Psychology Facts

▼ Aphantasia ▼

》  Aphantasia is the inability to visualize mental images, that is, not being able to picture something in one's mind. Many people with aphantasia are also unable to recall sounds, smells, or sensations of touch. Some also report prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces.

》  The name was coined in 2015 by Prof Adam Zeman, a cognitive and behavioural neurologist at the University of Exeter. Zeman first became aware of the phenomenon when he was referred a patient who had 'lost' his visual imagery after a heart operation.

》  In the 2015 study where Dr. Zeman first coined the term aphantasia, he examined some of the features of the condition by surveying 21 people who experienced it since birth:

nine had a substantial lack of ability to
voluntarily create a visual image

12 had a complete inability to voluntarily create a visual image

10 reported involuntary flashes of images

17 maintained the ability to dream visually

》  To determine if you aphantasia, try picturing a familiar object or the face of somebody you know well. If you can't create a picture in your head, or if it's very difficult for you, you may have aphantasia.

》  If you were to ask a person with aphantasia to imagine something, they could likely describe the object, explain the concept, and rattle off facts that they know about the object. But they would not be able to experience any sort of mental image to accompany this knowledge.

》  This lack of mental imagery was described as early the late 1800s, yet it has remained a relatively unstudied phenomenon. Francis Galton first described the occurrence in a paper on mental imagery published in 1880.

》  Some other symptoms people with aphantasia report:

decreased imagery involving other senses

Trusted Source like sound or touch

less vivid memories

less vivid ability to imagine future scenarios

trouble with facial recognition

》  It seems that aphantasia exists on a spectrum, because some people with the condition report a complete inability to create a mental image while other people have a greatly reduced ability. Many people with aphantasia are self-diagnosed since there are no agreed-upon criteria for diagnosis.

》  Aphantasia can be congenital, meaning it's present from birth, or developed later in life due to brain injury or psychological conditions.

》  One theory is that people with aphantasia do experience mental imagery but can't access the image in their conscious thoughts.

》  Damage to a wide range of areas in the brain can lead to aphantasia. A 2020 case study describes an architect who developed aphantasia after a stroke affecting the area supplied by the posterior cerebral artery.

》  Some researchers have theorized that aphantasia could have a psychological origin since it's also associated with depression, anxiety, and dissociative disorders. However, more research is needed to understand the link.

》  In order to confirm aphantasia, your neurologist asks a few questions and your response will make him judge about the existence & extent of disease.

》  Treatment of aphantasia is still undeclared. Aphantasia can be managed by the help of specific therapies that work to improve visualization. Sessions are planned with activities to enhance memory like card games, recalling the description of some random objects. Computer activities are utilized with different software to improve tachistoscopic operations.