INTP Live

Light Leak wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:27 am

aphantasia...

After reading your description and an online description it's not clear to me that it's abnormal. I know next to squat about it but it seems like a diagnosis that you could get from most people with the right questions. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong...just saying. I bet misdiagnosises are high though.

There's just a lot of noise and clutter in my head. It's kind of a mess.

You're struggling with physical health issues and taking it upon yourself to research them. I feel like that could bring out that kind of noise.

Light Leak wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 20, 2022 5:27 am

...but that's usually not a monologue. It's usually a conversation with someone else. I practice in my head before I say things IRL a lot of the time.

Same thing IMO. After all, it's your brain supplying both sides of the conversation. I do this all the time too. Usually, I never get around to having the actual conversation IRL, or it goes nothing like I imagined it might, but it's never hurts to be prepared. If even for the disappointment.

This may not be typically normal, but I think it is INTP normal.

I have complete aphantasia too:...
I can't even see any kind of ghost-like shadow....

JohnClay wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 20, 2022 8:25 am

I have complete aphantasia too:...
I can't even see any kind of ghost-like shadow....
aphantasia.png

When I get a chance I may do some proper medical research because everything I've read so far sounds like BS.

I think you people are expecting too much of a visual experience from just thinking. Note the term "self report" in the below excerpt from a published study. You may need to hand in your self diagnosis license. I bet you're normal.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35180481

"Aphantasia describes the experience of individuals who self-report a lack of voluntary visual imagery. It is not yet known whether individuals with aphantasia show deficits in cognitive and neuropsychological tasks thought to relate to aspects of visual imagery...Overall, this study raises questions about whether or not aphantasia represents a difference in cognitive function or in conscious experience."

Aphantasia isn't a medical thing as far as I know. It's just a difference in how people think or something. I don't think it really hinders anything beyond forming mental images.

I talked to people about it who do say they can form mental images and what they describe is much different from my experience, that's it. My husband describes being able to play things back like a movie in his head, but missing certain details because his memory isn't photographic. I can't even form an image of a simple shape or object in my mind, let alone play a movie.

It seems like most people I talked to have some sort of mental imagery and find it weird that I see nothing. They can't all play movies in their head, and some describe the images as fuzzy but there. I see nothing.

One person asked me how I know if clothes will look good on me or not when I go clothes shopping if I can't picture how the clothes will look on me. I told them I try it on and look at myself in the mirror. That question seemed weird to me. Other people asked me things like how I know what things look like when I see them for real if I can't see them in my head. I have a memory of what things are even if I can't form the image in my head.

I was shocked that when someone says to visualize something that some people can actually see an image. I always thought that meant to just think of the concept or something.

I can "hear" in my head though. I mean not really actually hear anything, but if someone tells me to imagine the sound of waves crashing or something I have like a mental sound for that in my head if that makes sense. I imagine it's similar for people who can see images in their head only with images instead of sound.

Light Leak wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 22, 2022 6:28 am

I was shocked that when someone says to visualize something that some people can actually see an image. I always thought that meant to just think of the concept or something.

If most people can actually see like the equivalent of a fuzzy photo, that would surprise me. Maybe a little less now. I may have aphantasia too, and my memory is probably below average - possibly related. When I close my eyes I see light that was burned into my retinas from things in the room and that doesn't get covered by anything I think of. I can think "a curve goes here, hair goes here, a tie goes here" and I call it "I'm picturing..." but its resolution isn't even. People shouldn't let it bother them.

I can't take the VVIQ because my phone it too slow but I assume I'd score low.

My internal monologue is black George Costanza.

JohnClay wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 20, 2022 8:25 am

I have complete aphantasia too:...
I can't even see any kind of ghost-like shadow....

That's interesting, I'm certainly on the low end of the scale on this test, and I'm not sure if I ever think in images. I can recall ghostly images of things I've seen, but imagining something new? Easier to verbalize or proceduralize the concept.

starjots wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 24, 2022 8:17 pm

JohnClay wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 20, 2022 8:25 am

I have complete aphantasia too:...
I can't even see any kind of ghost-like shadow....

That's interesting, I'm certainly on the low end of the scale on this test, and I'm not sure if I ever think in images. I can recall ghostly images of things I've seen, but imagining something new? Easier to verbalize or proceduralize the concept.

Now that I think of it I can see hazy black and white images - in my dreams.