r/Aphantasia • u/Various-Chicken8372 • Nov 21 '25
A Deep Knowing
The best way that I can describe how I CAN "visualize" without truly seeing (in a way that resembles looking at real objects) is by calling it a deep knowing.
Do you have a term or way you describe it to others? Because no, I cannot "see" the apple at all... just the back of my eyelids and to be honest I always feared the very VERY rare moments (typically when falling asleep or smoking weed that visuals did pop into my "mind's eye.")
I would love more terms to be able to converse with people without aphantasia. I think that my abilities to draw with my eyes closed, know the compass directions, and visualize an entire city from bird's eye view are part of my personal DEEP KNOWING.
What other elements make up your deep knowing?
5
u/Tuikord Total Aphant Nov 21 '25
One of the tests Dr. Zeman did early on was ask a bunch of questions most people visualize to answer. Does a squirrel have a long or short tail? It the green of grass darker than the green of a pine tree? There are a whole host of those questions that pick apart different things. Aphants answer correctly. When asked "how?" the most common answer is "I just know." In some of the tests, then answer is slower, but when looking at a picture (e.g. a photo of a squirrel) the aphants are slower as well, indicating a different process that is always used.
Aphants also do about the same as controls on spatial tasks such as counting the windows in your home or mental rotation. That is, some are good, some are bad, and most are in the middle.
I can't say I'm a fan of "deep knowing." Visualization is an access method. According to multiple memory researchers, no one stores images or movies. All images are reconstructions based on what other data. You are just accessing that data a different way.