If you ask most of the world's population to picture a person, place, or thing, they have no problem conjuring a mental image in their mind's eye. But for a small percentage of the population (estimates range anywhere from 1 to 5%), visualizing or imagining images is impossible.
Most people, when asked to form an image of a person they're familiar with, can see it within their mind. In other words, it's a visual, mental experience – similar to what we would see if the person were in front of us. But it turns out that this isn't true for everyone.
3% of people can't create a mental picture in their heads—this test will tell you if you're one of them. Most people can visualize a loved one's face or the best meal they've ever had, but there are others whose minds go blank when they attempt to do the same. This phenomenon is known as aphantasia.
If you have aphantasia, you may be unable to visualize any type of image in your head. Aphantasia is believed to be rare, affecting an estimated 1% to 3% of the population. These individuals have no "mind's eye," or their imagination is essentially blind.
About 1–3% of people lack the ability to visualize. Study finds neurological reasons for why some people visualize better than others. No matter how your brain is wired, there are ways to strengthen your ability to visualize.
If you are someone who thinks like this, you are probably a visual thinker. Approximately 60-65% of the population are visual thinkers, so there is a decent chance you are a part of the group.
It's called a visual hallucination, and it can seem like your mind is playing tricks on you. Beyond being scary or stressful, it's also usually a sign that something else is going on. So if it's happening to you, talk to your doctor. That's the first step toward getting better.
There is no scientific proof either way as there has not been a comparative study done on this subject. However I would propose the conjecture that Aphantasiacs are likely to have a higher average IQ than non-Aphantasiacs, and be over represented (above 2.5% of those with 160+ IQ) at the extreme high end of IQ testing.
Aphantasics show elevated autism-linked traits. Aphantasia and autism linked by impaired imagination and social skills. Aphantasia (low imagery) can arise in synaesthesia (usually linked to high imagery). Aphantasic synaesthetes have more 'associator' than 'projector' traits.
New research highlights the key role of mental imagery in memory. When we're asked to imagine a scene or object, most of us are able to conjure up an image in our mind's eye. But about 2-5% of the population can't do this: they have a condition called aphantasia, and are unable to produce mental imagery at all.
Pairwise comparisons indicated that the aphantasia group had a significantly elevated IQ compared with the hyperphantasia group (P = 0.002), but there were no other statistically significant differences. Aphantasia mean (SD) .
People with aphantasia often get asked the question: Do you dream? According to new research, the majority of aphantasics dream visually but are unable to do so while awake. Others will dream with the knowledge they're experiencing something, but without mental pictures or sound.
Visual thinking has been described as seeing words as a series of pictures. It is common in approximately 60–65% of the general population. "Real picture thinkers", those who use visual thinking almost to the exclusion of other kinds of thinking, make up a smaller percentage of the population.
“Visualizing,” “Seeing in the mind's eye,” “Picturing things in your head…” The term “phantasia” was first coined by Aristotle to describe the cognitive process of creating mental representations of things not present to your physical senses.
Just how rare are aphantasia and hyperphantasia? Research indicates that 2–3% of people have aphantasia, and up to 10% have hyperphantasia. These numbers refer only to the extremes of visual imagination; currently there isn't much data on other mental senses.
Hyperphantasia is the condition of having extremely vivid mental imagery. It is the opposite condition to aphantasia, where mental visual imagery is not present.
Aphantasia is a term that describes a single symptom: the inability to draw up visual images from memory or imagination. This may affect some people with aphantasia in certain ways but not in all people. For example, some people are more likely to have difficulty remembering personal events and recognizing faces.
People without visual imagery can experience a host of challenges. For example, the ability to recall faces or familiar places can cause frustration and social difficulties.
“Most people with aphantasia will have very good spatial skills … but they can't put any objects into that space.” At work, in an exercise to explore neurodiversity, my colleagues and I were once asked to draw our brains to visualize the way we think, but I couldn't do it, because I don't think in images.
But aphantasia not only impacts people's learning experiences; it also extends into their personal lives. Not being able to visualize means never picturing the faces of family or close friends and remembering images as abstract information.
MANY APHANTASICS say they don't enjoy reading fiction, and see their aphantasia as an explanation for why books have never held their attention.
What is hyperphantasia? The brain's ability to imagine things, objects, and a range of scenes vividly like experiencing and seeing them first-hand, is called hyperphantasia.
This is because the reflection you see every day in the mirror is the one you perceive to be original and hence a better-looking version of yourself. So, when you look at a photo of yourself, your face seems to be the wrong way as it is reversed than how you are used to seeing it.
So self-portraits are about self-image—how we define ourselves. They're also a way to figure out who we are. The “looking-glass self” is a psychological concept that says that how we see ourselves doesn't come from who we really are, but rather from how we think others see us.