• inshallah2 [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      aphantasia

      I was about to ask you about it but then I realized you might be sick of questions. I only knew the dictionary definition so I googled and I found a great article about it by a co-creator of Firefox - Blake Ross.

      Imagine a dog. Got it? I don't. Here's what it's like to be unable to visualize anything. - Vox

      I'll quote a tiny bit as a taste...

      Here are the top 20 questions I've gotten from friends and family.

      1. Can you picture my face?

      2. So you don't know what I look like?

      3. So you don't recognize me when you see me?

      4. How about picturing something simpler, like a red triangle, or the table right in front of you?

      5. You're just assuming that others can actually see things with their eyes. Nobody can do that, you hypochondriac.

      6. Does this apply to other senses?

      7. What is going through your mind all day, if not sights and sounds?

      8. Do you dream?

      9. How do you imagine things?

      10. How do you masturbate?

      11. Did you ever have surgery or an injury?

      12. How many people have this experience?

      13. How do you write fiction if you can't visualize scenes?

      14. How do you design product interfaces if you can't visualize them?

      15. How do you play the piano?

      16. Can you draw?

      17. Can you spell?

      18. How do you navigate directions?

      19. How could you go your whole life not knowing that I "see" mental images?

      20. I don't believe you.

    • Wordplay [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      aphantasia gang! Do you have trouble with memory at all? I remember reading some anecdotal accounts that people with aphantasia typically have worse memories, often starting after 20yo (which is usually when we realize we're aphantasiac). Not sure whether to attribute my degrading memory to aphantasia, a year of weed abuse half a decade ago, the immense stress and effects of severe depression over the last couple of years, or early onset dementia, or some hellish mix of it all lol

        • Wordplay [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Appreciate you sharing that! I have the same thing - listmaking to the extreme... And i sometimes feel like a computer when I'm attempting to do recall, as if there's an unconscious search function trying to access past experiences that were categorized under whatever general category I'm trying to remember, and that usually those memories are embedded with a ton of facts or itemized lists about the context in which the experience occurred. From the aphantasiacs I've met, we all seem to have these workarounds.. it's really bizarre trying to imagine how memory works for someone who doesn't have aphantasia.