The small portion of individuals that cannot see mental images
Plus a few ways to develop your visualisation to achieve your goals
Believe it or not, a small portion of our population have the inability to visualise within their minds. This condition is known as aphantasia.
Aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create a mental picture in your head.
Aphantasia basically describes the inability to visualise and see mental images. The phenomena was first described in the 19th century, but only received a name in 2015 by Professor Adam Zeman at the University of Exeter, a cognitive neurologist.
I always thought people were over exaggerating when listening to them talk about their dreams and the level of detail experienced. In addition, when reading fiction, I usually only see words on the page and no associated imagery. People often talk about being transported within another world when reading, but I have never experienced this. However one day, I decided to have a quick search to see if there are people who cannot see images within their minds. Sure enough, I tumbled upon aphantasia.
Aphantasia is not a medical illness, and there have been a number of notable people who have this condition. For example, co-founder of Pixar Ed Catmull (the animation studio) has aphantasia. There are also a number of science-fiction authors, fantasy authors and comedians with aphantasia, including Mark Lawrence, Yoon Ha Lee and Richard Herring, which suggests that visualisation is not key to work requiring storytelling and imagery. Furthermore, Lynne Kelly, an expert and prolific writer on mnemonics and memory techniques has also reported that she has aphantasia.
Very little is known about the condition. I believe that there can be some sort of scale with regards to the level of visualisation our brains produce. For example I occasionally get brief images in my dreams as well as when reading. Although perhaps I just cannot remember what is truly going on in my dreams.
Some people have hypothesised that aphantasia is due to a lack of connection between the cognitive and imagery parts of the brain. There is even the opposite of aphantasia, known as hyperaphantasia, which is the condition of having extremely vivid mental imagery. People with aphantasia are reportedly less sentimental and emotional, which could be due to the fact that they cannot visualise what they are missing when they are away from something with meaning to them.
The test
Ask somebody to describe something to you or pick something yourself to visualise (this could be a red apple or even a scene on the beach). As you hear the words with your eyes closed, examine the level of imagery experienced. If you experience darkness or just see the colour behind your eyelids, you probably have aphantasia.
There are also tests you can take to determine your level of aphantasia and the vividness of your minds eye, see below:
In the last few months I have been trying to improve my visualisation and I have seen some progress when reading fiction and in my dreams. I am able to remember much more from my dreams and also experience greater enjoyment reading fiction books. Below are a few methods which you could use to improve your visualisation if that is something that you are looking to develop.
Methods
- Observe something which is non-moving for a few minutes (this could be an image found on the internet or something else outside in nature) and then attempt to draw what you were looking at without any aide.
- Have a dream diary and write out anything you can recall upon waking
- When going on a walk describe in words what you can see: take everything in and feel at one with the environment. Later on when you are back home try to visualise and bring it back to your memory where you were. Hopefully, you will eventually learn to bring back moments of joy and happiness to your mind as and when you require throughout the day as a tool to destress.
- A lot of people with aphantasia have trouble remembering faces, so spend 5 to 10 minutes just simply staring at a loved one (or using a photo) and take in all the details of their face to your memory bank.
All in all, it is up to you to decide if you want to improve your visualisation or if you even need to. Visualisation could be a used as a tool to help you target your goals and eventually reach them. For example, Novak Djokovic famously visualised himself winning Wimbledon when he was about to lose against Roger Federer in the final, which turned the match around. Visualisation could be also used at the start of the day to help you plan your day so that it is a success.
Maybe if you truly develop your ability to visualise, you will stop needing to go on holiday when you can just transport yourself to the Maldives instantaneously. A super power perhaps ?
The mind is important to develop when it is the only thing we truly own and have possession over.
