I'm a professional visual designer, and I also see nothing. It's hard to explain. Because I can conceptualize ideas, but don't truly know how they will turn out until I do the actual work. Thanks for this.
Same, Eddie. I'm a visual artist and studied music at the university level for years. I can hear melodies very easily, but I have a very difficult time seeing much when I close my eyes. I completely understand when you say you have to do the actual work. When painting, I have to put something on the canvas first and then it becomes a conversation where I put something down and it speaks back and it's just a back-and-forth wrestling match. haha
if someone said to me, imagine an apple on top of a table, I'd just put facts into place and think about what it would look like - I don't see anything though.
>imagine an apple on top of a table. >>ok. now what? >do you see it? >>no.. what color is it? >green. >>ok. now what? >do you see it? >>no. what time of day is it? what should the light look like? is it fresh or rotting? is there a bite out of it? is there a worm poking it's smiling head out of this goddamn fucking apple? WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT?!?!?!! >so, you don't see an apple? >>No.. I do not see an apple. Would you please tell me what in the entire fuck you want from me?.. Is one of the legs on the table wobbly? I can help you with that.. What is it doing?
YEAH - its legit like, i know what a table LOOKS like, an an APPLE too, but, i can't literally see a fucking apple on a table in my head on a tv or some shit when i think about it
@@citizenatlrge ahhahahhahahaah omg! This is me describing things to people i go into SO MUCH DETAIL when i story tell and people think im nuts but, that's how i navigate my thoughts ALL DAY EVERY DAY, with connections, descriptions, maths, science, categorisation, feelings, smells, etc
@@ArtyMars I have the exact same problem and I only recently realised that some people see, some feel, some make words... I'm more a description person too, so I'll describe the image to myself rather than see it.
Yes including music, sound, feelings, taste, smell, touch and everything else. It's not perfect imagery tho, most of the times is kind of blurry and fuzzy but everyone is on a spectrum, like I'm really good at recalling smell or taste or music (and extending the music I like despite knowing nothing of music making lol) but when it comes to pictures it's situational for me, most of the times it's blurry and fuzzy and I imagine better with open eyes, but I have ADHD so I'm different
I think it is bc of depression. Dopamine or endorphins seem to help me visualize much more. Makes sense bc if you are under stress already then hallucinations would just be a distraction. Without anaphasia a person can focus better and get their work done.
I'm an amputee and that doesn't bother me at all. I found out about Aphantasia a few weeks ago and was just gutted! Weird that a limb physically missing is no issue but my inability to see anything but grey mist when I close my eyes is depressing as hell.
Why is it depressing....because some can? I can't.... I wonder if my frequency is too low. I am trying meditating lately as I become more spiritual and present....stopping my subconscious mind rehashing stuff that has made me depressed my whole life and I am 59.... anyway...while I was trying to meditate....I little patch of .... like a hole in the black....which is all I ever see....opened up and it was a Forrest with a lake In vivid colour...... it was amazing. It was only there for a few seconds..... I now think my mind is blocking it... I am learning how to raise my frequency
Bruh, I have someone on the same side with me, I've only had one person believe me, but the rest all think I'm lying to myself and that I'm just not trying
@@DLexEdition Ok... this is a sad idea... the fact that a blind person might be able to see better then I can with my eyes closed when they never see at all is almost depressing. (I only see black like what 90% of the video is
I used to be able to visualize when I was younger, I used to draw and paint all the time and I had dreams every night. Nowadays that's all gone, I rarely remember a dream and I can't think of something to draw or paint anymore. I found out about this when I had trouble with visual meditations, they're telling me to think of colors and lights and I was wondering what the hell they were talking about, because I had my eyes closed all I saw was darkness.
For me its like two seperate layers. I cant see anything when i close my eyes but darkness but in my minds eye even with my eyes open or closed i can visualise things to a certain degree. Like im not visualising through my actual eyes but through a different set of eyes. I cant actually see the colours or things through my eyes but i can see it in my mind to the same foginess of what a dream is like kind of.
Yes, I totally understand what you mean by that. If I close my eyes, the things I visualize appear blurry, however hard I try. But if I try to visualize something "casually", I can see it super imposed over everything around me. It's still blurry though. :(
i have the same thing aswell. i can't imagine anything with my eyes closed but actually when my eyes are open, i can recall a face perfectly but i'm not even really seeing it
Yes I can relate to that, especially with memories they seem so clear even when I have my eyes open. But when I try to visualize something it's all blurry and weird, even if I try to imagine a simple circle for example, it's moving all around and it's not doing what I want, it keeps dissapearing or changing form. But usually I don't see anything at all.
@@Orion3G yes man! isn't that weird? when i close my eyes it's really hard to even think. when my eyes are open though, i can almost "see" what i am thinking of. it must be the fact that i am looking at reality and could picture the thing i'm thinking about within reality
My brain cannot stop thinking except when sleeping. So when i am bored, I play video games in my head. All sorts of video games. I even have "save" files so that I can continue playing when bored again. There is this one mind RPG game that I have been playing for about 10 years, and I really love the game so I still play that "save" file occassionally. Anyone else do that?
I never really considered it like that! But I often imagine various activities... usually adventures through completely imagined worlds or augmented versions of real life. I will definitely try playing an actual game with save files. That is very interesting! Usually Im more like @Alepap and create 'the perfect MMO' with incredible detail. Its not always perfectly visual, but I include an incredible amount of description. I only just now realized how much detail I conjure up when I go to write it down... My current brain-child is several pages long, and it only covers the basics of the game... I havent even included the actual 'adventures' Ive done in the 'game' yet hahaha.
This almost sounds like what NIkola Tesla would do. He honed his ability to visualize from an early age, and by the time he was an adult, he could run experiments in his head to see if the they would work or not.
This is really interesting! I can remember doing stuff like this when I was little, but it always took a lot of concentration. Nowadays, if I try to conjure up full scenes in my head, only the part I'm actively "creating" is visible. Like, I can't really visualize an entire face from a description, but I suspect that I used to be able to (though I don't think this is something I ever really tried).
I'm a teacher and a brain specialist came to our school and talked to us about brain based learning. In one of the days of training we talked about this and he showed us images of people's brains of who can and who cannot visualize things when they close their eyes. They were literally "wired" differently. I'm one of those people. When the teacher told us to close your eyes and imagine a red apple. Nothing!
I don't even remember when I first learned about aphantasia. It must have been on some old forum back in the day. But I discovered that while I don't have _complete_ aphantasia, my capacity for visualization is very small. If you asked me to imagine an apple, I see a vaguely "red", vaguely circular shape. That apple isn't anywhere. It's not even in a black or white void, it's just... nowhere at all. And if you asked me if that apple had a stem, then at that moment, I would mentally add a "stem" detail to the image, but it wouldn't be there until that point. But if I go beyond two or three details, the image completely falls apart into a collection of adjectives with no image. And I _definitely_ can't rotate it in my head. Faces are in a weird middle-ground for me. I see... something that _reminds_ me of my friend's face, or my brother's face. But it's very indistinct. I don't see the nose or the ears at all, for instance. It's not like they're "missing", it's even less than that. I just can't focus on it, no matter how I try. Interestingly, my auditory imagination is pretty strong. I get tunes stuck in my head that I can play to my "mind's ear", so to speak. And while I don't _automatically_ read stuff in a voice, I can force myself to do so. Like, if I know a voice really well, especially if I heard it recently, I can imagine that voice saying stuff they've never said. Aphantasia is a spectrum, and people can fall anywhere on the spectrum, and with different acuity for different senses as well.
This is exactly ME! I only recently learned my experience isn’t a shared experience. I learned it’s called Aphantasia It’s always complete blackness, and I have no inner monologue. And like you were saying about your coach that said imagine you’re shooting the ball My moment of awakening is when I learned that when the method of falling asleep “count sheep” wasn’t just a saying. People actually can see a herd of sheep and they literally actually count them. I always thought counting sheep meant just count out load to 100 and you’ll fall asleep before you finish counting.
As for me personally, I can only "see" what I think of. They aren't like if you are actually looking at pictures. It's more like an imprint or sensation of whatever it is -- like a dull or blurry image that's convincing enough for me to say "Yes, I can see it." I can choose whatever I see though by direct or indirect thought (though not with clarity), but generally it's black.
Just then I was talking to my sister and she told me how she could actually see things when she closes her eyes but my WHOLE life I thought no one could see things when they closed their eyes it’s just blank and you know it’s there
Wow, thanks for sharing. I have kinda opposite - its hard to control inner dialog and images, especially when I go to sleep. I close my eyes and have unconrtollable stream of crazy stuff. So i do meditation to calm down all that. And one day many years ago I stoped watching horror movies, because realised that they are just too much for me - everytime I closed my eyes after horror movie I could see that moster or scare face or whatever. And its so hard to belive that you see just black "screen", when you close your eyes. Insane.
+Дмитрий Дмитриев Back when I was younger, I didn't even need to close me eyes to see the monsters if it was dark. My treacherous brain conjured all those images against my will, and harder I tried to will them away, the image only became more realistic. That's why I hated the dark and left the lights on when I went to sleep if I could when I was a kid. Now, I'm sure I _need_ to start meditation, because _god_, I can't go to sleep thanks to the uncontrollable amount of thoughts my mind thinks up. Out of all my ideas for anything, most of them are thought up before going to sleep. Due to that, it literally takes me over 30 minutes to go to sleep on a good day when I'm tired as hell-or it's over 5AM. Still remember the nightmare I got thanks to playing too much Slender, lol. I literally jumped out of my bed when I woke up - I opened my eyes during the moment when my entire body was in the air. That monstrous motherfucker appeared behind me and kicked me in the behind-thank god there's no pain in dreams-into a large fall. That's when I woke up. I spent so many hours in the dream running away from the Slenderman. On the bright side, I also have had a few lucid dreams. Most amazing thing ever. And I had rather large amount of semi-lucid dreams, where I wasn't aware that I was in a dream but was mostly in control, and could fly and do some cool shit. Flying was really hard, though. I also had the dreams repeat again a few times. One of them, I had 3 times, actually; funny, how I still died the same way, no matter the experience. Once, the first time I had a particular dream, I vaguely remember having to fix some device stuck on a truck. I think it was a really annoying thing, so when I had that dream again-even though I wasn't aware that I was dreaming-I remember saying, "Fuck it, I'm not doing this shit again", and waking up. So I think strong visual imagination is actually a good thing. I'm mostly balanced, having both but neither are the best.
+The Light Sabrix You are crazy if you play things like Slenderman! I rememer I told my girlfriend that horror games are much scary than movies and she didnt belive me. So I set her to play Amnesia. I couldnt even watch her doing it! I avoid every horror game, and hate when non-horror games have some horror levels, like that asalym from last Thief. Try not to play the, if you got such a problems with sleep, right? I also had s strong fear of darkness. But ist became much better after Vipassana meditaion course. You can do it too. They got a lot of meditaion centers around the world, you can easly find one close to you. Its works for donation and takes 10 days. Strong stuff, but worked for me. Now I can go to the kittchen at night without turnig lights on :))) And yeah, flying in a dream is super fun ;)
Amazing!! I am much the same way!! Its so hard to remember that most other people dont have a constant inner dialogue and visual maps in their head that they can manipulate at will (or against their will haha) Rare for me to actually find someone that has such an 'overactive imagination' The only thing I seem to not have is vibrant colors, usually all my mental visuals are kinda water-colorish... or like faint holograms... But yeah man I hate horror movies!! Not because I necessarily get 'scared', but because all the visuals get replayed in my head over and over and over again, and sometimes also 'pop out' from the shadows (or even broad daylight)... Everything from sounds and sometimes even smells get conjured by my brain. Smh... I love my brain... but gotdamn its annoying sometimes hahahaha.
My fiance once bragged to me about how he remembers directions, he just drives down the road in his mind in super VCR fast forward mode and he knows the whole route. I actually thought he was just being silly at the time, he's kind of a 4 year old at times. At least now I don't have to feel so stupid about not being able to enjoy storybooks or be artistic at all, and there's some neat context about how I always think better if I'm thinking "at" somebody. I seriously had no idea this was a thing, do people seriously **actually see** things when they imagine them? That blows my mind...
No people don't actually see the things they're imagining on the backs of their eyelids, it's more like an image that you don't see with your eyesight, but with your mind. So an internal idea that you're able to visually think of the details, in your mind. Rather than seeing something as you would in the external world.
@@ChildOfAnAndroid you can still totally be an artist! The RUclipsr AmyRightMeow is a visual artist and animator who just recently realized she has aphantasia.
I am just finding this video, two years later. I just learned that I have aphantasia a few month ago and my world has been rocked, seriously to it's core. Thanks for the easy to digest experience that I can share with those I know so that they can hopefully understand what is going on in my head. God knows I've had a hard time explaining it myself! My experiences may be slightly different than yours (I do dream, very vividly, I just only remember the "facts" when I wake up), but it's nice to hear other accounts and in a way validates all the questions and doubts that are bubbling up with my discovery that I am different than most others.
I can relate to this so much, I find it so stressful because I'm a creative person and like making things but I struggle with creating ideas and I cant imagine what things will look like until I'm finished and then I realise I should have done it differently or used different things. I find myself having to Google a lot of things just to see what they look like because I just cant visualize it. It really is something i struggle with.
Does it mean that it will lead to Alzheimer’s when we are old ? Is there any research on this ? I am a woman,76 yrs old,was an interior designer,but couldn’t see with closed eyes. Now I feel that I don’t get words soon,when talking,I forget lot of things.So is there any relation bet dementia and this is state?
I discovered I also have aphantasia. I only "see" in dreams. When I try to follow a guided meditation I may see a tiny tree in the middle of my black background, for just a few seconds. What joy when that happens
Almost same thing....worst part is I work as a Visual Designer. Yesterday I came to understand that people can really see things eyes closed. now I know why I was never able to visualize eyes closed, I had to draw in paper or PC to come up with an idea. Is there any chance to overcome this situation ?
Flying Mamoth your comment may be very old but can you just imagine a picture of some cartoon you've watched as a kid without your eyes closed like your traveling from your view what your seeing now to that view
I found a site with excercises unchainmybrain.com/learn-to-visualize/#comment-221 I started excercising yesterday and I saw a red dot and I saw purple when I closed my eyes :) so don't give up hope. If you want to you'll eventually be able to :) Good luck
LSD temporally ‘cured’ my aphantasia and it was really cool, but as soon as the drug wore off I was back to normal. I really do recommend trying it but you have to know your dosage. The dosage depends on your weight, lenght as well as how sensitive your receptors are. I took 100 mikrogram and it was enought for me to have a good trip and I weigh about 82 kg and Im 184-ish tall. The trip lasts about 8-12 hours and it is super important to have a good and supportive group to trip with and a safe space !
Anyone else really love reading still while having this? I appreciate the idea of whats going on, the actual writing itself and the writing techniques used, or I even hear things like a podcast but I see literally nothing. The hardest thing is to explain how I can remember what things look like. I can't see it, but I kinda instinctually know if I've seen one before and know the gist. I could describe it in the most basic of terms. But I think of people who could actually SEE what the story is telling, have that mental movie from what people say and I can't deny I'm jealous. I WANT to see such a story. The fact I can't visualize made reading LOTR almost boring (the story is good in itself, I just couldn't get through it very well or very invested with all the descriptions).
Thanks for sharing mate. I've also done my fair share of hallucinogens. I suppose it gave me a glimpse of peace but more of an illusion. I later found true peace within and this helped me stay strong when my best friend died. While I'm no longer in that state of mind, I am still very happy in life, just not quite like that. Maybe it's time to once again let myself just be truly happy and at peace with the world.
Yesterday i was really stoned and i realized it. I was really down when i could understand the differance to other peoples perception. But it is a little calming, that i am not alone with this condition. But what ever brings me down meditation helps a lot to let go and bring things in perspective, where i can afterwards work better with the possibilities that i do have. Much love everybody. See the bright side.
I can get highly immersed in sci-fi/fantasy books and I find myself imagining the entire world but I can't remember people's faces and when I do try to imagine say, a cube, it will start moving or something else would quickly replace it
This was great. I’ve only met 1 person w aphantasia and most vids have been deep dives into science but not much on how they processed their experience. I also had a meltdown and a great deal of sadness as it sounds like a magical power. We’ve had the same struggles (like can’t “leisure read”) and took awhile to accept that people can conjure up images, tastes, smells. It’s insane! The dream experience you have is fascinating! I’ve never heard that. I’m able to put myself into sleep paralysis though, once you get out of the fear it’s pretty cool. It’s funny when people mention their hallucinogen experiences until learning about aphantasia I thought they were lying about their trip to get attention but hey I guess that chick wasn’t lying when she saw herself as Cheshire Cat creeping around the room. Now that’s a trip!!
i know this is a late comment but think you, ive always questioned why i can’t see things but it’s weird when i dream. During dreams i can recall things as if i have seen them in my mind but i can’t really imagine them at all, i rarely dream but when i do i remember what happens and the people in it even down to their faces but i can’t actually remember faces it’s super hard to explain
This is a topic I've never thought about before. I also didn't realize there were people who were that different from me and couldn't form an imagine in their mind at all. It really sucks about the not being able to enjoy books for pleasure in the same way. Getting lost in a book and feeling like you are experiencing the action just through written word is really wonderful.
The thing is, when I close my eyes I just see nothing? I can imagine things, but just in thought. Not like... Visually? I remember when I was maybe 10? We'd do this exercise eavry week where we'd look at an image for about 30 seconds the we'd have to wait 30 seconds then write down eavrything we saw in like 3 mins? Idk. The average was like 100? It was only 1 word things. I remember only getting like 10, the numbers might be wrong but I remember that I was the lowest amount in the class, by a drastic amount. And not to be that person but I was always top of my class, and I'm a total perfectionist. So that pissed me off. It was so... Odd? Then I remember when I was maybe 11 me and a couple freinds we're talking about nightmares. I told them how I never feel like I'm in one, it's just thoughts, I don't see anything. They didn't believe me. (11-12? not sure the age) My teacher then had an exercise where we we're to imagine an apple. Then we we're to write it down. I know what an apple looks like? I can describe it, but eavryone was instructed to close their eyes and think about first. I found it quite stupid because it "didn't do anything". I raised my hand and said it (in a wayyyyy more polite way) and nobody understood what I meant? The teacher ignored it. I've always had those wierd experiences. Hearing the word and finding that I'm not alone really help, thank you.
Right right right right right! I can remember where I saw them before, like the apple thing? I remember an apple in the produce section of the grocery store, and I can think of different kinds of they have there and what they look like and feel like. But it's all thoughts and memory recall. No visuals That sounds so amazing to see visuals
Wow, that's really intense Fevir... I find myself unable top stop visualizing horrible/negative things when I close my eyes to go to bed. I dont watch or read anything scary at night or close to bedtime anymore because I just cant stop recreating what I saw and it disturbs me for the whole night. At one point I didn't go to sleep till the sun came up because I didn't feel safe sleeping at night lol Being unable to imagine or dream sounds way worse though, I'm so sorry that you're going through that
i bet this helps you sleep. it takes me forever to fall asleep at night because my mind cant stop thinking about things, but i guess that comes with having ADHD
Whoa, my heart like skipped a beat the minute I recognized that song. I went through an odd cycle of "Hang on! I know this...wait, but it couldn't be...is it? No it is, but there is no way....but it has...OH MY GOD IT IS!" I feel honored, Fevir :) Thank you.
Fevir I don't even know it. The way I have my bandcamp set up is all that info is only store by Bandcamp server; I don't see any of it. So, to be honest, I didn't really have any clue if you did download any or not :P
Up until a couple of days ago I had never heard of Afantasia. Now after hearing a radio show on BBC RADIO 5 LIVE , a lot of my 55 years has started to make sense. I see very little if nothing in what is called my minds eye. I can recall sound with great clarity but images ! Not a chance. The only thing I could put it down to over the years was that a a young child I did have a severe head injury and that this was the reason, my wife who is a avid reader couldn't understand why I can't get an image in my mind when I read things which I don't do very often for that reason. So after years of thinking I'm a bit thick, it turns out I do have a reasonable excuse for not getting the grasp of a subject. Thanks for the blank video, it added to the subject matter
Oh my god this video is describing my life! I just discovered that people can see things in their mind. My reaction was "I'm broken" too! We dream the same too, I wake up with some odd scenario or memory
Wow. Thanks for sharing. I've never thought of this, as I assumed everyone was an equal amount of 'imaginative power'. You just made me think what other people are able to(or not able to) think in their head. Interesting to ponder about.
Yes! I didn't know I had this, and so hard to believe it people ACTUALLY see images... I can hear any song that I know the words to, I can remember it and how the music sounds and everything and "play it"n i my head. If I don't know the words, I can't do it
I'm glad you shared this. I had no idea that some people were "in the dark" as it were. I now realize that I was taking my imagination for granted. I can visualize things to a pretty extreme degree, and I do feel like it has made my life better.
When I “imagine” smth I just really like dont imagine it I just know what it looks like, like if I had an apple in my hand but my eyes were closed, I know the apple is there, I just don’t see it, that’s how I dream, I know that there’s smth on the ground grass usually, it’s usually green to yellow, sometimes it’s dirt on the ground, I know which texture they all are, I just don’t see it
I cant see anything visually but if I try hard enough I can see grey dots in an empty black “screen” but that’s all and most of the time I don’t have any dreams but when I do they are VERY visual which is the only time I can see something in my mind I thought this was normal until now
Just came across the after I typed in , When I close my eyes I can't see anything but Black, I'm 66 years young and I also have no visualization. I'm going back to College and while doing some algebra questions, I was told to visualize #'s in my mind. I can not, I'm a builder, contractor, designer, musician, I just have never been able to visualize. I have friends that dream in color. WOW! not me Thanks for posting this!!
Just figured out that I I'm very different than people around, if it wasn't for RUclips I would probably feel as you did alone and different And thank you for posting this
''Other side if the spectrum'' doesn't really cover it, i'd say; About 5 minutes after i place my head of my pillow, i've created a complete fictional world with races, cultures, history, flora, fauna, ancient wars, political struggle and so on. I'll ''generate'' specific characters with names, relations, ambitions and secrets. I will spin a story, not far removed from a movie. I can seamlessly assume the role of anything, in an instant. Become it and act through it. I can tell a story that i'm also living out at the same time. Everything is vivid, i can smell things, feel things, hear them. Run my hand along a branch and feel the texture of the bark and the individual leaves. I'm sometimes not even the driver, sometimes i'm just along for the ride. This rarely happens during ''the day'', but it's always there in my mind.
I sorta have another form of this.. I can practically not visualize things. I did train myself to do it better but to get anything remotely clear i need great focus. I mostly just think in really short impressions and a sort of "backbonefeeling" as i call. This "backbone feeling" with me is almost a sort of tinglish sensation in my lower spine. And when i need to ge someqhere i just feel naturally drawn to where it is. And somehow its always the right spot. Now i do have the ability to effortlessly conjur up images of maps i barely ever use it. So what im trying to say is that probably if you try to really train your self in it you can probably gain and or improve some of those factors, although it does take a great amount of effort to do so.
You just described exactly how I am perfectly. I'm intelligent, I'm at a gifted school, I'm great at facts and science and recalling detail, but not unless I've decided to remember it. Everything you've said resonated with me, I'm completely blind in my mind. I wonder though, how are you at applying knowledge to an ambiguous question? Personally, I find it harder to apply knowledge than I do recalling exact responses or processes. Also, if I'm made to memorise something, I remember the order I thought it rather than seeing it. Like, if I was told to recite a list backwards, I'd find it almost impossible because my thought process is only for that forward direction. Would be amazing to hear back from someone with similar issues xx
This is as best as i can describe what Aphantasia is like for me So your in your bed but can't sleep you try and imagine a dream but you can't... Your just stuck inside your eyelids, no matter what you do you just can't get to your mind (Im not sure if this has anything with Aphantasia but...) When I read a book I have to read it over and over and over but you can only remember like 3 sentences... Sometimes my school has plays and it takes me to the nearly to the deadline to remember (wich is usually 4-5 weeks which is a long time) BUT i thought this was normal only today i found out
I have been on both ends of the spectrum, I'm not even exaggerating. When I was in high school, I had what I would consider an average level of mental visualization abilities. Eventually, I started practicing lucid dreaming. BOOM, huge spike. I only actually achieved intentional lucidity once, but a few days after I did, it felt like I could visualize anything to an incredible level of detail, even messing around with simulating other senses at one point. There were points where I began questioning my own memory, since I couldn't remember if I had actually seen things or simply day-dreamed them. Eventually, that ability faded. As I grew older, I got lazy with it and It gradually lessened over time. Now, I'm near aphantasic. Every now and then I'll get one vivid flash. Just an image appearing in my mind like the afterburn of a bright light. It might take some time, but I'm hoping I can slowly claw my way back up. There's obviously very few studies on this sort of thing, but I imagine that it's just like any other sense; It may take ages, but I hope it's possible to refine.
I am the complete opposite, my imagination is so strong that sometimes I day dream and I'll say a word or do a small movement of my arms or something because I don't even realize I am so into the dream. And I also look to the top left, its weird, without realizing my head is facing the top left side of my body. But I think that is because your more "creative" side of your brain is on the left (or that is what I am told).
I think I have nearly the same thing. When I think of an object/place/person in my head, I can somewhat visualize it but it is blurry. I also can't recall a time I've ever seen any color in the images and I can't visualize a complex image like a face (No matter how well I know the person).
FerderBiZzLe So you would most likely fall the the low end of the visualization spectrum. Being unable to pull up people's faces was what really fucked with my head after my dad passed.
I can't see an actual image of a person's face, but I can access memories of photographs that have been taken of them. If I try to think about the face too much it kind of blurs out, but I can still remember the photo.
i think this is why i have maladaptive daydreaming. because just sitting there and imagining things is not 'enough' for me since i can't actually see anything when i imagine. man i'd save soo much time and effort if i had the ability to visualize things. maladaptive daydreaming takes so much of my time because i literally act out everything.
I've been on the border of this kind of thought. I really love storytelling, novels, dungeons and dragons, and stuff like that, but I never can focus on any specific image. I can conjure up the thought of that image, but I can't focus on the image itself to describe it. I have an idea for what a character looks like in a book, and I can describe it loosely, but I can't ever actually visualize it completely. It's really weird, and I've never put much thought into it until now. Very cool video Fevir.
I’ve seen visual images when I close my eyes…that were clear, focused and in color only a couple of times without trying and not under the influence of anything. For me, it was like one of those magic eye posters you stare at then…boom everything becomes so clear and detailed. When I try to visualize something…it never works and usually is just random things I try to see that just pop up for a millisecond. I don’t wish to master this ability for fear I would never be able to rest my mind when I close my eyes.
Omg! I just came across this yesterday because I am mind blown because like you, I totally thought people just said it as a figure of speech. I see total dark or light that comes through my eye lids. I asked people yesterday and they all said they actually see what they want to see. Anyway. I was thinking about it this morning and the term “drawing a blank” came to mind since when I close my eyes and try to literally see what I want, in my head it’s like I am drawing a blank. Does that resonate with you? When I “imagine” things, it’s like I have some sort of “image” floating around in my head. I know what I am thinking about and I can gift people details and ridiculous stories about the things I imagine and I even make myself laugh at the things I think of but I tell you, I am still boggled by the thought that people actually see it like a picture. It makes me jealous because I would love to do that.
Wow, this is all crazy to hear. I always thought that others could visualize anything they wanted in their minds like i could. I just assumed that other people thought themselves 'too mature' or something to waste their time on stuff like that. For me, i can read a book and imagine every moment of the book (characters, settings, actions, etc.) in vivid detail, as though i was watching a movie with perfect special effects, and i'm the director of it. I can even simulate conversations and things with other people in my head (not just the visual, but the sounds, touch, etc.), as though i were actually with them and talking to them (friends and family most often, since i know them better, which means i can create a more realistic/meaningful version of them in my mind). I think that might be why i never seem to feel lonely, and i don't really feel the NEED to have a girlfriend like friends of mine seem to. This has given me a lot to think about in regards to understanding others, and why i maybe have a different perspective on life than other people. Thanks for making this video, Fevir!
JaSoN1X That's an interesting point you bring up at the end that you can almost conjure up something so meaningful that it fills a hole (girlfriend) that other people seem to strive to fill.
I'm pretty sure it's literally impossible to LITERALLY see images when you close your eyes. I'd say its more like you're viewing it with a different set of eyeballs in another dimension
Great video, love how you just make videos about what you want. Luckily for me i guess, when i close my eyes i can create what I want and move the objects. Although my memory just sucks when it comes to real life
Thanks for sharing. I like you, thought it was just a phrase to imagine doing something like shooting a basket but learned like you in chance conversation with my husband of 30 years at the time that he really could see those things whereas I saw words
I was a teacher for 23 years and used visualization BUT never believed that anyone literally saw anything. I just thought it was, well, thinking, but not actually sensing anything. I feel blown away by this idea that most people actually can see stuff in their heads.
since i was i child i can manipulate and create really complex and detailed 3d images, dunno where it came form, but it's a fact, losing somenthing like this would shock totally my mind
Fevir Unfortunately not, i would like to, i've done evry kinda of drawing and even drawing school but seems like that i can't translate what happens in my mind
Interesting, never heard this term before. It’s not that I can’t see anything, I just cannot see it as images with details that I didn’t pay attention to. I can only see schematics, concepts, and algorithms. But from time to time, like couple of times in early morning I could drift into a state where I could see visualizations and even make suggestion. I just cannot get there voluntarily. Maybe I can relearn it somehow. Maybe it’s because I’m thinking schematics and algorithms most of my conscious time
I feel like what I create in my head is a 3d model. I can't see it, but I can' feel it. Like I can be standing in the middle of a scene and I can see what is behind my head as well as what is in front of it.
Something that works for me related to visualization is that when I want to visualize smthg I give that thing or the environment or people (whatever it might be), bold, brightening colors in order to make it more concrete and distinctive to my brain. You know our role is to fool our brain.
Fevir I was actually half serious about my previous comment (Cynical Mindblow here). It may have been just a black screen of doom, which provided me the opportunity to be sarcastic about "watching" the video, but on the other hand it is an interesting subject that really intrigued me more than any of your previous gaming related videos :P
The driving a car in your head! I totally do that, I recall 10-15 years ago, long before the wide spread of cell phones and GPS, I was riding with my friend in an area she wasn't familiar with and I told her to give me a second and I would figure out where to go because I had been around that area before. She asked how I was going to do that, and when I explained that I drive a little car in my head to recall how to get to places, she game me a look like I was insane. I never really thought much of it though and like you said it never really came up anywhere else. Thanks for sharing this, if you hadn't, I don't know if I ever would have known that there were people that couldn't visualize like I can.
Fevir I Can free navigate anywhere in my city in my head. like noclip in a videogame. that car thing is what I do. what's weirder to me is that if I lose that visualization imagery and have to reset I have no idea where I am sometimes. its like I need to "re sync" with satellites of memory in order to regain my bearing. the visualization you speak of is my primary form of thought. I use it to analyze conversation and draw links between things that generally people wouldn't connect. like literally build a flowchart of conversation and language in my head for all of the possibilities of a conversation and try to jump to the end of it in order to make life easier or win arguments. I literally cannot imagine a life without the ability to visualize. I use it to simulate physical things in my head like how far a ball will go or which direction or what would happen if a cup of water were to experience a collision. If you are still reading... :D ive actually got a pseudo system for life and my encounters, that metaphorically involves the difference between 1 and 0 (infinity) and a gradient ramp from black to white. if you think about it all things in your life can be referenced on a gradient and in my head a system of visualizations and aides help me to make decisions in everyday life. I still have the logical nonvisual abilities of thought and reason. but I find that visualizing is a way to add another dimension to something that otherwise must be traveled through. like the ant on the piece of paper not knowing that if only the paper were folded in such a way he could instantaneously travel from one location to another rather than traversing the paper itself. It does wonders for estimation... in other words or to put it another way, I may not know the exact math or measurements but I will be close to your answer in a fraction of the time it takes to reason a succinct answer. let me know if this lets you a little further into understanding the brains of those of us who can visualize. I've always been so fascinated by this and how I use it ;only to attempt to explain it to people and receiving only aghast stares in return as if I'm crazy.
I followed you on the first half- then the second half you went much more vague. Don't make the mistake in imagining your type of non visual thought process or logic process is similar to mine or someone who doesn't primarily use visuals. You sound similar to my girlfriend's experience- the way she talks sounds almost like astral projection but she's never given any of it a second thought (nor does she seem to care beyond humoring my questions). The idea of thought is truly pretty mysterious.
Fevir Think of it this way. I don't believe I am making the mistake of nonvisual thought process similarity. I think that language itself is a limitation that a lot of people enjoy. (not enjoy in the sense of happiness) more of a cynical idea. Language is what you have to work with. without visualization you have a barrier that you cannot cross, that is... you take a flat piece of paper and when you fold it to where two points touch, an entity residing in the paper could instantaneously move from one point on one end of the paper to another point on another end of the paper. moving your internal thoughts outside of the limitations of the language you speak. IE things that don't translate to another language and turning the thoughts into "floaty things" that you can manipulate and rework on the fly. If I were to try to describe it further I would say, because of my visualization ability, my brain is a fucking metaphor machine. it will find the greatest outlier details and put them together due to the fact that they exist in the same little system I have visualized (not intentionally) in my head and associate things, find holes in logic, and generally piss people off because with the perspective I carry literally anything can be argued for or against....and convincingly. to help you to understand the gradient thing. think of an arbitrary thing like a lightbulb. you are buying lightbulbs at the store. 0 in my mind already turning is a broken lightbulb broken beyond repair or maybe even broken beyond recognition. then you come to the functioning lightbulbs that you have in front of you for purchase. you begin to grade them based on their attributes. (this is the point where I basically bring in a bunch of slide rules in my brain and attach a value to each one. Price Brightness in lumens Color temperature Build quality Brand other extraneous factors like how hard it is to reach on the shelf, whether I like the packaging whether I think the packaging is only attempting to mislead me. lifetime expectancy while looking at the bulbs for sale each one of these lists or metaphoric slide rules are being populated in order from 0 being least desirable to 1 being most desireable once the information is gathered the sliderules begin to move (not in reality nor does it look like a sliderule in my head this is just the best way to put it. whichever light bulb scores highest on the scales of the multiple metaphoric sliderules I have floating around in my head is the one I will purchase. this also is very much the same as a gradient for each trait. from black to white. in the end I add all the data (visually) be it with the numbers 0 to 0.25 to .5 to 1 or literally turn all the sliderules into a transparent sheet add them all together by aligning them in my mind and buy the no pun intended brightest or closest to 1/white lightbulb to further illustrate a 79 year old man would be graded at a .2 on the health scale but a .97 on the experience scale in my mind. the reason I say slide so much is because as new information is gleaned that .2 for health could easily change to a .03 with a discovery of colorectal cancer. many other mental machines that deal solely in visualization I use this is just the simplest one and most far-reaching. Keep in mind this all happens in my head live as a mental visualization I am not applying effort in adding a bunch of numbers and shit... that would be crazy. :D
Autodidact Visualfx So your gradient system is just your internal mechanism for evaluating and assigning value. Cool. You're making assumptions to try and retain some sort of superiority complex. You assume that language and thought is intertwined and therefore limited- unlike your visualization. I do not not have an inner voice, monologue- etc. I don't think in words. Language, which was the point you arguing against is just you imposing your own experience. "because with the perspective I carry literally anything can be argued for or against....and convincingly" Give me an example of a perspective on any topic you choose that you don't think that someone without your ability could come up with? Rereading both your responses you actually come off ignorant.
Wow, this is just so..... scary, quite honestly. And it explains a good deal of why people experience things so differently. For me, well, my mind is pretty weird. In terms of visualization, its less of actually 'seeing' something than it is 'feeling' it. If my eyes are open, then its sort of like a ghostly overlay, not really something I see, but more like how you can tell what an object's shape is if you hold it in your hand and feel all of its surfaces, or like your 'sixth sense', an awareness of your surroundings, that lets you walk through a room that you know well in the dark without running into things because you 'know', or in a sense see, where everything is. When I close my eyes, however, its more like a collage of memories laid on top of each other, each adding to the complexity of the image I am trying to think of. That only really applies, however, to things that aren't people. Animals, buildings, machines, all easy enough to picture, but people are never able to be imagined. This goes for all of my memories I think. Whenever I think of a past place i've been or seen, I only ever remember the static things of that memory. People, animals, or even vehicles that were moving about at the time, don't feature in my memories of places. That doesn't mean I don't remember people, however. Rather, I just remember the idea of people. If I try and think about someone I know, I can't ever see their face. Maybe some notable physical feature might remain, like if they had super spiky hair, or an afro, or were really tall or short, but my memory of them is more like if the impression I got from them could take physical form. Closest I can describe is to say is that they look like a candle flame. That is not to say that they all seem the same, however. Just like you might say that a candle flame seems bright, lively, or warm, so too do my candle images of people invoke certain qualities or attributes when thinking of them. If someone is perky and happy, or gloomy and sad, or smart and witty, those qualities will rise to the forefront of my thoughts when thinking of that person's image. Sorry to ramble a bit, but I think that it is really good to share info on the whole spectrum of views in order to better understand each other. :D
I wonder if my inability to learn how to type without looking at the keyboard has anything to do with not being able to visualize where the keys are. I have a great memory but I remember things by words not pictures. Like when I try to remember a date that something happened I remember what happened before and what happened after. After I can't visualize something when i look at a picture it's like, oh yeah, that's what it looks like.
Hey, I found this topic interesting. Have you got to study the 8 cognitive functions of the brain? The theory developed by Jung? I think this one explains how mostly people's brains differ from one another. I too find myself seeing mostly black when I close my eyes, no images nor visualisation. Also I can't remember faces and I tend to think in feelings mostly, if that makes sense. From what you describe your brain seems to use Extraverted Thinking (thinking out loud).
I was wondering if this is common. I have very vivid dreams but I can’t visualize pictures in my head if try to. I use to be able to but lost the ability
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses Fevir, this is a weakness that you have, but you are gifted with other abilities that most do not possess, so don't let it get you down.
I have a hard time imagining how people described in literature look. And all the connections they have with each other. Also I have this in real live oh. But I can easily imagine complex geometric shapes and landscapes.
I turned 30 this year... And just learned this was a thing. All these years I assumed this was all a metaphor, you didn't actually see things... Little did I know I was just different. Honestly I'm having a hard time dealing with this realization, no matter how much I learn other people are the same way, I can't help but feel defective... And broken...
Be careful about thinking too far into it because it can be very easy to cast it as the villain of your different shortcomings. The truth is that up until a few years ago people didn't even know that this crucial difference between thought processes existed... meaning it most likely doesn't affect, hinder or cause meaningfully different outcomes... at least to a point where it would have been noticed, discussed and end up where we are now. (For reference when this video came out Aphantasia wasn't even a word yet). You can find people who work with 3D modeling, artists and other very creative endeavors with aphantasia. At this point having been involved in research and countless interviews around aphantasia and the presence and type of a "verbal" inner monologues... I feel that in the case of imagery, sub-vocalization and inner monologues... they are all just software your brain uses to translate concepts into something more easily understood and for some (us), we never needed it to understand or think in concepts and so we never developed that software. I love the example of speed readers needing to train themselves to NOT read internally as that slows them down.. and I think of that in terms of imagery as well. It helps that my wife is heavily visual and so I used to bug her all the time to see the perspective from her side.. and even to this day I think it's crazy that someone can essentially "hijack" her entire thought process by the mere suggestion or description of something that her brain forces her to visualize. "Don't talk like that at the table".. is just as relevant as "Picture the ball going into the basket". No matter what I say I know that the whole experience can be jarring and disorienting and I think that's just something you go through no matter what when learning about this stuff, especially so late.
Not too many years back I could visualize simple object quite well. For instance, I used to suffer from anxiety-based insomnia. I'd just start thinking about my troubles and couldn't sleep. One day I imagined a red ball bouncing around slowing in a little 3D box. Boom, I would be asleep in less than a minute most of the time. Fast forward a few years, and I started taking drugs (namely Prozac) for depression and anxiety. I can no longer visualize this simple ball and box. It's like the circuit just burned out. I can imagine it, but I can't see it. so the trick no longer works. Kind of weird and spooky, and leads me to a lot of thinking on what anti-depressants and other drugs are doing to our brains. On the flip-side, my 8 year-old conjures up "mind-stories" at bedtime and she's able to visualize it all really clearly. Hopefully she never has to take anti-depressants and loses this ability.
i never really thought about it, but now when i start looking i can see something, i can make something, but only very litte. im reading the comments alot here and i notice something about pineal gland calcification. can your pineal gland be partially calcified?
I have aphantasia. I can definitely enjoy a good fiction novel, but I only remember words. I don't dream in color, barely visual if at all. Most of my dreams are memories and sometimes I can't tell if it really happened or not. The most visual memory I have is like "oh, walk through the forest, see the trees, the birds." All I "see" is the words to The Forest by twenty one pilots. I realized something I hadn't noticed before from this video. I also can't remember much if I don't place importance onto it. I haven't truly accepted that I'm not broken. Not yet at least.
I’m confused because I can see, but I can’t “see” if that makes sense? Like I close my eyes and see literal black. But I can think about and “see” something like what I want to draw or a balloon shape I need to make.
Thanks for sharing this, i had no idea, very interesting. If im not able to imagine pictures, characters and all that, basically i woulnd be able to work on the industry im working. Im very bad at numbers and remembering specific things, like names, i was very bad at history in the school. In the other hand i, for example, love to play roleplaying with friends. The night before the party i usually go to the bed an image the whole thing very detail, as paintings or clips, even with sound and music. But the music part is because im very into that. Very interesting to know that.
I like reading. I always have. But I never saw images while I read. I always thought that ‘imagining’ something meant to think about it. Not to… see it. When I close my eyes it’s a weird mix of red, purple, and black. There’s also green afterimages of light sometimes. Never any picture or image. I was surprised to learn that people can actually ‘see’ things. Reading books was like taking in some information and completely disregarding/forgetting all details about appearance, because that didn’t matter to me, as I couldn’t imagine what they’d look like anyway. Even when I write, I always forget to write about what the character looks like, because I never thought that much about it. When I think of someone, the last thing that’d come to mind is their eye color or hair color. Really, I don’t remember anyone’s eye color at all, except obvious features, like how my whole family has brown eyes.
Wow this is really interesting. I am the complete opposite I can visualy imagine everything. My brain works like a computer simulation. The thing that impressed me the most is how you talked about your girlfriend imagining apples while counting. It is amazing how people get to the same answer in a very different way.
after reading the comments I've come to realize how im still kinda alone in this situation, ive never been able to visualize anything in my head. like, I KNOW what things look like but I just can't see it in my head. I was (am?) in the gifted program at school and we always did this stupid visualization things that I always thought was super dumb, now I realize IM the weird one lol. I also dream, not often, but I do. While I'm dreaming I know that I can "see" whatever I'm dreaming about (or usually I can), but once I wake up I'm only left with words. However I love to read and write books and describe what places and people look like. I still can't "see" any of it but my mind just associates words with things and people. I also really love making art, I always have ideas of things in my head, but idk what it actually will look like until I make whatever it is I make. That's why I ALWAYS use reference photos for basically everything.
I never thought that people actually...saw things?! I just figured it was a figure of speech thing
Same!!
Same
Me too
Ikr, I’m sad.
Wow I didn’t know this many people had it
I'm a professional visual designer, and I also see nothing. It's hard to explain. Because I can conceptualize ideas, but don't truly know how they will turn out until I do the actual work. Thanks for this.
you have anphantasia. Basically, you can't see pictures in your mind but you can understand them. same with music and smells.
slash ' thank you, I'm aware of this. I can hear music much better though than seeing. Though I've never heard of anyone thinking in smells.
Same, Eddie. I'm a visual artist and studied music at the university level for years. I can hear melodies very easily, but I have a very difficult time seeing much when I close my eyes. I completely understand when you say you have to do the actual work. When painting, I have to put something on the canvas first and then it becomes a conversation where I put something down and it speaks back and it's just a back-and-forth wrestling match. haha
Exactly how I draw/paint too. So annoying. I wanna be able to get it right without sketching forever xD
Same
if someone said to me, imagine an apple on top of a table, I'd just put facts into place and think about what it would look like - I don't see anything though.
>imagine an apple on top of a table.
>>ok. now what?
>do you see it?
>>no.. what color is it?
>green.
>>ok. now what?
>do you see it?
>>no. what time of day is it? what should the light look like? is it fresh or rotting? is there a bite out of it? is there a worm poking it's smiling head out of this goddamn fucking apple? WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT?!?!?!!
>so, you don't see an apple?
>>No.. I do not see an apple. Would you please tell me what in the entire fuck you want from me?.. Is one of the legs on the table wobbly? I can help you with that.. What is it doing?
YEAH - its legit like, i know what a table LOOKS like, an an APPLE too, but, i can't literally see a fucking apple on a table in my head on a tv or some shit when i think about it
@@citizenatlrge ahhahahhahahaah omg! This is me describing things to people i go into SO MUCH DETAIL when i story tell and people think im nuts but, that's how i navigate my thoughts ALL DAY EVERY DAY, with connections, descriptions, maths, science, categorisation, feelings, smells, etc
@@ArtyMars I have the exact same problem and I only recently realised that some people see, some feel, some make words... I'm more a description person too, so I'll describe the image to myself rather than see it.
I know I’m late but yea, I fully understand, it’s so weird? I can conceptualize but not see? Same, it’s weird
Waiiiiit a minute.
People actually, like, see things when they close their eyes?? I see a faint gray blob surrounded by darkness.
Yes including music, sound, feelings, taste, smell, touch and everything else.
It's not perfect imagery tho, most of the times is kind of blurry and fuzzy but everyone is on a spectrum, like I'm really good at recalling smell or taste or music (and extending the music I like despite knowing nothing of music making lol) but when it comes to pictures it's situational for me, most of the times it's blurry and fuzzy and I imagine better with open eyes, but I have ADHD so I'm different
@@markmuller7962 even smells!? i didnt think that would be possible. thanks for the info!
@@dwlrma Yes including, you know... s*x smell 😅 you welcome!
The fact that I have aphantasia depresses me.
I think it is bc of depression. Dopamine or endorphins seem to help me visualize much more. Makes sense bc if you are under stress already then hallucinations would just be a distraction. Without anaphasia a person can focus better and get their work done.
Same... I wish I could think about my lost loved ones and see their faces.
I'm an amputee and that doesn't bother me at all. I found out about Aphantasia a few weeks ago and was just gutted! Weird that a limb physically missing is no issue but my inability to see anything but grey mist when I close my eyes is depressing as hell.
Why is it depressing....because some can? I can't.... I wonder if my frequency is too low. I am trying meditating lately as I become more spiritual and present....stopping my subconscious mind rehashing stuff that has made me depressed my whole life and I am 59.... anyway...while I was trying to meditate....I little patch of .... like a hole in the black....which is all I ever see....opened up and it was a Forrest with a lake In vivid colour...... it was amazing. It was only there for a few seconds..... I now think my mind is blocking it... I am learning how to raise my frequency
Same
This is exactly how I am and no one ever believes me
+Redonkulous i believe you bro becouse the same thing is happening to me dont worry you are not alone :D
Me too
Bruh, I have someone on the same side with me, I've only had one person believe me, but the rest all think I'm lying to myself and that I'm just not trying
Redonkulous I believe you too... I’m 38 yeas old and I’ve only figured this out 2 years ago.
Redonkulous I believe you cuz it’s me too
Black screen 10/10 would stare at again ;)
Nicholas Blackston Video production quality was off the charts on this one ;)
Welcome to my world.
How about this. Can people that are blind visualize? I've never asked that question...
@@DLexEdition Ok... this is a sad idea... the fact that a blind person might be able to see better then I can with my eyes closed when they never see at all is almost depressing. (I only see black like what 90% of the video is
I can not see things when I close my eyes, but I do dream.
I can't forcefully conjure visualizations when i close my eyes, I can make images and events with my eyes open when i daze off a.k.a. day dreaming
Sammeeee
SAME
me too.
Same
I used to be able to visualize when I was younger, I used to draw and paint all the time and I had dreams every night.
Nowadays that's all gone, I rarely remember a dream and I can't think of something to draw or paint anymore.
I found out about this when I had trouble with visual meditations, they're telling me to think of colors and lights and I was wondering what the hell they were talking about,
because I had my eyes closed all I saw was darkness.
For me its like two seperate layers. I cant see anything when i close my eyes but darkness but in my minds eye even with my eyes open or closed i can visualise things to a certain degree. Like im not visualising through my actual eyes but through a different set of eyes.
I cant actually see the colours or things through my eyes but i can see it in my mind to the same foginess of what a dream is like kind of.
Yes, I totally understand what you mean by that. If I close my eyes, the things I visualize appear blurry, however hard I try. But if I try to visualize something "casually", I can see it super imposed over everything around me. It's still blurry though. :(
i have the same thing aswell. i can't imagine anything with my eyes closed but actually when my eyes are open, i can recall a face perfectly but i'm not even really seeing it
Yes I can relate to that, especially with memories they seem so clear even when I have my eyes open.
But when I try to visualize something it's all blurry and weird, even if I try to imagine a simple circle for example, it's moving all around and it's not doing what I want, it keeps dissapearing or changing form. But usually I don't see anything at all.
@@Orion3G yes man! isn't that weird? when i close my eyes it's really hard to even think. when my eyes are open though, i can almost "see" what i am thinking of. it must be the fact that i am looking at reality and could picture the thing i'm thinking about within reality
My brain cannot stop thinking except when sleeping. So when i am bored, I play video games in my head. All sorts of video games. I even have "save" files so that I can continue playing when bored again. There is this one mind RPG game that I have been playing for about 10 years, and I really love the game so I still play that "save" file occassionally.
Anyone else do that?
I never really considered it like that! But I often imagine various activities... usually adventures through completely imagined worlds or augmented versions of real life.
I will definitely try playing an actual game with save files. That is very interesting!
Usually Im more like @Alepap and create 'the perfect MMO' with incredible detail. Its not always perfectly visual, but I include an incredible amount of description. I only just now realized how much detail I conjure up when I go to write it down... My current brain-child is several pages long, and it only covers the basics of the game... I havent even included the actual 'adventures' Ive done in the 'game' yet hahaha.
I have various anime going on in my head lol
This almost sounds like what NIkola Tesla would do. He honed his ability to visualize from an early age, and by the time he was an adult, he could run experiments in his head to see if the they would work or not.
This is really interesting! I can remember doing stuff like this when I was little, but it always took a lot of concentration. Nowadays, if I try to conjure up full scenes in my head, only the part I'm actively "creating" is visible. Like, I can't really visualize an entire face from a description, but I suspect that I used to be able to (though I don't think this is something I ever really tried).
I play puzzle games in my head sometimes. Like back when I was playing Bejeweled a lot, every time I closed my eyes I'd play Bejeweled.
Man, seriously..... my whole life I felt like something must have been wrong with me......
You have described my whole life.... Thank you
I'm a teacher and a brain specialist came to our school and talked to us about brain based learning. In one of the days of training we talked about this and he showed us images of people's brains of who can and who cannot visualize things when they close their eyes. They were literally "wired" differently. I'm one of those people. When the teacher told us to close your eyes and imagine a red apple. Nothing!
Wow you most be the only one person that didn't discover it on the internet
Edit: oh wait 6 years ago it probably didn't went viral yet
I can not visualize either. The name that was given to this is Aphantasia.
I don't even remember when I first learned about aphantasia. It must have been on some old forum back in the day. But I discovered that while I don't have _complete_ aphantasia, my capacity for visualization is very small.
If you asked me to imagine an apple, I see a vaguely "red", vaguely circular shape. That apple isn't anywhere. It's not even in a black or white void, it's just... nowhere at all. And if you asked me if that apple had a stem, then at that moment, I would mentally add a "stem" detail to the image, but it wouldn't be there until that point. But if I go beyond two or three details, the image completely falls apart into a collection of adjectives with no image. And I _definitely_ can't rotate it in my head.
Faces are in a weird middle-ground for me. I see... something that _reminds_ me of my friend's face, or my brother's face. But it's very indistinct. I don't see the nose or the ears at all, for instance. It's not like they're "missing", it's even less than that. I just can't focus on it, no matter how I try.
Interestingly, my auditory imagination is pretty strong. I get tunes stuck in my head that I can play to my "mind's ear", so to speak. And while I don't _automatically_ read stuff in a voice, I can force myself to do so. Like, if I know a voice really well, especially if I heard it recently, I can imagine that voice saying stuff they've never said.
Aphantasia is a spectrum, and people can fall anywhere on the spectrum, and with different acuity for different senses as well.
This is exactly ME!
I only recently learned my experience isn’t a shared experience. I learned it’s called Aphantasia
It’s always complete blackness, and I have no inner monologue.
And like you were saying about your coach that said imagine you’re shooting the ball
My moment of awakening is when I learned that when the method of falling asleep “count sheep” wasn’t just a saying. People actually can see a herd of sheep and they literally actually count them.
I always thought counting sheep meant just count out load to 100 and you’ll fall asleep before you finish counting.
So when y’all close your eyes- you guys can actually see it there? 💀 I just see pitch black
As for me personally, I can only "see" what I think of. They aren't like if you are actually looking at pictures. It's more like an imprint or sensation of whatever it is -- like a dull or blurry image that's convincing enough for me to say "Yes, I can see it."
I can choose whatever I see though by direct or indirect thought (though not with clarity), but generally it's black.
Just then I was talking to my sister and she told me how she could actually see things when she closes her eyes but my WHOLE life I thought no one could see things when they closed their eyes it’s just blank and you know it’s there
Wow, thanks for sharing. I have kinda opposite - its hard to control inner dialog and images, especially when I go to sleep. I close my eyes and have unconrtollable stream of crazy stuff. So i do meditation to calm down all that. And one day many years ago I stoped watching horror movies, because realised that they are just too much for me - everytime I closed my eyes after horror movie I could see that moster or scare face or whatever. And its so hard to belive that you see just black "screen", when you close your eyes. Insane.
+Дмитрий Дмитриев Back when I was younger, I didn't even need to close me eyes to see the monsters if it was dark. My treacherous brain conjured all those images against my will, and harder I tried to will them away, the image only became more realistic.
That's why I hated the dark and left the lights on when I went to sleep if I could when I was a kid.
Now, I'm sure I _need_ to start meditation, because _god_, I can't go to sleep thanks to the uncontrollable amount of thoughts my mind thinks up. Out of all my ideas for anything, most of them are thought up before going to sleep. Due to that, it literally takes me over 30 minutes to go to sleep on a good day when I'm tired as hell-or it's over 5AM.
Still remember the nightmare I got thanks to playing too much Slender, lol. I literally jumped out of my bed when I woke up - I opened my eyes during the moment when my entire body was in the air. That monstrous motherfucker appeared behind me and kicked me in the behind-thank god there's no pain in dreams-into a large fall. That's when I woke up. I spent so many hours in the dream running away from the Slenderman.
On the bright side, I also have had a few lucid dreams. Most amazing thing ever. And I had rather large amount of semi-lucid dreams, where I wasn't aware that I was in a dream but was mostly in control, and could fly and do some cool shit. Flying was really hard, though.
I also had the dreams repeat again a few times. One of them, I had 3 times, actually; funny, how I still died the same way, no matter the experience.
Once, the first time I had a particular dream, I vaguely remember having to fix some device stuck on a truck. I think it was a really annoying thing, so when I had that dream again-even though I wasn't aware that I was dreaming-I remember saying, "Fuck it, I'm not doing this shit again", and waking up.
So I think strong visual imagination is actually a good thing. I'm mostly balanced, having both but neither are the best.
+The Light Sabrix You are crazy if you play things like Slenderman! I rememer I told my girlfriend that horror games are much scary than movies and she didnt belive me. So I set her to play Amnesia. I couldnt even watch her doing it! I avoid every horror game, and hate when non-horror games have some horror levels, like that asalym from last Thief. Try not to play the, if you got such a problems with sleep, right?
I also had s strong fear of darkness. But ist became much better after Vipassana meditaion course. You can do it too. They got a lot of meditaion centers around the world, you can easly find one close to you. Its works for donation and takes 10 days. Strong stuff, but worked for me. Now I can go to the kittchen at night without turnig lights on :)))
And yeah, flying in a dream is super fun ;)
+The Light Sabrix Here is the link for meditation centers - www.dhamma.org/en/maps#001
Amazing!! I am much the same way!! Its so hard to remember that most other people dont have a constant inner dialogue and visual maps in their head that they can manipulate at will (or against their will haha)
Rare for me to actually find someone that has such an 'overactive imagination'
The only thing I seem to not have is vibrant colors, usually all my mental visuals are kinda water-colorish... or like faint holograms...
But yeah man I hate horror movies!! Not because I necessarily get 'scared', but because all the visuals get replayed in my head over and over and over again, and sometimes also 'pop out' from the shadows (or even broad daylight)... Everything from sounds and sometimes even smells get conjured by my brain. Smh...
I love my brain... but gotdamn its annoying sometimes hahahaha.
take a look at the mbti. I think the difference between you and fever is that you work on intuition while he works on sensation.
My fiance once bragged to me about how he remembers directions, he just drives down the road in his mind in super VCR fast forward mode and he knows the whole route. I actually thought he was just being silly at the time, he's kind of a 4 year old at times. At least now I don't have to feel so stupid about not being able to enjoy storybooks or be artistic at all, and there's some neat context about how I always think better if I'm thinking "at" somebody. I seriously had no idea this was a thing, do people seriously **actually see** things when they imagine them? That blows my mind...
Alkerae hb
Well i've just figured out I have this mid trying to become an artist at university, feels bad bro.
No people don't actually see the things they're imagining on the backs of their eyelids, it's more like an image that you don't see with your eyesight, but with your mind. So an internal idea that you're able to visually think of the details, in your mind. Rather than seeing something as you would in the external world.
@@ChildOfAnAndroid you can still totally be an artist! The RUclipsr AmyRightMeow is a visual artist and animator who just recently realized she has aphantasia.
Can you remember sound and smells and stuff other than that?
I am just finding this video, two years later. I just learned that I have aphantasia a few month ago and my world has been rocked, seriously to it's core. Thanks for the easy to digest experience that I can share with those I know so that they can hopefully understand what is going on in my head. God knows I've had a hard time explaining it myself! My experiences may be slightly different than yours (I do dream, very vividly, I just only remember the "facts" when I wake up), but it's nice to hear other accounts and in a way validates all the questions and doubts that are bubbling up with my discovery that I am different than most others.
I can relate to this so much, I find it so stressful because I'm a creative person and like making things but I struggle with creating ideas and I cant imagine what things will look like until I'm finished and then I realise I should have done it differently or used different things. I find myself having to Google a lot of things just to see what they look like because I just cant visualize it. It really is something i struggle with.
Does it mean that it will lead to Alzheimer’s when we are old ? Is there any research on this ? I am a woman,76 yrs old,was an interior designer,but couldn’t see with closed eyes. Now I feel that I don’t get words soon,when talking,I forget lot of things.So is there any relation bet dementia and this is state?
I discovered I also have aphantasia. I only "see" in dreams. When I try to follow a guided meditation I may see a tiny tree in the middle of my black background, for just a few seconds. What joy when that happens
Same!! I can never get past that tiny glimpse of a tree/bush!!
Fevir, Thanks for this video. I came on your channel to watch gaming videos but walked away with something that I will ponder for a while.
You're not alone in this. I found out about this & myself a year ago, and I'm starting now to explore my memory problems.
Almost same thing....worst part is I work as a Visual Designer. Yesterday I came to understand that people can really see things eyes closed. now I know why I was never able to visualize eyes closed, I had to draw in paper or PC to come up with an idea. Is there any chance to overcome this situation ?
possibly brain surgery. this is mainly brain damage or your brain is acting differently in some areas. i don't know if this works though.
Flying Mamoth your comment may be very old but can you just imagine a picture of some cartoon you've watched as a kid without your eyes closed like your traveling from your view what your seeing now to that view
this is how your brain works there's no need to "fix" it.
This is how i visualise
I found a site with excercises unchainmybrain.com/learn-to-visualize/#comment-221 I started excercising yesterday and I saw a red dot and I saw purple when I closed my eyes :) so don't give up hope. If you want to you'll eventually be able to :) Good luck
i've always wanted to undress someone with my eyes i honestly thought that i was a figure of speech
and i'm pretty sure i've never dreamt
LSD temporally ‘cured’ my aphantasia and it was really cool, but as soon as the drug wore off I was back to normal. I really do recommend trying it but you have to know your dosage. The dosage depends on your weight, lenght as well as how sensitive your receptors are. I took 100 mikrogram and it was enought for me to have a good trip and I weigh about 82 kg and Im 184-ish tall. The trip lasts about 8-12 hours and it is super important to have a good and supportive group to trip with and a safe space !
Anyone else really love reading still while having this?
I appreciate the idea of whats going on, the actual writing itself and the writing techniques used, or I even hear things like a podcast but I see literally nothing. The hardest thing is to explain how I can remember what things look like. I can't see it, but I kinda instinctually know if I've seen one before and know the gist. I could describe it in the most basic of terms.
But I think of people who could actually SEE what the story is telling, have that mental movie from what people say and I can't deny I'm jealous. I WANT to see such a story. The fact I can't visualize made reading LOTR almost boring (the story is good in itself, I just couldn't get through it very well or very invested with all the descriptions).
Thanks for sharing mate. I've also done my fair share of hallucinogens. I suppose it gave me a glimpse of peace but more of an illusion. I later found true peace within and this helped me stay strong when my best friend died. While I'm no longer in that state of mind, I am still very happy in life, just not quite like that. Maybe it's time to once again let myself just be truly happy and at peace with the world.
Yesterday i was really stoned and i realized it. I was really down when i could understand the differance to other peoples perception. But it is a little calming, that i am not alone with this condition.
But what ever brings me down meditation helps a lot to let go and bring things in perspective, where i can afterwards work better with the possibilities that i do have. Much love everybody. See the bright side.
This title freaks me out... It seems like ive just jumped to another dimension where its normal to SEE with their eyes closed.
I can get highly immersed in sci-fi/fantasy books and I find myself imagining the entire world but I can't remember people's faces and when I do try to imagine say, a cube, it will start moving or something else would quickly replace it
This was great. I’ve only met 1 person w aphantasia and most vids have been deep dives into science but not much on how they processed their experience.
I also had a meltdown and a great deal of sadness as it sounds like a magical power. We’ve had the same struggles (like can’t “leisure read”) and took awhile to accept that people can conjure up images, tastes, smells. It’s insane!
The dream experience you have is fascinating! I’ve never heard that. I’m able to put myself into sleep paralysis though, once you get out of the fear it’s pretty cool.
It’s funny when people mention their hallucinogen experiences until learning about aphantasia I thought they were lying about their trip to get attention but hey I guess that chick wasn’t lying when she saw herself as Cheshire Cat creeping around the room. Now that’s a trip!!
i know this is a late comment but think you, ive always questioned why i can’t see things but it’s weird when i dream. During dreams i can recall things as if i have seen them in my mind but i can’t really imagine them at all, i rarely dream but when i do i remember what happens and the people in it even down to their faces but i can’t actually remember faces it’s super hard to explain
When I close my eyes I see black but I can think about the way something looks and can basically guess what it would look like
This is a topic I've never thought about before. I also didn't realize there were people who were that different from me and couldn't form an imagine in their mind at all. It really sucks about the not being able to enjoy books for pleasure in the same way. Getting lost in a book and feeling like you are experiencing the action just through written word is really wonderful.
Ghost I envy the way people can get lost in books.
The thing is, when I close my eyes I just see nothing? I can imagine things, but just in thought. Not like... Visually? I remember when I was maybe 10? We'd do this exercise eavry week where we'd look at an image for about 30 seconds the we'd have to wait 30 seconds then write down eavrything we saw in like 3 mins? Idk. The average was like 100? It was only 1 word things. I remember only getting like 10, the numbers might be wrong but I remember that I was the lowest amount in the class, by a drastic amount. And not to be that person but I was always top of my class, and I'm a total perfectionist. So that pissed me off. It was so... Odd?
Then I remember when I was maybe 11 me and a couple freinds we're talking about nightmares. I told them how I never feel like I'm in one, it's just thoughts, I don't see anything. They didn't believe me.
(11-12? not sure the age) My teacher then had an exercise where we we're to imagine an apple. Then we we're to write it down. I know what an apple looks like? I can describe it, but eavryone was instructed to close their eyes and think about first. I found it quite stupid because it "didn't do anything". I raised my hand and said it (in a wayyyyy more polite way) and nobody understood what I meant? The teacher ignored it.
I've always had those wierd experiences. Hearing the word and finding that I'm not alone really help, thank you.
Right right right right right! I can remember where I saw them before, like the apple thing? I remember an apple in the produce section of the grocery store, and I can think of different kinds of they have there and what they look like and feel like. But it's all thoughts and memory recall. No visuals
That sounds so amazing to see visuals
Yeah. If you asked me how my parents look I'd struggle other than say hair color skin color and hight in the way of me saying short, average, or tall
Wow, that's really intense Fevir... I find myself unable top stop visualizing horrible/negative things when I close my eyes to go to bed. I dont watch or read anything scary at night or close to bedtime anymore because I just cant stop recreating what I saw and it disturbs me for the whole night. At one point I didn't go to sleep till the sun came up because I didn't feel safe sleeping at night lol Being unable to imagine or dream sounds way worse though, I'm so sorry that you're going through that
Yea it's a coin flip really visualising and 99.99% of people in the comments have no idea of that
I have this. When I told my dad he throughly that I was crazy and didn’t believe me.
i bet this helps you sleep. it takes me forever to fall asleep at night because my mind cant stop thinking about things, but i guess that comes with having ADHD
Whoa, my heart like skipped a beat the minute I recognized that song. I went through an odd cycle of "Hang on! I know this...wait, but it couldn't be...is it? No it is, but there is no way....but it has...OH MY GOD IT IS!"
I feel honored, Fevir :) Thank you.
Nolan Murillo you just aren't allowed to tell people my real name :)
Fevir I don't even know it. The way I have my bandcamp set up is all that info is only store by Bandcamp server; I don't see any of it. So, to be honest, I didn't really have any clue if you did download any or not :P
Fevir WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTT A MINUTE
...omg...I just checked my bandcamp stats. Thank you, Fevir! Oh my god, thank you!
+Fevir Hey man, read this. I just saw it today and thought of you. www.iflscience.com/brain/cant-imagine-pictures-your-mind-you-might-have-aphantasia
Up until a couple of days ago I had never heard of Afantasia. Now after hearing a radio show on BBC RADIO 5 LIVE , a lot of my 55 years has started to make sense. I see very little if nothing in what is called my minds eye. I can recall sound with great clarity but images ! Not a chance. The only thing I could put it down to over the years was that a a young child I did have a severe head injury and that this was the reason, my wife who is a avid reader couldn't understand why I can't get an image in my mind when I read things which I don't do very often for that reason. So after years of thinking I'm a bit thick, it turns out I do have a reasonable excuse for not getting the grasp of a subject. Thanks for the blank video, it added to the subject matter
Oh my god this video is describing my life! I just discovered that people can see things in their mind. My reaction was "I'm broken" too! We dream the same too, I wake up with some odd scenario or memory
Wow. Thanks for sharing. I've never thought of this, as I assumed everyone was an equal amount of 'imaginative power'. You just made me think what other people are able to(or not able to) think in their head. Interesting to ponder about.
Yes! I didn't know I had this, and so hard to believe it people ACTUALLY see images...
I can hear any song that I know the words to, I can remember it and how the music sounds and everything and "play it"n i my head. If I don't know the words, I can't do it
I'm glad you shared this. I had no idea that some people were "in the dark" as it were.
I now realize that I was taking my imagination for granted. I can visualize things to a pretty extreme degree, and I do feel like it has made my life better.
When I “imagine” smth I just really like dont imagine it I just know what it looks like, like if I had an apple in my hand but my eyes were closed, I know the apple is there, I just don’t see it, that’s how I dream, I know that there’s smth on the ground grass usually, it’s usually green to yellow, sometimes it’s dirt on the ground, I know which texture they all are, I just don’t see it
I cant see anything visually but if I try hard enough I can see grey dots in an empty black “screen” but that’s all and most of the time I don’t have any dreams but when I do they are VERY visual which is the only time I can see something in my mind I thought this was normal until now
Just came across the after I typed in , When I close my eyes I can't see anything but Black, I'm 66 years young and I also have no visualization. I'm going back to College and while doing some algebra questions, I was told to visualize #'s in my mind. I can not, I'm a builder, contractor, designer, musician, I just have never been able to visualize. I have friends that dream in color. WOW! not me Thanks for posting this!!
Just figured out that I I'm very different than people around, if it wasn't for RUclips I would probably feel as you did alone and different
And thank you for posting this
''Other side if the spectrum'' doesn't really cover it, i'd say; About 5 minutes after i place my head of my pillow, i've created a complete fictional world with races, cultures, history, flora, fauna, ancient wars, political struggle and so on. I'll ''generate'' specific characters with names, relations, ambitions and secrets. I will spin a story, not far removed from a movie. I can seamlessly assume the role of anything, in an instant. Become it and act through it. I can tell a story that i'm also living out at the same time. Everything is vivid, i can smell things, feel things, hear them. Run my hand along a branch and feel the texture of the bark and the individual leaves. I'm sometimes not even the driver, sometimes i'm just along for the ride. This rarely happens during ''the day'', but it's always there in my mind.
Dude you got some power tho
DUDE, that "I dont know what im going to say before I say it" is spot on!
Me too! But like, we totally know what we think about the subject, just not what words we're going to say.
I sorta have another form of this.. I can practically not visualize things. I did train myself to do it better but to get anything remotely clear i need great focus. I mostly just think in really short impressions and a sort of "backbonefeeling" as i call. This "backbone feeling" with me is almost a sort of tinglish sensation in my lower spine. And when i need to ge someqhere i just feel naturally drawn to where it is. And somehow its always the right spot. Now i do have the ability to effortlessly conjur up images of maps i barely ever use it. So what im trying to say is that probably if you try to really train your self in it you can probably gain and or improve some of those factors, although it does take a great amount of effort to do so.
You just described exactly how I am perfectly. I'm intelligent, I'm at a gifted school, I'm great at facts and science and recalling detail, but not unless I've decided to remember it. Everything you've said resonated with me, I'm completely blind in my mind. I wonder though, how are you at applying knowledge to an ambiguous question? Personally, I find it harder to apply knowledge than I do recalling exact responses or processes. Also, if I'm made to memorise something, I remember the order I thought it rather than seeing it. Like, if I was told to recite a list backwards, I'd find it almost impossible because my thought process is only for that forward direction. Would be amazing to hear back from someone with similar issues xx
This is as best as i can describe what Aphantasia is like for me
So your in your bed but can't sleep you try and imagine a dream but you can't... Your just stuck inside your eyelids, no matter what you do you just can't get to your mind
(Im not sure if this has anything with Aphantasia but...)
When I read a book I have to read it over and over and over but you can only remember like 3 sentences... Sometimes my school has plays and it takes me to the nearly to the deadline to remember (wich is usually 4-5 weeks which is a long time)
BUT i thought this was normal only today i found out
I have been on both ends of the spectrum, I'm not even exaggerating. When I was in high school, I had what I would consider an average level of mental visualization abilities. Eventually, I started practicing lucid dreaming. BOOM, huge spike. I only actually achieved intentional lucidity once, but a few days after I did, it felt like I could visualize anything to an incredible level of detail, even messing around with simulating other senses at one point. There were points where I began questioning my own memory, since I couldn't remember if I had actually seen things or simply day-dreamed them. Eventually, that ability faded. As I grew older, I got lazy with it and It gradually lessened over time. Now, I'm near aphantasic. Every now and then I'll get one vivid flash. Just an image appearing in my mind like the afterburn of a bright light. It might take some time, but I'm hoping I can slowly claw my way back up. There's obviously very few studies on this sort of thing, but I imagine that it's just like any other sense; It may take ages, but I hope it's possible to refine.
I can't remember my dreams, but i can create images in my head. Very blurry when it comes to faces, It's also always based of what i have seen.
I am the complete opposite, my imagination is so strong that sometimes I day dream and I'll say a word or do a small movement of my arms or something because I don't even realize I am so into the dream. And I also look to the top left, its weird, without realizing my head is facing the top left side of my body. But I think that is because your more "creative" side of your brain is on the left (or that is what I am told).
***** Actually that Right brain left brain mumbo jumbo you learn about in high school art class teaches that the right brain is the creative side.
J Knight Ahh that is right. the right side controls the left side. Thanks for reminding me (it's been a while), have a good day! :D
You just explained me, when you explained you're self.
I think I have nearly the same thing. When I think of an object/place/person in my head, I can somewhat visualize it but it is blurry. I also can't recall a time I've ever seen any color in the images and I can't visualize a complex image like a face (No matter how well I know the person).
FerderBiZzLe So you would most likely fall the the low end of the visualization spectrum. Being unable to pull up people's faces was what really fucked with my head after my dad passed.
I can't see an actual image of a person's face, but I can access memories of photographs that have been taken of them. If I try to think about the face too much it kind of blurs out, but I can still remember the photo.
i think this is why i have maladaptive daydreaming. because just sitting there and imagining things is not 'enough' for me since i can't actually see anything when i imagine. man i'd save soo much time and effort if i had the ability to visualize things. maladaptive daydreaming takes so much of my time because i literally act out everything.
very weird. I can create a whole story inside my head , and I can't imagine what it's like not to see anything in your head.
I've been on the border of this kind of thought. I really love storytelling, novels, dungeons and dragons, and stuff like that, but I never can focus on any specific image. I can conjure up the thought of that image, but I can't focus on the image itself to describe it. I have an idea for what a character looks like in a book, and I can describe it loosely, but I can't ever actually visualize it completely. It's really weird, and I've never put much thought into it until now. Very cool video Fevir.
I’ve seen visual images when I close my eyes…that were clear, focused and in color only a couple of times without trying and not under the influence of anything. For me, it was like one of those magic eye posters you stare at then…boom everything becomes so clear and detailed. When I try to visualize something…it never works and usually is just random things I try to see that just pop up for a millisecond. I don’t wish to master this ability for fear I would never be able to rest my mind when I close my eyes.
Omg! I just came across this yesterday because I am mind blown because like you, I totally thought people just said it as a figure of speech.
I see total dark or light that comes through my eye lids. I asked people yesterday and they all said they actually see what they want to see.
Anyway. I was thinking about it this morning and the term “drawing a blank” came to mind since when I close my eyes and try to literally see what I want, in my head it’s like I am drawing a blank.
Does that resonate with you? When I “imagine” things, it’s like I have some sort of “image” floating around in my head. I know what I am thinking about and I can gift people details and ridiculous stories about the things I imagine and I even make myself laugh at the things I think of but I tell you, I am still boggled by the thought that people actually see it like a picture.
It makes me jealous because I would love to do that.
Wow, this is all crazy to hear. I always thought that others could visualize anything they wanted in their minds like i could. I just assumed that other people thought themselves 'too mature' or something to waste their time on stuff like that.
For me, i can read a book and imagine every moment of the book (characters, settings, actions, etc.) in vivid detail, as though i was watching a movie with perfect special effects, and i'm the director of it.
I can even simulate conversations and things with other people in my head (not just the visual, but the sounds, touch, etc.), as though i were actually with them and talking to them (friends and family most often, since i know them better, which means i can create a more realistic/meaningful version of them in my mind). I think that might be why i never seem to feel lonely, and i don't really feel the NEED to have a girlfriend like friends of mine seem to.
This has given me a lot to think about in regards to understanding others, and why i maybe have a different perspective on life than other people. Thanks for making this video, Fevir!
JaSoN1X That's an interesting point you bring up at the end that you can almost conjure up something so meaningful that it fills a hole (girlfriend) that other people seem to strive to fill.
What ever u described about yourself, that is what happening to me :) and I am proud of Aphantasia
I'm pretty sure it's literally impossible to LITERALLY see images when you close your eyes. I'd say its more like you're viewing it with a different set of eyeballs in another dimension
However you want to describe it - Aphantasia is the lack of that.
Great video, love how you just make videos about what you want. Luckily for me i guess, when i close my eyes i can create what I want and move the objects. Although my memory just sucks when it comes to real life
rhino2213 Imagine if it was all a trick to get you to watch a 6 minute video of a black screen?
Fevir That would bother me a lot.
Spruce lol don't worry it's all real. Crazy even to see the varied visualization of people here in the comments
Thanks for sharing. I like you, thought it was just a phrase to imagine doing something like shooting a basket but learned like you in chance conversation with my husband of 30 years at the time that he really could see those things whereas I saw words
How did I even get to this unlisted video?
I was a teacher for 23 years and used visualization BUT never believed that anyone literally saw anything. I just thought it was, well, thinking, but not actually sensing anything. I feel blown away by this idea that most people actually can see stuff in their heads.
since i was i child i can manipulate and create really complex and detailed 3d images, dunno where it came form, but it's a fact, losing somenthing like this would shock totally my mind
nekohido251 That's completely wild to me. Are you able to draw well?
Fevir This would explain why some people draw so fucking well. There's a blind guy who can draw like a master. That's the only option really.
Fevir
Unfortunately not, i would like to, i've done evry kinda of drawing and even drawing school but seems like that i can't translate what happens in my mind
in my case is the exact contrary, but i hope that just me
I used to be able to visualize and then I did acid and developed aphantasia
Interesting, never heard this term before. It’s not that I can’t see anything, I just cannot see it as images with details that I didn’t pay attention to. I can only see schematics, concepts, and algorithms. But from time to time, like couple of times in early morning I could drift into a state where I could see visualizations and even make suggestion. I just cannot get there voluntarily. Maybe I can relearn it somehow. Maybe it’s because I’m thinking schematics and algorithms most of my conscious time
My most embarrassing thing was trying to tie my shoelaces. Thank goodness for velcro.
I feel like what I create in my head is a 3d model. I can't see it, but I can' feel it. Like I can be standing in the middle of a scene and I can see what is behind my head as well as what is in front of it.
Something that works for me related to visualization is that when I want to visualize smthg I give that thing or the environment or people (whatever it might be), bold, brightening colors in order to make it more concrete and distinctive to my brain. You know our role is to fool our brain.
I can't imagine even with my eyes open any more I think it's all the video games
Honestly, this was the best video i have watched in your channel.
Cynical Mindblow I know, the production value was insane.
Fevir I was actually half serious about my previous comment (Cynical Mindblow here). It may have been just a black screen of doom, which provided me the opportunity to be sarcastic about "watching" the video, but on the other hand it is an interesting subject that really intrigued me more than any of your previous gaming related videos :P
Teo Strife I completely get ya- couldn't miss the opportunity to poke fun at the video myself though :)
Fevir It's funny the whole time I was staring into the "abyss" of a video, I was totally building so many images in my head.
The driving a car in your head! I totally do that, I recall 10-15 years ago, long before the wide spread of cell phones and GPS, I was riding with my friend in an area she wasn't familiar with and I told her to give me a second and I would figure out where to go because I had been around that area before. She asked how I was going to do that, and when I explained that I drive a little car in my head to recall how to get to places, she game me a look like I was insane. I never really thought much of it though and like you said it never really came up anywhere else.
Thanks for sharing this, if you hadn't, I don't know if I ever would have known that there were people that couldn't visualize like I can.
Durveg Crazy. I have literally talked about this with 100s of people and you're like the 2nd person to identify with the head car. Man.. so crazy.
Fevir I Can free navigate anywhere in my city in my head. like noclip in a videogame. that car thing is what I do. what's weirder to me is that if I lose that visualization imagery and have to reset I have no idea where I am sometimes. its like I need to "re sync" with satellites of memory in order to regain my bearing. the visualization you speak of is my primary form of thought. I use it to analyze conversation and draw links between things that generally people wouldn't connect. like literally build a flowchart of conversation and language in my head for all of the possibilities of a conversation and try to jump to the end of it in order to make life easier or win arguments. I literally cannot imagine a life without the ability to visualize. I use it to simulate physical things in my head like how far a ball will go or which direction or what would happen if a cup of water were to experience a collision.
If you are still reading... :D ive actually got a pseudo system for life and my encounters, that metaphorically involves the difference between 1 and 0 (infinity) and a gradient ramp from black to white. if you think about it all things in your life can be referenced on a gradient and in my head a system of visualizations and aides help me to make decisions in everyday life.
I still have the logical nonvisual abilities of thought and reason. but I find that visualizing is a way to add another dimension to something that otherwise must be traveled through. like the ant on the piece of paper not knowing that if only the paper were folded in such a way he could instantaneously travel from one location to another rather than traversing the paper itself.
It does wonders for estimation... in other words or to put it another way, I may not know the exact math or measurements but I will be close to your answer in a fraction of the time it takes to reason a succinct answer.
let me know if this lets you a little further into understanding the brains of those of us who can visualize. I've always been so fascinated by this and how I use it ;only to attempt to explain it to people and receiving only aghast stares in return as if I'm crazy.
I followed you on the first half- then the second half you went much more vague.
Don't make the mistake in imagining your type of non visual thought process or logic process is similar to mine or someone who doesn't primarily use visuals.
You sound similar to my girlfriend's experience- the way she talks sounds almost like astral projection but she's never given any of it a second thought (nor does she seem to care beyond humoring my questions).
The idea of thought is truly pretty mysterious.
Fevir Think of it this way. I don't believe I am making the mistake of nonvisual thought process similarity. I think that language itself is a limitation that a lot of people enjoy. (not enjoy in the sense of happiness) more of a cynical idea. Language is what you have to work with. without visualization you have a barrier that you cannot cross, that is... you take a flat piece of paper and when you fold it to where two points touch, an entity residing in the paper could instantaneously move from one point on one end of the paper to another point on another end of the paper. moving your internal thoughts outside of the limitations of the language you speak. IE things that don't translate to another language and turning the thoughts into "floaty things" that you can manipulate and rework on the fly.
If I were to try to describe it further I would say, because of my visualization ability, my brain is a fucking metaphor machine. it will find the greatest outlier details and put them together due to the fact that they exist in the same little system I have visualized (not intentionally) in my head and associate things, find holes in logic, and generally piss people off because with the perspective I carry literally anything can be argued for or against....and convincingly.
to help you to understand the gradient thing.
think of an arbitrary thing like a lightbulb. you are buying lightbulbs at the store.
0 in my mind already turning is a broken lightbulb broken beyond repair or maybe even broken beyond recognition.
then you come to the functioning lightbulbs that you have in front of you for purchase. you begin to grade them based on their attributes.
(this is the point where I basically bring in a bunch of slide rules in my brain and attach a value to each one.
Price
Brightness in lumens
Color temperature
Build quality
Brand
other extraneous factors like how hard it is to reach on the shelf, whether I like the packaging
whether I think the packaging is only attempting to mislead me.
lifetime expectancy
while looking at the bulbs for sale each one of these lists or metaphoric slide rules are being populated in order from 0 being least desirable to 1 being most desireable
once the information is gathered the sliderules begin to move (not in reality nor does it look like a sliderule in my head this is just the best way to put it.
whichever light bulb scores highest on the scales of the multiple metaphoric sliderules I have floating around in my head is the one I will purchase.
this also is very much the same as a gradient for each trait. from black to white.
in the end I add all the data (visually) be it with the numbers 0 to 0.25 to .5 to 1
or literally turn all the sliderules into a transparent sheet add them all together by aligning them in my mind and buy the no pun intended brightest or closest to 1/white lightbulb
to further illustrate a 79 year old man would be graded at a .2 on the health scale
but a .97 on the experience scale in my mind.
the reason I say slide so much is because as new information is gleaned that .2 for health could easily change to a .03 with a discovery of colorectal cancer.
many other mental machines that deal solely in visualization I use this is just the simplest one and most far-reaching.
Keep in mind this all happens in my head live as a mental visualization I am not applying effort in adding a bunch of numbers and shit... that would be crazy. :D
Autodidact Visualfx So your gradient system is just your internal mechanism for evaluating and assigning value. Cool.
You're making assumptions to try and retain some sort of superiority complex. You assume that language and thought is intertwined and therefore limited- unlike your visualization. I do not not have an inner voice, monologue- etc. I don't think in words. Language, which was the point you arguing against is just you imposing your own experience.
"because with the perspective I carry literally anything can be argued for or against....and convincingly"
Give me an example of a perspective on any topic you choose that you don't think that someone without your ability could come up with?
Rereading both your responses you actually come off ignorant.
I used to see nothing before i learned to meditate... Now i dream pretty much every time i close my eyes. 🧩🧘
werid but interesting video ive closed my eyes like 4 times now
yes i see things ...in case your wondering
6:00 i have the same type of memory too !
Wow, this is just so..... scary, quite honestly. And it explains a good deal of why people experience things so differently.
For me, well, my mind is pretty weird. In terms of visualization, its less of actually 'seeing' something than it is 'feeling' it. If my eyes are open, then its sort of like a ghostly overlay, not really something I see, but more like how you can tell what an object's shape is if you hold it in your hand and feel all of its surfaces, or like your 'sixth sense', an awareness of your surroundings, that lets you walk through a room that you know well in the dark without running into things because you 'know', or in a sense see, where everything is. When I close my eyes, however, its more like a collage of memories laid on top of each other, each adding to the complexity of the image I am trying to think of. That only really applies, however, to things that aren't people. Animals, buildings, machines, all easy enough to picture, but people are never able to be imagined. This goes for all of my memories I think.
Whenever I think of a past place i've been or seen, I only ever remember the static things of that memory. People, animals, or even vehicles that were moving about at the time, don't feature in my memories of places. That doesn't mean I don't remember people, however. Rather, I just remember the idea of people. If I try and think about someone I know, I can't ever see their face. Maybe some notable physical feature might remain, like if they had super spiky hair, or an afro, or were really tall or short, but my memory of them is more like if the impression I got from them could take physical form. Closest I can describe is to say is that they look like a candle flame. That is not to say that they all seem the same, however. Just like you might say that a candle flame seems bright, lively, or warm, so too do my candle images of people invoke certain qualities or attributes when thinking of them. If someone is perky and happy, or gloomy and sad, or smart and witty, those qualities will rise to the forefront of my thoughts when thinking of that person's image.
Sorry to ramble a bit, but I think that it is really good to share info on the whole spectrum of views in order to better understand each other. :D
I wonder if my inability to learn how to type without looking at the keyboard has anything to do with not being able to visualize where the keys are. I have a great memory but I remember things by words not pictures. Like when I try to remember a date that something happened I remember what happened before and what happened after. After I can't visualize something when i look at a picture it's like, oh yeah, that's what it looks like.
Hey, I found this topic interesting. Have you got to study the 8 cognitive functions of the brain? The theory developed by Jung? I think this one explains how mostly people's brains differ from one another. I too find myself seeing mostly black when I close my eyes, no images nor visualisation. Also I can't remember faces and I tend to think in feelings mostly, if that makes sense. From what you describe your brain seems to use Extraverted Thinking (thinking out loud).
I was wondering if this is common. I have very vivid dreams but I can’t visualize pictures in my head if try to. I use to be able to but lost the ability
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses Fevir, this is a weakness that you have, but you are gifted with other abilities that most do not possess, so don't let it get you down.
I have a hard time imagining how people described in literature look. And all the connections they have with each other. Also I have this in real live oh. But I can easily imagine complex geometric shapes and landscapes.
I never knew that most people visualise when they close your eyes
I turned 30 this year... And just learned this was a thing. All these years I assumed this was all a metaphor, you didn't actually see things... Little did I know I was just different. Honestly I'm having a hard time dealing with this realization, no matter how much I learn other people are the same way, I can't help but feel defective... And broken...
Be careful about thinking too far into it because it can be very easy to cast it as the villain of your different shortcomings. The truth is that up until a few years ago people didn't even know that this crucial difference between thought processes existed... meaning it most likely doesn't affect, hinder or cause meaningfully different outcomes... at least to a point where it would have been noticed, discussed and end up where we are now. (For reference when this video came out Aphantasia wasn't even a word yet). You can find people who work with 3D modeling, artists and other very creative endeavors with aphantasia.
At this point having been involved in research and countless interviews around aphantasia and the presence and type of a "verbal" inner monologues... I feel that in the case of imagery, sub-vocalization and inner monologues... they are all just software your brain uses to translate concepts into something more easily understood and for some (us), we never needed it to understand or think in concepts and so we never developed that software. I love the example of speed readers needing to train themselves to NOT read internally as that slows them down.. and I think of that in terms of imagery as well.
It helps that my wife is heavily visual and so I used to bug her all the time to see the perspective from her side.. and even to this day I think it's crazy that someone can essentially "hijack" her entire thought process by the mere suggestion or description of something that her brain forces her to visualize. "Don't talk like that at the table".. is just as relevant as "Picture the ball going into the basket".
No matter what I say I know that the whole experience can be jarring and disorienting and I think that's just something you go through no matter what when learning about this stuff, especially so late.
Not too many years back I could visualize simple object quite well. For instance, I used to suffer from anxiety-based insomnia. I'd just start thinking about my troubles and couldn't sleep. One day I imagined a red ball bouncing around slowing in a little 3D box. Boom, I would be asleep in less than a minute most of the time.
Fast forward a few years, and I started taking drugs (namely Prozac) for depression and anxiety. I can no longer visualize this simple ball and box. It's like the circuit just burned out. I can imagine it, but I can't see it. so the trick no longer works. Kind of weird and spooky, and leads me to a lot of thinking on what anti-depressants and other drugs are doing to our brains.
On the flip-side, my 8 year-old conjures up "mind-stories" at bedtime and she's able to visualize it all really clearly. Hopefully she never has to take anti-depressants and loses this ability.
i never really thought about it, but now when i start looking i can see something, i can make something, but only very litte. im reading the comments alot here and i notice something about pineal gland calcification. can your pineal gland be partially calcified?
I have aphantasia. I can definitely enjoy a good fiction novel, but I only remember words. I don't dream in color, barely visual if at all. Most of my dreams are memories and sometimes I can't tell if it really happened or not. The most visual memory I have is like "oh, walk through the forest, see the trees, the birds." All I "see" is the words to The Forest by twenty one pilots. I realized something I hadn't noticed before from this video. I also can't remember much if I don't place importance onto it. I haven't truly accepted that I'm not broken. Not yet at least.
I’m confused because I can see, but I can’t “see” if that makes sense? Like I close my eyes and see literal black. But I can think about and “see” something like what I want to draw or a balloon shape I need to make.
Thanks for sharing this, i had no idea, very interesting. If im not able to imagine pictures, characters and all that, basically i woulnd be able to work on the industry im working. Im very bad at numbers and remembering specific things, like names, i was very bad at history in the school. In the other hand i, for example, love to play roleplaying with friends. The night before the party i usually go to the bed an image the whole thing very detail, as paintings or clips, even with sound and music. But the music part is because im very into that. Very interesting to know that.
I like reading. I always have. But I never saw images while I read. I always thought that ‘imagining’ something meant to think about it. Not to… see it. When I close my eyes it’s a weird mix of red, purple, and black. There’s also green afterimages of light sometimes. Never any picture or image. I was surprised to learn that people can actually ‘see’ things.
Reading books was like taking in some information and completely disregarding/forgetting all details about appearance, because that didn’t matter to me, as I couldn’t imagine what they’d look like anyway. Even when I write, I always forget to write about what the character looks like, because I never thought that much about it. When I think of someone, the last thing that’d come to mind is their eye color or hair color. Really, I don’t remember anyone’s eye color at all, except obvious features, like how my whole family has brown eyes.
Wow this is really interesting. I am the complete opposite I can visualy imagine everything. My brain works like a computer simulation. The thing that impressed me the most is how you talked about your girlfriend imagining apples while counting. It is amazing how people get to the same answer in a very different way.
Yeah, and for spelling a word, my SO visualizes the word in his head and then tells me what the letters are...
after reading the comments I've come to realize how im still kinda alone in this situation, ive never been able to visualize anything in my head. like, I KNOW what things look like but I just can't see it in my head. I was (am?) in the gifted program at school and we always did this stupid visualization things that I always thought was super dumb, now I realize IM the weird one lol. I also dream, not often, but I do. While I'm dreaming I know that I can "see" whatever I'm dreaming about (or usually I can), but once I wake up I'm only left with words. However I love to read and write books and describe what places and people look like. I still can't "see" any of it but my mind just associates words with things and people. I also really love making art, I always have ideas of things in my head, but idk what it actually will look like until I make whatever it is I make. That's why I ALWAYS use reference photos for basically everything.