I got recommended a video that introduced the term to me and it was a very jarring realization.
Personally I’ve always struggled with expressing my thoughts in general. Before I learned about aphantasia I had started saying it was like I think in concepts instead of words or pictures. I know what I’m thinking and it’s not like it’s a vague idea, but for whatever reason actually translating it into a real language is really hard for me. I have an easier time writing out my thoughts than I do speaking them at least.
The most I can visualize are a few ‘vivid’ images that I spent a lot of time curating, usually from listening to music or remembering a dream I wrote down. Even then, When I try to think about those little exceptions, it’s still only a tiny fraction of the whole image that I can really come up with. Thinking about it now, it’s super weird to describe! I got super intro writing after I figured out I had aphantasia (shattered my hopes of being able to draw. But that doesn’t mean aphantasic people can’t draw. I just learned how to draw incorrectly and it screwed me over) and I like to think I’m decent at describing visuals despite all this.
To use the gif as an example, I can really only imagine the frame, moving images are practically impossible for me. And it’s really only the sillohuete I can make out.
I also realized I’m face blind too, and part of me wonders how much that correlates to aphantasia
I think I understand what you are saying. I have a hard time imagining scenes, especially when I am reading, and definitely not in any vivid detail. For example, there is a kitchen scene in a book I am currently reading. I vaguely picture the kitchen of the house from my childhood but that is pretty much all I can come up with. I don’t think that is aphantasia, though.
I got recommended a video that introduced the term to me and it was a very jarring realization.
Personally I’ve always struggled with expressing my thoughts in general. Before I learned about aphantasia I had started saying it was like I think in concepts instead of words or pictures. I know what I’m thinking and it’s not like it’s a vague idea, but for whatever reason actually translating it into a real language is really hard for me. I have an easier time writing out my thoughts than I do speaking them at least.
The most I can visualize are a few ‘vivid’ images that I spent a lot of time curating, usually from listening to music or remembering a dream I wrote down. Even then, When I try to think about those little exceptions, it’s still only a tiny fraction of the whole image that I can really come up with. Thinking about it now, it’s super weird to describe! I got super intro writing after I figured out I had aphantasia (shattered my hopes of being able to draw. But that doesn’t mean aphantasic people can’t draw. I just learned how to draw incorrectly and it screwed me over) and I like to think I’m decent at describing visuals despite all this.
To use the gif as an example, I can really only imagine the frame, moving images are practically impossible for me. And it’s really only the sillohuete I can make out.
I also realized I’m face blind too, and part of me wonders how much that correlates to aphantasia
I think I understand what you are saying. I have a hard time imagining scenes, especially when I am reading, and definitely not in any vivid detail. For example, there is a kitchen scene in a book I am currently reading. I vaguely picture the kitchen of the house from my childhood but that is pretty much all I can come up with. I don’t think that is aphantasia, though.