1. I took a long time to realize people were literal when they said they saw things in their mind. I get the idea of what I see and nothing else, it’s vivid but it’s informational and not visual.
I’m pretty sure I’m a 6, but I’m also confused as hell. Definitely need to read more about it. If 6 means you hallucinate a projection in front of your closed eyes, then I’m a 1, and my mind is blown. If it’s that visual memory is purely visual, imagining what it looks like without any words or other senses associated with it, mentally seeing the apple in my hand and turning it and such, then definitely a 6.
#6 but only after an image that looked more like a red galaxy on a field of black space—of course, that answer was most likely influenced by the fact that we are watching the penultimate episode of Star Trek Prodigy Season Two (even better than the first!) and I’ve been staring at deep space for the past hour or so.
I spent years working with middle schoolers, which is the age when kids start asking questions like “what if the blue I see is different than the blue you see?” Telling them about aphantasia was a great way to:
1. Blow their minds.
2. Have a conversation about differences in how people perceive the world around them. It’s a lesson in empathy waiting to happen!
I wonder if there is any kind of correlation or kinship to being higher on the scale and how your dreams manifest? I'm a 6.5 on this scale and dream in color and other languages (real and make believe).
My dad tells a story where my brother (who is a genius but struggled with the verbal arts in school) was working on spelling with a tutor and five year old me kept interrupting from the family room with the answers like an insufferable little jackass. Apparently, my brother demanded to know how I was spelling these words and my response was that I just closed my eyes and read them.
This is a further example of how I don't understand what I "see." When I need to remember how to spell a word and tell someone, I close my eyes and "write" it in my imagination. I feel like I'm seeing it, but there's no image of anything. I'm just picturing the word as I've written or seen it in the past. Like a red star.
This story from Richard Feynman touches on this subject in a really interesting way, how people count mentally and how some people use different parts of their brain than others leading them to be able to perform different tasks while counting
As an artist, not only do I visualize what the finished painting will look like but also what it will look like after each coat of paint to get there. That way I know if it’s working or not. I also ‘hear’ full potential conversations in my head before they happen and every variation of how I think it could play out. Apparently all of this is tied to attachment injuries from my childhood where I had to plan every way something could go wrong so that I could be prepared. Things you learn in therapy!
I’m a graphic artist, and I visualize what something needs to look like before I start building it, step by step in the same way. Just different tools.
1. That is such an interesting test to put a name to this way of thinking! It's so weird, especially after looking at the stars I "know" that 6 is the reddest of the red stars. Then I close my eyes and I fully understand that I am imagining number 6 but "seeing" 1. I really feel that putting a name to things can give you power over them so thank you BKV!
I wanted to say 6 ... duh because I'm logical and at times literal. I mean there is a red star just sitting in the square, how could it be anything else? Though, as I close my eyes and try to visualize a red star or a red apple, I'm much closer to a 1 or a 2. Thinking about my prior (poor) attempts at drawing, I am nothing without a reference. I need a reference to establish a visualization otherwise my brain and pen don't work together. Interesting activity. TIL .... BKV killed my imagination.
5. Well that’s weird as hell.
Yeah this exercise broke my brain.
6, I feel like one of the boring people
Probably a 3, lower on the scale than I would have expected. You really don't notice until it's drawn attention to
Gotta say I'm like a solid 4.5, mostly colorless. But if I, say, imagined it in 3d or rotating the image got stronger. Weird stuff
6, but my youngest son has that condition too. He’s getting his phd in physics at MIT and you’re a world class dream weaver so it can’t be that bad
I’m a 1.
1. I took a long time to realize people were literal when they said they saw things in their mind. I get the idea of what I see and nothing else, it’s vivid but it’s informational and not visual.
All these excerpts describe how I feel perfectly. Guess I’m in good company if I’m in the mental darkness with Brian K Vaughan though.
I’m a #6 red star. Mine is actually best represented by the sticky stars kindergarten teachers put on worthy assignments.
I’m pretty sure I’m a 6, but I’m also confused as hell. Definitely need to read more about it. If 6 means you hallucinate a projection in front of your closed eyes, then I’m a 1, and my mind is blown. If it’s that visual memory is purely visual, imagining what it looks like without any words or other senses associated with it, mentally seeing the apple in my hand and turning it and such, then definitely a 6.
#6 but only after an image that looked more like a red galaxy on a field of black space—of course, that answer was most likely influenced by the fact that we are watching the penultimate episode of Star Trek Prodigy Season Two (even better than the first!) and I’ve been staring at deep space for the past hour or so.
I spent years working with middle schoolers, which is the age when kids start asking questions like “what if the blue I see is different than the blue you see?” Telling them about aphantasia was a great way to:
1. Blow their minds.
2. Have a conversation about differences in how people perceive the world around them. It’s a lesson in empathy waiting to happen!
I was around #5. The brightness of the red wasn't there. But I have a vivid imagination. I also dream in color. Not sure if that is significant.
I wonder if there is any kind of correlation or kinship to being higher on the scale and how your dreams manifest? I'm a 6.5 on this scale and dream in color and other languages (real and make believe).
I'm a 1, but I dream in color. Do people not all dream in color? This is a night of revelations!
What about text? Do you visualize text in your mind? I feel like I have running captions of my thoughts or conversations sometimes.
Negative on seeing text! Nothing but the inky void. I’d kill for your mental closed captions.
My dad tells a story where my brother (who is a genius but struggled with the verbal arts in school) was working on spelling with a tutor and five year old me kept interrupting from the family room with the answers like an insufferable little jackass. Apparently, my brother demanded to know how I was spelling these words and my response was that I just closed my eyes and read them.
“Bro just use your imagination” would send me up the wall.
Yeah, my dad didn’t step in to save me from my brother that day. Fully deserved.
This is a further example of how I don't understand what I "see." When I need to remember how to spell a word and tell someone, I close my eyes and "write" it in my imagination. I feel like I'm seeing it, but there's no image of anything. I'm just picturing the word as I've written or seen it in the past. Like a red star.
This story from Richard Feynman touches on this subject in a really interesting way, how people count mentally and how some people use different parts of their brain than others leading them to be able to perform different tasks while counting
https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/607/2/Feynman.pdf
As an artist, not only do I visualize what the finished painting will look like but also what it will look like after each coat of paint to get there. That way I know if it’s working or not. I also ‘hear’ full potential conversations in my head before they happen and every variation of how I think it could play out. Apparently all of this is tied to attachment injuries from my childhood where I had to plan every way something could go wrong so that I could be prepared. Things you learn in therapy!
That's so interesting.
I’m a graphic artist, and I visualize what something needs to look like before I start building it, step by step in the same way. Just different tools.
(Though I have undo.)
1. That is such an interesting test to put a name to this way of thinking! It's so weird, especially after looking at the stars I "know" that 6 is the reddest of the red stars. Then I close my eyes and I fully understand that I am imagining number 6 but "seeing" 1. I really feel that putting a name to things can give you power over them so thank you BKV!
I wanted to say 6 ... duh because I'm logical and at times literal. I mean there is a red star just sitting in the square, how could it be anything else? Though, as I close my eyes and try to visualize a red star or a red apple, I'm much closer to a 1 or a 2. Thinking about my prior (poor) attempts at drawing, I am nothing without a reference. I need a reference to establish a visualization otherwise my brain and pen don't work together. Interesting activity. TIL .... BKV killed my imagination.