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Aphant here. Thanks for the clear explanation of the research! Subscribed. My only note is that for some reason I find the "fake depth of field" effect that blurs the background behind you quite distracting, because you still see the background in sharp focus when it's close to your head.

DMT is like a one-way ticket to the "Cosmic Carnival," where time doesn’t exist, the clowns are made of fractals, and everything you’ve ever questioned about the universe is answered... in a language you forgot as soon as you wake up.

I can only describe my imagination as a sort of blind seeing. Like drawing on a beach with a stick, anything I could imagine is immediately lost. I can think of a cat, but it's more like I can only conjure up the contours of the cat, as if I was running my hands along the outline of it in a pitch black room. It's there, I know it's there, but I cannot see it at all. I can imagine the outline of a box or any object, rotate it, and manipulate it freely, but I don't see it. It's just blank. I also have a tough time with mental math because I can't just "imagine" the numbers being calculated in my mind and keep track of them as images. I can totally see how it can be thought of as imageless mental imagery, as crazy as that sounds it makes sense to my experience at least.

It's quite amazing. There's definitely pros and cons to having it as well as not having it. I can see the images in my mind and unfortunately it gives me bad anxiety.

so interesting!

Lifelong aphant here. Recently, I experienced two episodes of multisensory hypnagogic hallucinations. In a semi-conscious state with my eyes half-open, I vividly saw bright, colorful, picture-quality images and heard a male voice speaking. In another instance, I felt the sensation of touch-specifically, the feeling of being hugged from behind. It felt so real that I momentarily questioned whether someone had snuck into my bed, yet I was unable to move, as though trapped in a state of awake paralysis. Although mildly unsettling, the touch was mostly comforting, evoking warm memories of cuddling with someone. What makes these experiences so strange is that while I’ve always been able to dream vividly in an unconscious state, I now realize I can access these sensory experiences in a semi-conscious state. During these events, I was groggy and tired but fully aware of what was happening, with clear, conscious thoughts the entire time. The paradox is this: why is it impossible to access these sensory experiences in a fully conscious state? It’s evident that the “hardware” to form images and recreate sensory sensations is there, yet it remains inaccessible when I’m awake.

We don’t know the exact number for pi but we can approximate it closely enough so it can be useful 😎🤖

Thankyou for this. I was in my 30's before I realised that others could actually "see" things. Not having imagery doesn't mean I don't know what things look like and I can draw anything I want, but my imagination in my head is more like a bunch of directions. I also have trouble with faces, especially when encountered in unexpected places and this is the thing that I find the hardest.

Remember, clicking that shady link is enough to get you pwned This is just extra steps for extra payout

I was writing a long comment about the moral responsibility component of artificial consciousness the second I heard 0:45. I’m glad you brought it up.

Wondering if you've considered or done any research into NVLD and aphantasia. I'm the former, and also have no miind's eye. I find it affects a ton of things (whether it's the visual spatial defecit or visualisation, I don't know). But I'm relatively poor at planning, abstractions, laternal thinking, rapid change, strategy games, and mapping. I wonder whether aphantaisa comes as standard with NVLD, or whether NVLD is linked in some way to the neurological architecture that also results in aphantasia. Wish there were more research on NVLD. Thanks for a really infomative video. :)

It's becoming clear that with all the brain and consciousness theories out there, the proof will be in the pudding. By this I mean, can any particular theory be used to create a human adult level conscious machine. My bet is on the late Gerald Edelman's Extended Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. The lead group in robotics based on this theory is the Neurorobotics Lab at UC at Irvine. Dr. Edelman distinguished between primary consciousness, which came first in evolution, and that humans share with other conscious animals, and higher order consciousness, which came to only humans with the acquisition of language. A machine with only primary consciousness will probably have to come first. What I find special about the TNGS is the Darwin series of automata created at the Neurosciences Institute by Dr. Edelman and his colleagues in the 1990's and 2000's. These machines perform in the real world, not in a restricted simulated world, and display convincing physical behavior indicative of higher psychological functions necessary for consciousness, such as perceptual categorization, memory, and learning. They are based on realistic models of the parts of the biological brain that the theory claims subserve these functions. The extended TNGS allows for the emergence of consciousness based only on further evolutionary development of the brain areas responsible for these functions, in a parsimonious way. No other research I've encountered is anywhere near as convincing. I post because on almost every video and article about the brain and consciousness that I encounter, the attitude seems to be that we still know next to nothing about how the brain and consciousness work; that there's lots of data but no unifying theory. I believe the extended TNGS is that theory. My motivation is to keep that theory in front of the public. And obviously, I consider it the route to a truly conscious machine, primary and higher-order. My advice to people who want to create a conscious machine is to seriously ground themselves in the extended TNGS and the Darwin automata first, and proceed from there, by applying to Jeff Krichmar's lab at UC Irvine, possibly. Dr. Edelman's roadmap to a conscious machine is at arxiv.org/abs/2105.10461

If an AI is conscious, does it visualise?

I’ve had like some dreams where I can see but most of time I remember what happened but nothing else and I can’t visualize

Hello profesor, is there any relation about aphantasia and taking breath. For example if someone has problem with her/his nose and doesnt take enough oxygen. is this create aphantasia. I spoke with a lot of person who suffers aphantasia and 7/10 said her/his have a nose problem.

I have aphantasia, I close my eyes and only see darkness. I took a light dose of LSD and it blew me away. I could close my eyes, think of something & see it in my head as clear as a video. I get sad thinking this is something people experience on a daily basis sober & how different my life might be if I did too.

I've been speaking to people with phantasia, and it seems to me with aphantasia when i try to see pictures its like im trying to use my eyes to create a picture in a way its like i just don't know what muscle im supposed to use. It seen i can still imagine something like a cookie and i can discribe it in great detail but i just dont have an image. I have had images odd times, but the moment i try to focus on it, it's gone.

Aphantastic here; I can definitely see without seeing. This is fact. Even with no vivid imagery, visual concepts exist minus the actual imagery. I've always wondered if top chess players can simply see the board in their mind and the pieces on the board as vividly as in real life. And if that's a key component to being a grandmaster? All I can see are concepts 🥲

Yeah, until recently, I didn’t know it was a thing, and I’ve never been diagnosed, but I’d be REALLY surprised if I didn’t have very strong hyperphantasia.

I've only come across aphantasia in the last few years. As a meditation and taichi teacher I'd quite unawarely encourage imagery in teaching. I'm much more circumspect about how I do that now. I met one meditator recently who never knew what was being asked of her and hadn't realised that most people had a visualising capacity. A bit like my sister-in-law who realised in her forties that not everyone had synesthesia like her and saw coloured numbers

I would define a hallucination as seeing something in the real world that is not actually there.

Is there any way to stop this? I deal with intrusive thoughts on top of this and its making my life a waking nightmare, my minds eye is so vivid that even when im reading sometimes or doing anything with my eyes open, I can see my minds eye simulaneously, not hallucinating the images (projecting them on to the external things im seeing) but still seeing them in my mind, I genuinely feel like its ruining my life and I really want it to stop, the images can be chaotic and warped and really disruptive to my day to day

I would be interested to see the same tests but focused on spatial imagery. I have no imagery but if I was asked to count the windows on my house I would almost imagine holding a model of the house in my hands and would twist it around counting. My wife however, with imagery, walks around the inside of the house counting.

I cant on purpose. I used to dream very vivid and occasionally lucid, but i cannot create a picture in my head on purpose, its like knocking at a locked door, super weird feeling

Never liked the black on black description. Saying you see black on black is implying that you are seeing a black foreground on top of a black background when all I see is whatever my eyes are looking at.

Do I have Aphantasia or am I just not trying to mentally imagine something? That's like asking a paraplegic if they are a paraplegic or just not trying to walk. How are you meant to try something you are just not capable of doing?

Aphant here - no visualization at all here but I have a spacial "knowing" of where things are and could draw a floor plan or directions if needed. If I smash my fingers to my eyes there is a grid pattern (checkerboard) that moves. I do dream in images. I really, really wish I could imagine things visually. I have a naturally really great sense of direction too (don't know if that is correlated but finding my way is a feeling spacial sense, not visual).

Hello, someone with Aphantasia here (who didn't always have it) it can be very difficult and frustrating at times. I notice differences in the way I think compared to others, my memory is different and sometimes I'm more emotional because I don't have a (safe space) to mentally go to to calm down when I'm upset. Trying to think about the way that I think can feel overwhelming because I'm not sure how to describe it. I don't visualize (remember) a loved ones face let's say, but I know what they look like because I feel it... If that makes sense. Glad to see people are finally talking about it 😊

I can't see anything with my eyes closed but colors no I have extremely vivid dreams sometimes I can draw things from memory like an apple and orange I can draw the layout of my middle school do a pretty good degree I can draw out a lot of things from memory but I can't describe how people look in great detail

As an aphant, this makes lots of sense to me - every time I try putting into words how it feels, I struggle to explain that the image is there, I'm just not seeing it - and sure, there is a big verbal component in the way I imagine/remember stuff, but I've never been satisfied with the "Oh, it must be verbal-based" line of thought. I am not imagining in paragraphs, if that makes sense. Like, if I think of the Mona Lisa, I can describe the painting very accurately - her eyes, her hair, the way her hands are folded, the direction she's looking, etc - yet I sure haven't committed to memory a verbal description of Leonardo's masterpiece. It is the actual painting I'm thinking of, and for sure it's in there somewhere, even if I can't see it - it's like it's covered by a dark cloth but I absolutely know it's underneath.

i call it geometric cognition inversion syndrome, where a grid which should be conscious is inverted, like an optical illusion.

You see, the thing is that we humans actually see the world as it really is, Kant's ding an sich, and our brains make sense of it. It's just that the brains of us humans with aphantasia are unable to "translate" that input into "standard" perception in imagination, so we imagine directly that ding an sich, noumenon. And that's such a Lovecraftian cosmic horror that our brains would rather not let it into consciousness to avoid immediate fall into the madness! ... Just kidding 😂 ... Or am I? 🤔

This is interesting! I keep having people ask me how I can remember things when I can't see images in my mind and I have no idea. For example, my friend's daughter got changed after swimming, and I saw her for about 2 minutes before she went off with my daughter. We couldn't find them, and her mum was worried because she couldn't remember what she was wearing to describe to others. Somehow, I remembered that she had an orange top and a denim skirt on, but I couldn't actually remember it; more of a feeling. When we found the girls, she was wearing that, and her mum asked how I could remember that when I can't picture things in my mind.

Ever since I found out that I'm an aphant, I've always wondered how I manage to memorize images, dream occasionally but feel like someone who can't see in the dream(like I can sense my surroundings but can't see anything), etc. The study makes so much sense to me; that the images are there, and I just can't access in a way that people with visual imagery can. Can't wait to see more of the progress!

Aphant here, all dark all the time. When describing my inability to conjure imagery, I always joked that this part of my brain just didn’t light up. Guess I wasn’t wrong; even if you get ipsilateral activity, it’s not connected to pathways that result in imagery. Thank you so much for your ongoing research and for sharing your findings here!

This makes so much sense to me as an aphant! I've said many times I feel like the image is there, but it's locked away and I can't access it properly. I've also wondered whether certain drugs would 'unlock' it, but obviously am not about to go and buy illicit drugs to find out 🤣

Hello professor, I was wondering if there is also research on the smaller scales like into : 1. differences in levels of production of neurotransmitters 2. differences in neuron activation treshhold

I have never seen pictures in my brain. I used that vocabulary but i didnt know other people were using it literally, i thought it was a metaphor or something. And then, when i was trying to describe how i dream to someone i thought i could just compare how you see a movie, with your eyes, well my dreams are like when you read a book. Then i was told that there are mental images when reading. So i was able to kind of describe it with hearing. Like you can "hear" a song in your head, but you know its like a memory, you arent actually hearing it. With your ears. And you might remember this song with the music just like you have heard it, but not actually hearing it, just thinking. Its kind of like that. I can imagine things, i can try to remember things ive seen or i can picture something its just im doing that figuratively rather than literally. I was diagnosed with a.d.d. in my late 20s too. And since then ive noticed that if i need to concentrate on someone talking, whether on the phone or in person, i usually fidget with my hair and i close my eyes because then im cutting all visual stimulus. So the fidgeting helps me concentrate on someone but closing my eyes also helps by taking a big source of distraction away. Not sure if thats because of aphantasia or a.d.d. or both or neither, but its interesting. I only really noticed i did it because someone asked me why when i did it when talking in person. And when i was explaining i wondered what it was from because ive heard some people with a.d.d. talk about their struggles. Like one person said, 'I can look you in the face OR i can listen but i cant do both' It is weird to know im in a minority though, ive never experienced anything different so i have no way to relate to most people, the ones being literal about picturing stuff.

I first heard of aphantasia a few months ago. I was watching a video with a bit of a test. As I remember the test was something like "picture yourself on a beach" with a fraction of a minute to call up that experience. Then the question asked was "how many palm trees are on your beach?" I was shocked to find out that some people actually see a picture. What had occurred to me was sounds, smells, textures, etc. My imagination conjured up the smell of saltwater and seaweed and suntan lotion, the sound of the surf and wind, the graininess of sand, the warmth of the sun, and a fleeting image perhaps of nonspecific fluttering streamers (palm fronds) billowing cloth, and smudges of blues, greens, beige, etc. I never see a fully formed and detailed orange hanging suspended in space, like some people do, so I guess I have it?

This is an amazing result

i wrote this in one of the comments already: what do you think about aphants actually having halluzinations on psychoactive drugs? (i do too). does this point to some kind of "unlocking" on drugs or do halluzinations happen in other areas than visualizations?

That's superinteresting! Thanks for your work. Fascinating that this can be measured in scans like this. Lifelong aphant here. With this kind of apparatus available, maybe it's possible to devise excercises that help aphants learn to visualize better? Or would you say that this is too "hardcoded" to realize any change? I did make an attempt for a few months 15 years ago, practicing visual imagery. The results where zero :-) the purpose was to memorize all kinds of things using visual images, at that time i didn't know Aphantasia exists. needless to say, the usefulness of the technique remained a mistery for me, until i figured out that others can visualize things and i can't.

Hi, Im one of the totally dark and silent types without any conscious thought process without moving my vocal cords in speech or subvocalisation. Do you suspect that I am also activating the hearing centres in the same way? Or the speech centres as I need to be at least silently forming the shape of the word but independently of my breathing? Im also curious about what actually happens when I get an idea. My brain is a separate entity that just makes a final keyword plus data available to my consciousness by making me shape the key concept 🤷‍♀

Hey thank you so much for your work. I am wondering if this “warped” representation of mental imagery triggers activity elsewhere in the brain even without conscious experience or body response? Would those triggers be consistent with non-Aphants and the underlying images? Similarly, although rather more open-ended, what would be the effect on recollection of memories between group A of Aphants that trigger the warped images through attempts of imagination and group B that doesn’t attempt to activate the visual cortex beforehand? Would it be possible to isolate evidence that the image formed is real and not some “corrupted format” or being used for other purposes by the brain? The reason I am wondering is because I can’t image objects but I can imagine abstract relationships often (i.e. trees of hierarchiel information but can’t necessarily see them although I can navigate them and feel their existence). Could it be possibly used as an alternate form of data by the brain in some polymorphic functionality where the visual cortex is used for non-visual function?

I am aphantasic but it was only when I was in my 30s that I discovered it's a thing and that others see pictures in their heads when they read a book. I saw a program on TV where someone was using it as an excuse for not being able to do well at school as if it is a disability. It isn't. It never held me back from functioning to a high level at school in the way I understood reality and went on to qualify as a veterinary surgeon. I don't understand why people are seemingly looking for excuses why they cannot function instead of just getting on with life.

The concept of aphantasia itself is puzzling to me. I always thought mental visualizing is a prerequisite for the ability to see, because the visual cortex is constantly "making up" missing pieces of visual information (e.g. the blind spot, or color vision - physically available only in the very center of the visual field, yet we perceive everything in color). To me, visual perception smoothly transitions into phantasia e.g. when I fall asleep, sometimes I go through period where the imagnations are so crisp and clear that I can't tell if I see or imagine. I wonder how people with aphantasia react on psychoactive substances like DMT (I have heard they can't hallucinate either). Perhaps their internal experience of vision is also different.

Do people with aphantasia dream in pictures? Do they hallucinate on hallucinogenic drugs?

Thanks for the video! Little feedback: the background music is not helpful in my view

Thank you very much for your research. This may explain this impression of seeing without seeing.

This is fascinating. This fits my experience as well and seems congruent with how I have described aphantasia in relation to memory. That I think the image is there, I just can't "access" it. Most of my memories are spatial layout and orientation and physical sensations. It is almost as though instead of an actual image it is a complex connect-the-dots or constellation type layout. This is sensed not visualized but still the eyes are involved in mapping it out. Occasionally I do experience involuntary visual flashbacks when the image gets "loud" enough. So much to learn about this. Thanks for studying this phenomenon.