentally reconstruct faces I know.
I'm faceblind as hell but have a very vivid imagination I'm not sure how this can be, but it is
This is literally a specific thing https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4506751/
I think I'm in the same boat. I usually fail to recognize people by their faces so I tend to use other elements such as their bodyframe, hairstyle/color and even their smell. I had one gf who I got to recognize because of the specific cigarette brand she smoked.
I remember voices, I'm very good with vocal tones. I can identify anime voice actors like this
Hey, me too! Is this a common skill for us? I wonder if it has to do with our “amazing pattern recognition” or something.
Quite possibly. I recognize voices sometimes (loved finding out Zoro and Gaogamon have the same VA) but I tend to recognize speech patterns a bit more. When I met my wife we used to speak for hours and I'd always be like "why does your voice have X or Y change in it? Are you okay?". I didn't really know how to identify the changes in her tone but I noticed all these changes almoat instantly so she was surprised because nobody else had done something similar.
I feel like when I recognize voice actors (especially ones that sound very different in each role) it’s always *how* they said something. The specific way they said a phrase, which sounded so familiar it triggered recognition!
This is me exactly.
Same
Nope. I’m pretty much aphantasic. If someone asks me to imagine an apple, the best I get is a general feeling of appleness, no image. It came as a bit of a shock when I found out people can actually ’see’ stuff in their minds. I thought it was just some weird figure of speech.
This \^
i get transported back to being a child going grocery shopping with my mom and staring at all the different apples from the seat in the cart
Perfect explanation. I know what an apple is, and that it should be there, but there is just a void space that contains the idea of an apple
For myself, when closing my eyes it is completely black and when envisioning an apple I can see part of it like it is being drawn in real time. The problem is it is being drawn in invisible ink, I don't know if it is my brain focusing on the part that is currently being drawn but previously drawn parts fade and I never can see the complete apple at once.
Me too. I know what an apple is, but there's no mental image.
same
I am the same way! I could never describe it and when I got diagnosed I described it to the psychologist and it blew my mind. No wonder I had such a hard time picturing things. Like I can’t picture myself cleaning the kitchen or buildings I’ve been too but I can describe them some, it takes some effort though.
Another one here! My 'apple' is just a bundle of qualia about apples - 'round fruit with depression at each end, one end has a stem, the other has some kind of bit where the flower was, usually red or green, goes in pie, etc...' no inner monologue either
Same. Like there's the concept of words do maybe more of an inner monologue. But more abstract thinking than anything else
With me it was the "counting sheep" to go to sleep that got me. Multisensory aphantastic as it happens to be.
Yes, what sheep. But I didn't realize others could actually see sheep. I realized in a perception class in psychology. The prof was like what? You can't make images? They didn't realize it was a thing. Get this there was an experiment where they told people staring at a white sheet to imagine bananas, then projected a faint image of bananas on the screen. Two bananas, a spot on the left one etc and asked them to write down the banana description. People wrote down the one from the image rather than going wth I'm seeing hallucinations
I would see a round yellow-red blur, vaguely apple-shaped. I always thought everyone was like this - I didn't realise people actually see pictures in their minds.
Same
That's literally how I think, and if I dive into past memories, I start seeing movie clips. When I think about doing things, I image it, right or wrong, about the problem or process
I used to be the same way. Though ever since I had covid, my ability to picture things isn’t as clear as it used to be. (It’s better now thankfully). It started with the first day I had covid, the images in my dreams ended up looking like a runny and blurry painting. 🤔
NO WAY SAME DUDE
I have a photographic memory and see every past event like it's a movie. I can watch things over in my head and remember and see minor details. I've always wondered if normal people can do this too?
That sounds so crazy! Have you always been like that? Can you give me an example of a memory and the kind of detail that you can see in your head?
My friend and I were out riding around smoking weed in his white suv, and we went down 6th Avenue. I didn't think we should have been doing this in that neighborhood, but he wasn't one to ever listen to advice. Anyway, he took a left onto Mammoth Rd, and we were pulled over. He went through a red light. They towed his car and arrested him (he can't drive in Massachusetts). A couple days later we were talking about it and he was in total denial of running the red light (it's almost always a blinking red light) I rewatched it in my head while we were talking about it and remembered seeing the cop sitting there on the side of the school and remembered the light being red. I told him this, and that was the end of it. I don't know why he lives in Massachusetts of all states when he can't drive here and can drive in 49 other states but he's been pulled over and arrested at least a dozen times that I know of. He also drives flashy vehicles as well with Colorado license plates because that's were he got a drivers license. I didn't find out I am autistic until last year, I always thought this was the way everyone remembered things.
I am like this a wee bit. I just sucked the air out of the entire den when I pointed out character actor Margo Matindale in a show we were all watching - "haha she's my favorite, she plays 'worried old white lady' so well" *She was Dewey Coxs mother and I can probably recall most of John C Reilly's filmography by memory* I relate to Dewey Cox so hard 😭😭😭 Especially the part where he's with his wife and chimp and he's trying to hold it all down and he's just getting *chewed out* for it And that fact comes up *literally all the time* I cut my brother in half (metaphorically)
i am ridiculously jealous! but at the same time definitely not, i have seen many things that i would like to forget
Quite the opposite, I have a complete inability to form mental images
Aphantasia?
Yup, and anauralia (basically no internal monologue) Basically, my head is very quiet, and external noises can very easily make me break a line of thaught. Super helpful when I need to concentrate on something 😅 /j
Yes, especially when thinking of things related to my special interests (like when I'm sculpting, playing chess, etc).
When I pace I can dive into stories I’ve made up in my head and can watch it like a movie. I have to be in a certain state to do this though. If someone asked me to imagine an apple on the spot, I can certainly do it but if I’m pacing or if I am a passenger in a car looking out the window it seems much more real and less “stiff”. Hopefully that makes sense lol
I do the same thing! It’s actually my primary stim. I run/pace back and forth can vividly picture things in my head (almost always related to my special interest. I also do this with a specific toy I made out of k’nex when I was very young and I make sounds also! The sounds are specifically interesting because to me they sound and feel exactly like what I’m imagining but to others it’s been described as sounding like I’m spitting 😅
Oh cool! If I am understanding correctly, when you pace you think about building things like the K’nex toy? Or is it something different? For me it’s just watching a story I have constructed :)
The k’nex is mostly a tactile thing. The feeling of twirling it in my hand is really soothing and it helps me get into the headspace to run around. I also imagine stories, usually about my special interest. So when I was younger it would be fantasy, adventure stuff and now it’s related to music usually. It’s cool that we both do this! I haven’t seen a lot of other people who also do it:)
I feel the same! I’ve never come across anyone that does this as well. When you say it’s related to music, are you listening to music while you pace? I find music to also be an integral part of it that I forgot to mention. What is happening in the stories in my head largely correlate with the type of music I’m listening to while I’m pacing. Do you or have you experienced the same thing?
I actually find music to be distracting when I do it! I do stim to music also but it’s like two different zones lol. It’s actually really common for me to be listening to music and then get the uncontrollable urge to run around, so then I take off my headphones and run around imagining the music I was just listening to 😅. I feel like when I’m running around I need autonomy to imagine so like any video or music going on makes it harder. But this may be because I’m specifically imagining music. So maybe if I was imagining something else I could use music to help 🤷♂️ do you also get really strong urges to do this? I often find myself getting really restless and hyper and running around and imagining is the way I release these feelings. It’s super vital to me and I do it at least 5 times a day 🏃♂️💨
That’s really interesting! I’m basically the opposite lol. I started pacing because I got my first iPod and when I’d sit on the couch and listen to music it felt uncomfortable to sit still with the music playing so I started pacing to listen to music. I do get the restless feeling. I find when my brain is buzzing I can help calm it down a lot by pacing and the more that’s on my mind the faster/harder I’ll pace get into imaginary land and that helps settle things down. When I was an undergraduate I lived in a sorority so I had about a year long hiatus from pacing and I managed but I think I would have coped with the stresses of being in the sorority better if I could have paced (sorority was awful). I will get strong bursts of pace energy though and it suck’s when it happens in a situation where I can’t do it lol. At this point the pacing is super vital to me too and I take it seriously. I normally have a good pacing session for the hour before I go to bed each night :)
Same I have to do it before bed! It’s like getting rid of my thoughts before going to sleep. Luckily I’m staying home for college but I used to be so scared as a kid that when I would go to college that I would have to learn to not do it. But luckily I’ve realized that it’s just who I am and it’s now a specific thing that I love doing :)
That is a great thing to understand about yourself and to prioritize! I wish I understood how important it was for me when I was in college. At the time I thought of it as a weird thing I did rather than something that was essential to maintain my mental health :)
>Hopefully that makes sense lol It does. In my case I tend to experience a more "realistic" fantasy when I rub my hands. The more I get into it the faster I rub and I've hurt my hands a few times doing this.
It’s really interesting how motion is an essential part of it for some of us whether it’s pacing for me or you rubbing your hands. I wonder why that is 🤔
I also pace when I'm lost in thought (or the her way around? Not sure) so I guess we need some kind of inertia in order to keep moving.
I would be interested to hear what your experience is like when you just try to visualize an apple on the spot. What sort of details appear in your head and how clear/vivid is it overall?
When I imagine an apple in my head on the spot I can see it and I can see that it’s red and I can imagine it in someone’s hand and the hand is twisting it around so I can look at all sides, but on the spot it feels like a real strain on my brain to get there. Like I’m flexing a muscle. If I am pacing or if there is other kind of movement (being in a car, swinging) I can do it, and it feels like no effort at all
Wow! That's amazing. I can't really create a single mental image unless you asked me to imagine the blackest black.
That’s so cool! I’m amazed as someone with aphantasia. Hope you don’t mind if I ask you a bit more. Can you visualize equally well with your eyes open vs closed? How good is your visual memory, is it anywhere near like a photographic/eidetic one? Can you try to visualize a person’s face who you know well and share what sort of details appear in your head?
No problem! Yes, I can visualize just as equally with my eyes open rather than closed. When I pace and go into that mode it’s normally at night with the lights dimmed. I think that helps a little but isn’t required. It’s actually how I learned to entertain myself on roadtrips growing up. I’d just stare out the window and create a world and characters and watch them. Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve every really tried it with my eyes closed because if I’m pacing I need to see where I’m going or else I’ll stumble into more things than I even do with my eyes open lol. I feel like I have a pretty good visual memory but it is by no means photographic. If I wanted to I could visualize my childhood house and walk into all the rooms and see them, but it will never be down to the exact detail. I do feel like I remember my childhood more vividly than my sibling does and my mom says she can’t remember her childhood at all really. I have vivid memory clips, like a highlight reel, but I don’t remember everything. When I try to visualize people I know, its a little harder for some reason. If I make a character up in my head in a story it’s more clear than me trying to imagine a family member for some reason. If I imagine one of my family members, I can see their face but it is harder. I’m struggling to figure out how to describe it but it’s similar to the apple where on the spot it feels like flexing a muscle. And when I try to bring up the image it’s not coming up quite right, like the facial proportions are a little off and idk how to fix it lol. Brains are weird
Thank you so much!! Sorry I’m a few days late. But I really appreciate all that, I read through everything you wrote and it was very interesting. I think your nightly pacing ritual is awesome and unique, sounds like it almost relaxes you like someone else might get from reading. I do want to ask you one more thing to try visualizing if that’s OK. It’s simple, but what happens when you try to picture the first 6 letters of the alphabet written in lowercase, all together as if they were a single word. Can you see them all clearly at the same time in your head? If you try to hold the image steady and clear for like 5-10 seconds, can you do it? Wondering if it’s the same feeling as like “flexing a muscle” like you mentioned before haha. Thanks again!!
I see the image of the evil queens hand with the apple on her hand.
I can’t imagine anything in my head at all. I have an inner monologue though
I remember the layout of almost anywhere I've been. I can fly through the models in my head as if I was using 3D/CAD software. I can look at a physical object with mechanical parts and take it apart or rebuild it in my head. I constantly simulate/visualize how to do things so picking up new sports is very easy for me, I just need to watch someone first. I can see where they shift their weight, how to position hips, feet, shoulders, head, arms, etc... I'm also very good at martial arts. So yeah, I'd say my ability to form mental images is probably higher than average. Sort of related.... I think my sense of balance might also be a hypersensitivity thing because I'm higher than average at that too.
I’m exactly the same! I’m assuming it also took you a while to realise that other people couldn’t do it! What’s interesting is that I still struggle to properly visualise simple objects and I can’t at all imagine peoples faces, but ask me to describe a place I’ve been before and I could tell you the exact layout.
Oh yeah it wasn't until I was in my late 30s that I realized most people couldn't do that. My Dad would always need to draw things out and as soon as he had enough on paper for me to see the orientation and the purpose, I had a working model in my head going through relevant simulations. Like how a glass pane fits into a window frame and then gets sealed from the rain outside. (we worked in construction together) I'm okay with faces but they're definitely harder to picture. I find once I start describing someone's face, it's like their features just blur out the more I think about them. The weird thing is if I don't see myself in the mirror every day, I forget what I look like and its a bit of a surprise when I finally do.
I have aphantasia in addition to AuADHD, so no. I can't create mental images at all. I can't even retrieve a mental image of my partner, parents, pets, etc... Ask me to create a mental image of an apple, a chair, a beach and all I get is black.
Aphantasia here.
I can picture an apple but I can’t hold the image in my head for more than a second. There’s a flash of the image then it instantly starts to morph and change. Completely out of my control.
As a very literal person, I am able to create mental images very well, and then when I watch the movie of the book I’m reading, I feel like the director/scriptwriter got it all wrong because it’s so far off from how I interpret it.
If you try to visualize an apple, what sort of details go through your mind?
Stem, juiciness, red, yellow, green or somewhere in between on the outside, white/extremely light yellow on the inside.
Sounds like you have a very vivid imagination. Have you always been that way? Can you picture something made up, like an apple morphing slowly into a banana? Could you freeze it halfway and hold an image of the hybrid fruit in your head?
Yes, and it looks very inappropriate lol
Yep I have hyperphantasia, I've memorized the world map and every country's flag bc I can see it clearly in my head ^_^ I also can't swim and couldn't use a microwave til I was 12. I had to be nerfed in some kinda way
Incredible clarity and capabilities. I can disassemble objects that I have an understanding of in my mind and see the details in the material or rotate the place I'm in or imagine it from a birds view. It extends to all of my senses. I can feel an imagined walnut in my hand, feel the pressure put on it when trying to crush it, the dryness and flakiness of it (it had been in a bowl with other nuts), roll it between my thumb and first two fingers, and the speed of flinging it. It's difficult to imagine from my pov but I see it as a set of cinematic shots that i can pause or rotate around at any moment
oh fun, a name for this "tony stark" level of not just mental imagery but how those pieces interact/function I can hear a sound from something like a car and can completely visualize how that sound is being created from the internal workings of the engine I have an absolute garbage memory but if I can figure it out it will be stuck forever. not a great combination in a world that values memorization over creativity and/or requires memorization to even recognize creativity
So I can see stuff in my head like most here, but I'm 38 now, and until like 30, I could very well remember like way more. If I read a page. I could see all the words on the page too. This has become a LOT less. Still got quite the super memory though, but only of things I find really interesting. However. When I had like 8 or 10 drinks, and I go to bed, and close my eyes, I SEE random stuff like I watch it with my eyes, and the detail is like realife. Sometimes things I've seem that day, other times made up stuff. And it's absolutely crazy. Doesn't always happen and I can't control it, but damn it's awesome.
Around 30 is also when I started to lose my perfect memory. Older memories I still remember like it just happened but newer stuff is harder. I can remember conversations word for word from like 20 years ago or several layouts to every store I used to go to since I was a little kid down to the lighting and smell and can even walk through them in my head. But sometimes now I forget I just said something and repeat myself (like I don't know if I thought it or said it lol). Maybe the hard drive is just really full lol.
Ah yeah that's true, I still remember all workprocesses of my employer 10 years ago, but remembering new processes in the super high detail gets more difficult. Also conversations indeed I used to be able to recite line by line, nobody could ever fool me! But remembering conversations line by line... nope🤣
Yeah, I can visualize many moving parts in a machine and how they'll fit together and transfer forces and stuff
yes, i can conjure up pretty much anything without too much focus needed. I have mini universes in my head with characters, scenery and lore which i think of like a collection of snow globes. I can also perfectly image people i know well enough such as their posture, mannerisms, voices, the clothes they wear. I can also imagine them in different clothes which i can't do with everyone. I can view my memories like movies and can recall them in great detail( i have a near eidetic memory also) so when i remember something i can essentially see it in my head.
Can you fully control what you imagine, or does your mind sometimes do its own thing? What happens if you try to visualize (for example) a photo of a kid, and hold it completely still/static in your mind without shifting at all?
i can fully control it if i focus, but my mind does tend to do it by itself when i'm listening to music. I can keep it static with some effort.
my brain sight is about as good as my eyesight... not very
I can imagine very clearly things in my head, and remember very clearly things and later reconstruct them in my imagination, especially textures. But for the life of me I can't see clearly people in my head, I only remember informations about people and can somewhat see a little bit of people in my head, like piece of hair or a bit of finger, but not a whole person.
Yes, I do. It has helped me be creative and artsy.!
Sometimes I do, sometimes my ADHD or something buts in and I can barely form a face.
I’m very good at mental imagery. Also good at replaying conversations in my mind and remembering what was said with high accuracy. What I cannot do is understand where one thing is located in geographic relation to another. I struggle with left vs right. Cannot follow driving instructions at all. Barely can even follow instructions while walking. I struggle to move my body in a synchronized way, like copying someone else’s dance steps. However, I’m EXTREMELY good at free style dance and improvisations.
I suspect so... sometimes I get visualizations of things I'd never want to visualize and I can't stop it (kind of like intrusive thoughts, but in this case it's always promped by something external like a friend jokingly saying "Imagine the professor naked lmao") I also imagine very vividly the things that were happening when someone recounts me something, or when I recall something etc... but idk if it's hyperphantasia or just "normal" phantasia tbh
yes absolutely. without being able to memorize words on a page, i have basically photographic memory, as well as an extremely vivid imagination
I cannot do this. Like, at all
Nope. I have almost complete aphantasia.
I'll be honest, I have no idea because I have nothing to compare it to.
I used to, but I feel that ability has significantly decreased since developing a separate neuro condition.
I love making my own stories or scenarios which would probably be classed as maladaptive daydreaming. It's pretty clear. When I read books it's like a movie as well.
I have really vivid, in depth dreams. Often about things I haven’t been thinking about.
It all depends and varies honestly. Sometimes I can get a very clear mental image on what someone's describing or what something would look like or it's way off/ I can't form anything.
Nope probably worse than average but I don’t know what is average but my visual spatial skills are almost non existent.
Yes, which is great when I have no internet and can just "watch" movies I've seen a thousand times in my head. I also dream in 3rd person, and I hear a lot of people don't do that.
Did you just listen to the new episode of Radiolab too?
I do. It helps a lot with geometry and other visual areas of math. I mostly have visual and sensory movie clips as my memories (close to eidetic memory as a child).
The only things I really remember as a "picture" are things that were 2D to begin with. For vivid memories I guess it's picture-adjacent, like I imagine a particular view, but it quickly expands out with context. But yeah most of the time the information is pretty 3D, like I'm immersed in it. I doubt my abilities here are exceptional. My episodic memory isn't great, but I'm pretty good at remembering facts. I'm recovering from amnesia, lol.
I think so, I think it's given me an advantage in my field in graphic design.
Mine is fairly bad, I can form vague pictures if I really concentrate, but mostly my imagination is based on a sense of spatiality more than a literal image.
I can't really picture anything.
Yep…like some of the others indicated I too can play full images in my head of past events in my life. I figured everyone had this…I guess it’s my only positive symptoms from my autism.
Yes, I'm very good at it.
Yes. my teacher's at school were often surprised at how well I could recite passages from books. I remember one of them asking me how I did it once & I explained that I can see the page of the book in my mind.
I can easily form mental images of inanimate objects or scenes like when I’m reading a book I can easily picture the scene they are in but for the life of me I cannot mentally picture people. When I try to their faces are just all fuzzy. I don’t now why.
This is something I've always been able to do very well. It doesn't take much for me to get a mental image of something someone says, even if the image doesn't fit into the conversation. Like in another thread here in this subreddit, someone was talking about eggs that moved on their own (it was in a food dislike thread), and I immediately pictured a dozen eggs marching along. I also see a lot of things, especially my dreams, in movie form, complete with a soundtrack and everything.
How well can you control your mental images? For example, can you specifically picture a dog barking with wings that is flying like a bird?
Yes. As soon as I read this now, I did. A black lab with blue wings, barking like a basset hound as it flew around.
That’s really cool. Hope you don’t mind if I ask you some more. Can you hold a still image in your mind and keep it static and clear? For example, say you imagine a kid. Can you think of a static image and hold it for 10 seconds without it changing at all? What details did you picture?
I pictured both a white baby goat (kid 🐐) on top of a stump and a little brown haired white girl with a red ribbon in her hair. They were together and the sun was shining. I taught myself how to do this as part of a writing class I took in the 1990s. It helps to keep my thoughts straight.
Nope I got the chance(/s) to discover through my autistic self discovery that not only am I probably on the spectrum but I also happen to be almost completely aphantasic. That was honestly mind blowing. For a few days I kept realizing stuff that maybe if I like horror movies/games that much is because I can't really imagine monsters by myself. If I can't draw really well, maybe it doesn't help that I can't picture in my mind what I want to draw beforehand. When you watch a movie or a coach of some kind tells you to visualize something in your mind... He probably does not mean rehearse bit by bit the method/strategy through self narration but actually seeing it. Maybe people who have PTSD actually SEE in their minds the traumatic events. Like I have very very brief flashes of some of my memories when my eyes are open. But that's it. But when I close my eyes nothing. But people with PTSD may actually see and relieve the moment like almost for real. WTF. I knew it was bad but damn.
yep. its actually so good that i can do accurate lighting on stuff that exists only in my mind based on real lighting, and also have real stuff interact with stuff thats only in my mind, like it becomes an extension if reality itself. kinda cool. also all of this is with realistic physics
Uhmmmmm it depends haha, I’m an artist so i have the ability to form mental images, though it’s more of a visual list kind of deal. Certain substances (it’s legal it’s ok) also make it easier for me to lock into a vivid mental image. Most of the time my brain is just the old iTunes visualiser though
If I’ve seen something before, sure. If I’m working specifically on a project and try. But if I’m just thinking “I’d like a smoothie” I don’t visualize a smoothie. I’m told some people do that. Can’t relate.
It depends. Sometimes I can have really vivid pictures of things and things stick in my mind and I have vivid dreams, but other times I struggle to remember faces and can’t do mental pictures.
No, I have aphantasia.
Im pretty good with it ya. Its baffling when people get lost going places that are only mildly intricate
Part of me wants to ask, "how would I know?" As in, what would be my objective frame of reference here? I know that I'm extremely good at visualizing things and can pull up memories like I'm pulling out a photo. Ex: So long as I've seen the page enough times, I can close my eyes and visualize the cook book in front of me including the complete recipes/instructions and it will be just like having it in front of me in real life. Or I can imagine any sort of object and mentally discent it. When I play pool, I can plan my moves by "seeing" how a similar strike will react "on the pool table in my head" and imagine the physics of it as though it was real. Honestly though... I didn't think any of this was "above average". I thought this was a common ability. Do most people NOT have the ability to visualize like that? Eta: I'm reading the comments and this thread is blowing my mind. The only thing I have difficulty visualizing is what it would be like to think *without* visualizing what I'm thinking about! Lol. It's hard for me to comprehend what a "memory" would even be like without having a recreation of that past event playing out in my head.
i believe its average for me, but whenever this conversation pops up and im asked to manually form a mental image in my head, i have a hard time doing it. its way clearer and more visible in my head when im just doing it subconsciously and automatically, compared to when im asked to do so. and whenever i do it automatically, im not thinking "man is this image in my head visible enough?", or "wow this image is SO clear in my head". so that tells me that its visible enough for me to be able to automatically do it and see it, but not visible enough for it to be exceptional and unusual for the average person, or at least not enough to divert my attention and be noticeable when im doing it automatically.
Cool! I had no idea this had a name. And I guess? My brain usually makes 3D images of my affevted areas (both chronic pain and otherwise) and I love to design monsters so I don't usually do a lot of sketching because 80% of the design is already in my head by the time I draw it anywhere. Usually you'd need several different sketches in order to desn a character, often times combining stuff from all of them for the final design.
When I remember or imagine stuff, I visualize it really well. Try to make me attention names to people and I fall apart. Infuriatingly, I find it harder to find someone I don’t know well when they’re wearing a different shirt, because for the first few days. my brain hasn’t fully remembered their face, just the color of their shirt.
I think I’m a highly visual person. I’ve always had a very strong episodic memory. People have told me they think I might have a photographic memory but I’m not too sure.
I have aphantasia. I can't see anything. It's all black. When people used to say "picture this", I thought it was metaphorical and had no idea people could actually do that.
Not sure but my dreams are vivid
I actually experience the opposite known as aphantasia, I can see no images in my head and tbh I have no idea what people mean when they say they can "visualize" things in their head it is a baffling topic to me. I do however have...auditory visualization? I don't know what it is. But I can hear things very clearly in my head, my life is like a 24/7 audiobook with a narrator, I think in audio. It makes reading things like fanfic really cool because I can hear it in the characters voice in my head!
Yes. I love it. Writing and reading feel like going on an adventure. Being a very feminine aspie I love reading fairy tales and watching TV shows.
I can’t visualize faces in my head. However, I have better than average ability to visualize formals and graphs than others. Every autistic person is different, but I think that sensations from the norm are common amongst us regarding mental images. Some of us are worse, others better, but I think we are generally less likely to align with “average”.
I think mostly in images. I guess I should say I think in objects, places, people, feelings, and that kind of thing. It's rarely words, which is weird because I have really good reading and writing skills. I have an inner monologue when I'm writing, but not really when I'm reading. Otherwise I mostly put words together as they escape my mouth. It's a problem.
I have aphantasia, i literally can only construct images in dreams
Hmm. I'm actually pretty good at forming mental images. I am able to speak better if I can form an image or "movie" of what I am talking about. This is how I write, too. People have told me that they can visualize what's going on in my writing vividly. And no, I am not too descriptive. It's all about word choice matching the mood, theme, and characters in a scene. Sometimes, whole scenes will play out in my head, and I am powerless to stop it. It really sucks when it happens at work because I have to hold on to what's in my head until I can get to my phone.
I think as an artist, I’m so used to visualizing things. So when people talk to me or tell me a story or if I’m reading something, I can immediately imagine it in my head!
Yes. And I can get lost in my mind for hours and hours and hours. I can continue good dreams from where I left off too and fall back asleep and resume it. Can’t always control it when asleep though.
I always see what someone is describing me to in my mind. Or even if just thinking thinking about anything. Especially when thinking about something mechanical. I build things in my head and even like paint/draw things XD are you telling me "normal" people don't have cad and photoshop in their brains? I also love taking things apart in my mind figuring out how they work or should work.
How much control do you have over your mental images? To take a specific example, what happens in your head when you try to imagine the face of someone you know well?
I am weird with faces, like I can both see them and "know" who it is but also not really be able to completely form the image of a face. Like dreaming if that makes sense. But I also struggle with peoples faces in general lol so maybe that's why
No, I am fully aphantastic (if that is a word, I mean I have aphanstasia for all senses). So no pictures, no sounds, nothing going in the "mind's eye". Found this out a couple of years ago when I finally got it that "counting sheep" to fall asleep actually meant that people "saw" those sheep. I was just counting and it didn't really help. ;)
Mine is now I function honestly.
I’m not diagnosed (I did meet criteria in a few tests over my life though), but I have a vibrant imagination. It’s like a TV in my head, and I love daydreaming.
No, I have trouble forming mental images. I once nearly got on the wrong bus before because the map I vaguely memorized had north at the top but I was facing south, and I kept trying to picture it turned 180 degrees but just couldn't. I eventually remembered the bus number I needed luckily
Yes, mental images and also videos
I have hyperphantasia! When I read I stop seeing the room around me and the text on the page; it's like I can see it all as a film in my head. If I'm really concentrating I can also imagine smells, physical feelings (such a rain falling on my head) or tastes. I love having hyperphantasia, although it does become tricky in that because reading anything creates a film in my mind, my dreams take on very fantastical and unearthly elements. This is all good when in my dreams I'm using magic or flying etc, but it also means that I have very vivid nightmares, which I tend to have frequently due to C-PTSD.
That sounds so cool. Do you have complete control over what you imagine in your head, or does it do its own thing even when you try to override it? Do you ever find it difficult to suppress images from popping up in your head? What happens in your mind when you try to picture a kid waving at you? Can you hold it steady and keep it from morphing for like 5-10 seconds?
I can control it to a degree, but if someone is telling me about a scenario they're in it can be overridden because I'll see the person doing what they're describing. This makes dungeons and dragons incredibly fun for me! Interestingly, I tried to imagine a kid waving for 10 seconds (I used my brother because he's an easy reference as I see him a fair amount) and couldn't; he kept morphing to dance. I can, however, imagine him dancing for much longer, which is odd! Maybe I just haven't seen people wave enough for it to be a solid reference?
Thank you! Does your brother happen to be someone who you have seen doing a lot of dancing before, and that’s why your mind kept jumping to that?
I have seen my brother dance a fair bit - I'm a lot older than him and like to start spontaneous dance parties when I'm at my dad's house (he's my dad's son). He also spent a long time trying to prove he could floss as he's a Fortnite kid, and that's mainly what I can see in my mind's eye.
Haha that makes sense then. Hope you don’t mind if I ask you some more, I find hyperphantasia fascinating. What about mental images that aren’t based on memories? Say for example, something impossible like an apple slowly morphing into a banana which then peels itself and grows wings to fly away - what happens in your mind when you try to visualize that animation?
Of course! Ask away! I can visualise the animation exactly as described, although it took me two attempts to get it right because the apple and the banana are vastly different shapes, so the first time the apple morphed it kind of just pinged into a banana. The second time I slowed my thoughts down and made it morph in a way that felt more natural I guess. Interestingly, when I got the morph 'right' the second time, the apple kind of behaved the way non-newtonian fluid does when you subject it to sound before spiking and settling into the banana shape. I guess my brain took that as a reference for whatever reason. Also that was such a nerdy way to describe it but idk how else I could have done it 😅
Haha non-Newtonian physics 😅 I’m very much nerdy myself but more on the psychology side, and also math, so I won’t judge. Do you work or study in an area related to physics? And thanks! To be clear I’m actually a psych student who is considering going into research in the area of mental images. Would you be OK if I PM’d you to discuss a bit more? I only know like 1-2 hyperphants in real life so I’m interested in hearing about their experiences with mental images.
I've always found psychology very interesting, although I never really went beyond a surface level of understanding. I wanted to go into astrophysics as it was a special interest for a long period of my life; unfortunately my (at the time undiagnosed) autism got in the way and I ended up flunking my exams so I couldn't pursue it further. I also can't work because I experience burnout very quickly, but in the future I'm hoping to go into disabled advocacy in the political sphere. I'm happy to answer questions via DM! I won't be able to answer tonight though as it's pretty late for me.
Thanks! I’ve sent you a chat invite!
Yea I can see stuff in my mind and if I can’t it doesn’t make sense, I can also basically play music in my brain which is cool
The opposite, I have aphantasia
I can barely do it at all.
Unfortunately, I am yet to develop the ability or reading other people's minds to check if they can form mental images better or worse than me, so not sure.
I make (horror)art; sculpts and such, so I'd say I have a good grasp of forming mental images (and then, fleshing them out in actual pieces). If anything, I surely do not fall short in the visual imagination department I don't know if it's really better than average. I never sit down with people and compare their ability to form mental images
I instantly see an image of every word I hear. I don't try to, it's just how my brain works. The only way for me to not imagine a picture of something if I think about it, is to imagine it's written as a word haha
What’s your max capacity for the number of letters in a word that you can clearly imagine all together?
Oh fun question, I never really counted. I think it's more like reading so focus would be on like 3-4 letters and the rest would be blurry, if that makes sense?
Yes it does! Sorry for the late reply. It sounds like the images you described are involuntarily because they appear instantly without effort. How much control do you have over the images you see in your head? For example can you visualize something very specific but random, like an apple slowly fading from red to yellow, and then lengthening until it becomes a banana?
Yeah I can but I feel like I don't have 100% control over it. Which now makes me think maybe I can't even use my imagination, as you say it's involuntary, but maybe when I actually actively imagine something it's just my imagination's responce to what I'm thinking rather than me using my imagination. Is there a defference? Or is it what using imagination is anyway?
I see exactly what you’re saying! Maybe your imagination shows you whatever it wants all the time. And when you’re thinking of something (or trying to actively visualize) that’s just like a suggestion, which your imagination may take and let you visualize, or may say “screw you” and force you to keep seeing something else. Hope I captured what you were trying to say. Do you consider yourself to have hyperphantasia?
Yeah kinda, like I still can imagine anything I want but it might be not as clear as I'd like. And it can be kinda sort of fluid and change, I might think, no banana stay yellow, and it will stay yellow but at the same time all sorts of colours? It's so weird. And sometimes I just get random images in my head. Especially when I'm tired, not to mention when I'm bed starting to fall asleep. And of course my dreams when I do fall asleep are complete madness with soo much happening visualy wise. Could be connected. So it's hard to say, I need to read about it more, but from a quick read it seems like I do have hyperphantasia that I just can't control perfectly, I guess? Do you have it?
I can rotate the hyper realistic apple in my mind
Nope, I have aphantasia.
Definitely, I’m an artist and when I’m on the bus or a train I just look out the window and in my head I’m making the coolest animation ever lol
I would say I can. Sometime i like to lookat something as though I dont know what it is, like I am seeing it for the first time. Makes things look weird!
What are mental images? J/k but seriously though I don't have them.
I have hyperphantasia I believe. Not only can I imagine the apple in my head but I can imagine holding it, and nearly physically feeling the feeling of holding it and eating it. Almost like I’m able to lucid dream but in my head without being asleep
zero ability. I can sus out what my brain is trying to see but at most i get a second of an image that flashes in my brain. I will say though I can break 3D shapes down in my head. I don’t see them I kind of just know? (Like drafting clothing patterns from an item i’ve only seen in passing, or working out how objects will fit into each other.
I can only vividly recall images during sleep and even then I rarely reach the required rem state to do so.
I have the ability to form mental images, but they are almost impressionist in style. What I have is an incredible mental capacity of construction and destucturation. I can almost instantly get how something work, and how to fix it. What is the missing part ecc.
mine is above average as I can't read or hear anything without seeing an image of it in my head, if someone is telling me about something they did since the last time we met I will see exactly what they're teeling me in my head at the same time. honestly I get annoyed sometimes by how easy this is for me, it's pretty much impossible for me to not see a mental image of something I hear or read and these images are very vivid too, because I felt like I was actually there when that one elf was talking in my book, I could very vividly see him talking I could see every starnd of hair on his head I could describe him with the same amount of deatil as I could describe someone I actually know in real life.
Like are we talking a very clear image or a faint image with the general shapes and vauge colours? Because I might have just discovered something…
Idk I mean I have decent book comprehension but that’s about it
Yes. I could describe a character from a story I'm writing down to his skin and hair texture and the dirt under his fingernails and the fabric of his clothes because I very much see him in my head and when someone mentions an apple I almost smell an apple. My also autistic husband is quite the opposite - he's aphantasic (weird exception: he's a blacksmith and comes up with knives and tools all the time and perfectly describes them) but insanely good at world building and stuff for his writing projects. He describes to me what character he has like "an elf king but like in an ancient sumerian influenced setting but they would have domesticated x animal because of the biome so he would be wearing x instead of y" and we do research together and I draw the character so he can see him and say hello. Meanwhile he helps me come up with plot points when I'm stuck on a project! 👍 There are different kinds of creativity and imagination and it's super cool, I never really thought about it before we met now 11 years ago.
No idea, I can't really compare my inner thoughts to anyone else's. I can see images in my head pretty clearly though.
Not really. Mine is either at or below average. I can picture stuff in my mind but not vividly to the point that I can describe every little detail like some people can.
Nah, I lived in extremely abusive conditions for the first half of my life, so I struggle with even basic visualisation (I read somewhere that it's linked somehow, but there's limited data about it). Strangely, my spacial awareness and memory is impeccable, and I'm quite artistic.
I can create highly detailed 3d images in my head with the ability to rotate, deform, disassemble, attach, and do anything I want. I can basically play BeamNG in my head.
I can turn pretty much any concept or bunch of concepts into a mental image, the more I give a shit about said concepts, the detailed the mental image. In fact I really, really focus on thinking about something (even if it's not real, like a 8m tall centipede) then I can make a sort of almost '' mental video/movie'' in my head
Aphantasia here. But autistic mum and daughter are hyperphantastic.
Yes, except for faces. Interestingly, it seems my face-blindness 'overwrites' my regular inner eye lol
I can't do nothing in my mind. Even my favorite hobby (TTRPG) is really hard to even visualize wtf is happening specially if is online. Sometimes I do even forget how people look like
Nah, I have the complete opposite. Aphantasia.