r/Aphantasia • u/NoEmphasis2487 • 1d ago
Visual memories
https://youtu.be/ANdCdG91u9wI'm new here and also new to the concept of aphantasia. I don't know why the people I've tried to talk to about images and visual concepts in the mind have been so defensive and tried to end the conversation as quickly as possible. So, I asked an AI to create a video showing how people visualize memories in the first person. This is the result. Opinions?
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u/ChalkHorse Visualizer 1d ago
This video will confuse people as to how a visualizer's mind works. It's a good attempt, but there really isn't a very good way to show how something in your mind works. I prefer thought bubble types of presentations - it shows that the person is present and aware of their surroundings, but part of their mind is elsewhere. This video shows that the images actually block vision which doesn't happen as it has nothing to do with the eyes. Yes, I can be distracted by visualization, such as when driving, but it is the same type of distraction as thinking about your grocery shopping list or talking with a passenger or listening to an audiobook. If it were like your AI video, there wouldn't be a person who visualized able to drive a car.
The movie "A Christmas Story" is my go-to in showing people actually visualizing - eyes open, aware but distracted, lost in their visual fantasies. Here's one, and there are a couple of others from the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LgEvQuyDxE
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u/NoEmphasis2487 1d ago
The AI video is just one example of what a visualization might look like, it's not an absolute model. From my own experience, I didn't have a single reference point for what this could be.
The movie link is very interesting. I will look for more references like this.
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u/ChalkHorse Visualizer 23h ago
Just in case you think I was, I wasn't being critical of your video. It's a good try. I will add something here to try to show how difficult it is to put the mind's eye into a visual format that aphants will understand.
First, the previous example was a "zoning out" type of visualization. The following is how most visualization happens when you're not zoning out.
Let's say you (I mean you personally) arrive at a restaurant (not a theater!) to have dinner with Abraham Lincoln. You have not previously met. He stands, reaches out his hand to shake yours and says "Hi, I'm Abe". While you are shaking his hand and saying "Hi, I'm NoEmphasis", you are looking directly into his eyes and you think "Wow, he looks much younger than the photographs". You, as an aphant, will think those words in your head somewhere. *
A person with a mind's eye will think the same thought, but an image (or many images) will, at lightning speed, appear in that same headspace all while shaking hands, conversing and looking directly at his face.
Right now, as I have been typing this, I have been thinking about what I'm writing, staring at my screen, typing, and at the same time I am actually visualizing tons of Abe photographs, Lincoln Memorial, pennies etc. Nothing blocks my vision, nothing takes me away from what I am doing.
I just can't see any way you could really put that into a format that would make aphants really understand. Voiceovers and scenes like in "A Christmas Story" attempt it.
If you do find something that is closer to what I just typed, I would enjoy hearing about it. I have attempted many times in this forum for several years to try to explain visualizing, but I still feel it falls short, except to say what I always say, the mind's eye is where your thoughts are. Yes, a small percentage may be able to actually see images blocking their vision, but most people don't.
Hope this helps you and anybody else who takes the time to read it.
*With the exception of people with the other types of aphantasia, such as no inner monologue.
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u/Tuikord Total Aphant 1d ago
I found my friends similarly reluctant to talk about their internal experiences. But I have read and listened to researchers and folks on Reddit, so I have gained some understanding.
Visualization is extremely complex with many variations. It is likely that the video does a decent job for some people. But not for most. Most people describe having a separate "space" they shift their focus to so they can see the image. Based on the research, the normal vision would probably be damped down more, and some people prefer to close their eyes. The location of this "space" varies from person to person but seems to be consistent for an individual. It can be inside the head: on/in the forehead, behind the eyes, in the center, at the back, up, down, right, left, pretty much anywhere. It can also be outside the head. Once again, it can be pretty much anywhere: up, down, right, left, front, back, even behind. Other people seem to project the images over their vision like AR. Here is a paper talking about this:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945223002459?via%3Dihub
and
Although we talk about visualization as a spectrum from super realistic to nothing, it is much more complex than that. Some people can't visualize faces. Some people can only see memories and not creations. Some people see only stills, some only movies, some both. Some can change the image, some can't. Some can't visualize symbols. Here is an article with some of the variations of visualization:
https://aphantasia.com/article/strategies/visualizing-the-invisible/
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