From 'How The Brain Perceives Time, with David Eagleman': https://youtu.be/2wiqPPICQP0?si=7I5md_NNPXdZcMvQ

I have aphantasia, can't hold an image in my minds eye for more than a faint brief second but I can see all the dreams I have had throughout my life.

As someone with hyperphantasia, I have a problem where when I day dream or follow a train, it completely shuts off my conscious observations of the world around me almost like my imagination is literally blinding me. Thankfully my unconscious mind still seems to work as my biggest issue comes from when I'm driving and I can't remember how I drove the last several blocks.

I have trouble picturing things in my mind. But I have no trouble playing songs in my head.

I had a boyfriend for many years who is red-green color blind and who's uncle is too. I'm an artist who has exceptional color vision so we developed a barrage of questions and comparisons to come up with a pretty good idea of what the other sees. Years later I picked the colors to paint his house. To everyone including myself it was the ugliest thing ever but he experienced it with great pleasure. To some the grass is pink.

As an artist with aphantasia who paints landscapes and interiors from memories or ideas, I have 'visions' for paintings, but I can't see them. Learning about this changed how I approach my painting. It became a process of visual discovery where I paint to be able see my 'visions' and along the way, why I chose realize them.

I feel like my hyperfantasia makes remembering trauma or bad memories worse for me 😔

I'm 34 years old and I just learned that I have aphantasia about 2 years ago. I've spent my whole life thinking that was normal and that terms like "picture this in your mind" were just a figure of speech

As an artist who has hyperphantasia, I have found it incredibly frustrating to not be able to recreate something I can clearly see in my head. I've also found that I make my best work when I turn that off and just work with what's on the page, almost like improvisation.

I guess I have hyperpantasic since when you said, "Draw a horse", my brain was saying, "What kind of horse?" I was already picturing different breeds of horses in my mind.

Art ability doesn't mean we always value realistic representation.  Artist can be s great artist and be more interesting in abstractions. Just because they prefer a different art doesn't mean they are less able.

Yep, I’m an aphantasic. I first learned about this in grad school about 15 years so when someone explained to me what these weird people called aphantasics aren’t capable of, and I was like, uh… that describes me! Anyway, some people seem to think that aphantasics are faking their issue, or simply being pedantic about not being able to “see” in their mind’s eye, because it’s not the same as actual seeing. But I get that because, as a musician, I have a developed mind’s ear. I can shut my eyes and voluntarily “hear” Beethoven’s sixth symphony in my head. I know it’s not the same as hearing it for real, but it’s still there and it’s not a mere metaphor.  But I have no equivalent of this for sight. Or to be more precise, I have only the dimmest and most evanescent ghost of a vague image.  But the fact that it’s there at all further lets me know what I’m missing.

The only thing I can't see clearly in my mind is the concept of someone with aphantasia....

I am hyperaphantasia. I always did math in my head by drawing the problem/formula to figure it out. I'm a writer and the hardest thing for me is finding the words to describe a scene playing in my head. It also heightens my sentient abilities. I feel and see thru my senses which is overwhelming at times. It takes longer to create as well.

I've always felt like a dummy because I can't visualize things in my mind. Knowing that some successful artists also can't visualize is comforting and that I don't have defective brain.

Even colour is not as straightforward as we assume. The wavelength of light is physical, but the experience of colour is constructed by the nervous system, and people can differ in how they perceive and describe colours.
This raises a profound distinction: reality may be shared, but our access to reality is individually constructed. The brain doesn't simply record the world like a camera; it interprets signals, fills gaps, predicts, remembers and generates experience.
Perhaps the most humbling part is that we can never directly compare another person's inner experience with our own. We can compare descriptions and behaviour but the private texture of consciousness remains uniquely first-person.

its so fascinating to me that some people can visualize in their minds! i wish i could!!
thanks neil for always sharing cool discussions!!

I have aphantasia and my partner has hyperphantasia finding this out and talking about how we process things in the world has been a life saver.
When he is explaining some physical task he no longer gets frustrated with me when I ask him to draw me a basic picture because he understands that I don’t have the mental ability to picture, on the other side I’m no longer frustrated when he finds it hard to transition to alternative problem solving because he already has planned the process from start to end yet it’s not working how he planned.

How we approach our craft hobbies in a different way - he has a planned image that he tries to replicate and will often throw away great work because “it doesn’t look right” - I start off with a basic plan, measurements and have very little expectation on the finished product so I’m usually happy at the end.

It’s surprising to me how often we find that this shapes our two opposing personalities and how we approach the world.

I would like to know more about the “why” of some people not being able to picture things in their minds. What neural patterns does this correspond with on fMRI, for instance.

I've been able to close  my eyes and be wide awake with no drugs involved, and see clear video. Most of the time I'm like 40 feet in the air looking down on a city street or corner. I can see people walking around and doing things, it's hard to sort exactly what they are doing.. Oddly, I have never seen any cars when this happens. Also, I can change what I'm looking at by just thinking about it. It never lasts more than 30-45 seconds.

This is how I do it. When you close your eyes look into the darkness and try to focus. There will be mostly darkness, but also some little pin points of light. If you can catch one of those just concentrate on it and try to make it expand. Eventually it will open up in your mind and you will see something then.