The missing mind’s eye
Image credit: Unsplash/Louis Maniquet
We often say that all people think in images. New research suggests that virtually all people think in images – probably upwards of 99%. But there is a very small sliver of the population that does not.
Researchers call this condition aphantasia. These are people who lack a mind’s eye. When they think about a person or a thing, they don’t see them in their minds. (This is related not just to the visual system but all sensory experiences, so I use the word “see” loosely.)
People with aphantasia have a reasonably good semantic memory – memories of facts and ideas. However, they struggle with episodic memory – memories of the details of events in their own lives. Researchers suggest that about 0.7 percent of people deal with this affliction, which one person says is like “thinking in radio.”
More common, however, is hyperphantasia, where people boast an extraordinarily intense mind’s eye. One neuroscientist describes this as like having a vivid dream and not being sure if it is real or not. When these people recall memories, their minds react somewhat in that way. Researchers estimate that 2.6 percent of people have hyperphantasia.
According to the New York Times article linked above, “The study suggests that the mind’s eye acts as an emotional amplifier, strengthening both the positive and negative feelings produced by our experiences. People with aphantasia can have those same feelings from their experiences, but they don’t amplify them later through mental imagery.”
There can be advantages to this. Anecdotal evidence suggests people with aphantasia can rebound from setbacks relatively easily, possibly because they don’t constantly replay these events in their minds. People with aphantasia also seem to be overrepresented in science and math jobs, for whatever reason.
This doesn’t mean people with aphantasia don’t think metaphorically. Innovations is science and math require a high level of metaphorical and associative thinking. However, their form of metaphorical thinking may be different somehow than that of most people.
Test how vivid your mind’s eye is here.