Can you picture an apple in your head?

[AndrésC64]

I've only fairly recently discovered that there are people who don't have what we call a "mind's eye". People who don't have a mind's eye experience a condition known as aphantasia, which is the inability to visualize mental images. Individuals with aphantasia cannot conjure images of scenes, objects, or faces in their minds, and they may not have a "mind's eye" or their imagination is essentially blind. Some people with this condition also don't have an internal dialogue.

This idea just blows my mind. Is there anyone here with aphantasia?

[goaded]

You mean there are people who can see things that aren't there? Weirdos!

It's fascinating to try to understand how people's brains work, it's far too easy to simply assume everyone's the same. It's very bad to declare that one group is normal and the other is abnormal; the people making the declarations somehow always find themselves in the "normal" group.

There are things that different people can or can't do at the same time, like keeping time and talking, for example. Do you

Then there's schizophrenia. It affects people all over the world, but only in the West (specifically the US, but the research only covered the US, India, and Ghana) was it felt as an entirely negative experience by "sufferers".

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Im24UauYK38

[AndrésC64]

Well it's not really seeing things that aren't there. It's seeing them in your mind. Like the old saying don't think about a pink elephant. Most people picture of pink elephant in their mind the moment you say that.

[AndrésC64]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say "keeping time and talking."

[goaded]

I was thinking of something Feynman wrote about. I can't remember the details, but it was that some people could count seconds and do maths (not speaking, sorry) at the same time, and others couldn't. The former visualised a tape passing by or maybe a clock ticking, but if you literally counted the seconds in your head your count paused while you did the maths problem.

I think it must have been in Feynman, R. (1988) What Do You Care What Other People Think? W. W. Norton, New York., alongside this recollection:

"One time, we were discussing something – we must have been eleven or twelve at the time – and I said, ‘But thinking is nothing but talking to yourself inside.’

‘Oh Yeah?’ Bernie said. ‘Do you know the crazy shape of a crankshaft in a car?’

‘Yeah, what of it?’

‘Good. Now tell me: how did you describe it when you were talking to yourself?’

So I learned from Bernie that thoughts can be visual as well as verbal."

I mean, I certainly know what a crankshaft or an apple look like, but it doesn't feel like I'm seeing it. It's probably related to my inability to put names to faces until they're extremely familiar to me.

[AndrésC64]

That sounds like something that I've heard before about people with aphantasia. It's like they can tell you all about the properties of an apple butt they can't picture one in their head. Or something like that.

[goaded]

Do you have to close your eyes, or is it superimposed on reality? I have memories of apples, I can imagine what one would look or feel like, but I can't "see" or "feel" something that isn't really there. It seems weird to me that anybody could. Or is what I'm experiencing what you would call picturing an apple in my head?

[AndrésC64]

No, I don't have to close my eyes. I can just imagine an apple sort of floating or "existing" inside my head. I can imagine something that isn't even real, like a unicorn or a purple fox. So it's not remembering something that I've seen. And for me it's just mind-blowing that there are people that can't do that. Or like I said above, having conversations or arguments with someone that never happened. I can have these dialogues with other people or even myself. I'm not sure if the images I have are the same as what you're describing.

[Staximus]

Dude there is a whole fucking movie playing inside my head, I don't know how somebody can't imagine an apple

[AndrésC64]

I know, right? For me it's more of a constant internal dialogue where I'm talking to myself or even having conversations or arguments with people that never happened. I do this even before talking or even writing this reply. I really sometimes wish that I could get it to shut up.

[petitedollbabee]

Yes I can. I had a minor stroke when I was 17, and ontop of having no feeling in my left side for 8 months, I also lost my “minds eye”. I couldn’t visualise anything and I had no inner monologue, I couldn’t hear myself. It was so strange and gave me perspective of what it’s like for people who live with that.


Did you know that neurodivergent people can also visualise things differently in their mind? For example, my ex who has dyslexia, he visualises things in 3D, whereas I visualise things in 2D.

[AndrésC64]

So you lost your mind's eye for 8 months and then got it back? That must have felt very strange.

[petitedollbabee]

Yep, after a few months I completely forgot about it honestly. And then after physical therapy for my left side and getting my motor skills back, my minds eye came back too, and it was suddenly like “oh! that’s what I’ve been missing”

[7Phoenix7]

Yes i can picture an apple. I think most people can. I do remember someone on this forum saying they couldn't and it shocked me too.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

Described like this I'm probably experiencing hyperfantasia 👀

I asked a small crowd around me, one girl couldn't visualize this apple lol

[andreasderjuengere]

I see the apple. It has a leaf on its stem. It is basically red, but with a yellowish spot on it.

People with no pictures in their heads: yes I met them. They work in my previous company :)

[NathanDavis]

only a green one... I don't like red ones

[WhitneySnow]

I can, but I have a friend who can’t

[AndrésC64]

That's so interesting. I can't imagine what that's like. Does your friend have an internal monologue/dialogue?

[WhitneySnow]

Yes. She does. She hears voices in her head but can’t see visual images.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I can picture a green and sour apple in my head. 😋🤤

[Kingofkings1992]

Never heard of it, sounds nuts. I feel sorry for anyone who has that experience

[XXblack88]

Yes I'm actually good at that