User Power
Value/Post Ratio
122%
- Apr 26, 2018
- 380
- 462
If I asked you to close your eyes and visualize an apple - please try it now for a few seconds - what does that apple look like on the scale below?
If what you see is somewhere between 1-4, you're normal. If what you see looks like 5, which is nothing at all, you may have aphantasia.
At 26 years of age I learned that people can actually see mental images in their heads and that it's not just a figure of speech. A lot of people, when they do the above exercise, will not just seeing an apple floating in space, but hanging on a tree, on a table, in a basket, etc. My wife sees picture perfect images, and my cousin can project images into the real world - when I had her do the above exercise, she saw the apple floating above my head. It's easy for them to conjure an image, rotate it, make it bigger, smaller, etc.
Me? I see nothing. I can't picture my wife's face, my mom, friends, etc. I can't visualize my goals, either. I can't visualize what I did yesterday. This really sucks in some ways. I really want to delve into lucid dreaming, but once I awake, I can't relive the dream in meaningful ways. I recently travelled for the first time in years, had a blast, and while wifey can bring to mind images of the trip like she is there, I see nothing.
There's no current cure for this and they're still working on figuring out the causes.
So just posting to spread awareness because I can't believe it took me so long to realize this. Posting under health because it feels like a subset of mental health.
-Jon.
If what you see is somewhere between 1-4, you're normal. If what you see looks like 5, which is nothing at all, you may have aphantasia.
At 26 years of age I learned that people can actually see mental images in their heads and that it's not just a figure of speech. A lot of people, when they do the above exercise, will not just seeing an apple floating in space, but hanging on a tree, on a table, in a basket, etc. My wife sees picture perfect images, and my cousin can project images into the real world - when I had her do the above exercise, she saw the apple floating above my head. It's easy for them to conjure an image, rotate it, make it bigger, smaller, etc.
Me? I see nothing. I can't picture my wife's face, my mom, friends, etc. I can't visualize my goals, either. I can't visualize what I did yesterday. This really sucks in some ways. I really want to delve into lucid dreaming, but once I awake, I can't relive the dream in meaningful ways. I recently travelled for the first time in years, had a blast, and while wifey can bring to mind images of the trip like she is there, I see nothing.
There's no current cure for this and they're still working on figuring out the causes.
So just posting to spread awareness because I can't believe it took me so long to realize this. Posting under health because it feels like a subset of mental health.
-Jon.
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum:
Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
