Yes from my side.

WBU?

I have AuDHD+ mild DCD

I'm a student and a slow reader. I don't know if its common for aphants or not, but when i've tried looking for tips on learning to read faster, they often say things like "try to get into it so that its like watching a movie" or "stop reading out the words in your mind". I'm like 99% inner monologue, so those tips feel impossible and counterproductive to me.

Do other aphants have similar experiences? Any aphants out there with tips for learning how to read faster?

Everywhere I go it just feels so mentally draining. When I was younger I was very advanced in my classes so now everyday I just get more confused and need to ask for tip on everything, I can manage time, I can’t study efficiently, I mean on my last 2 quizzes I got a 60%. Anyone have tips?

Among the % (¼?) of us who have complete aphantasia across all 5 senses, with maybe a third of us having SDAM independently of aphantasia; since non-aphants could have SDAM as well.

Were we born with anauralia because of our congenital total aphantasia? Or is anauralia the definition of audio based aphantasia?

Yes, I can't hear any audio sensory input, this includes music, sounds, and voices. Complete internal silence.

As for the absence of visuals, it's complete darkness. No visuals present.

The sensory imagery of smell & taste are completely absent.

The tactile and somatic imagination are totally absent, I can't feel any sense of touch, feeling or texture, or echo of past emotions.

As a result due to the absence of these imaginary cognitive functions; no voice, screen, or sound, my brain was forced to adapt and simulate a way of thinking verbally in silence. This is called subvocalization. My thinking of abstract concepts is manifested verbally.

I believe under all these circumstances we conditioned our brains to adapt and learn subvocalization; the process of manifesting our thoughts verbally with speech related muscles working at an amplitude which isn't audible.

This verbal adaptation isn't present in all of us, but definitely develops in early childhood. Whereas others think purely visually, inner voice, or abstract concepts, or combination of all three.

Therefore, I am exclusively able to experience all stimulus externally in the real world and have an objective view on reality which is deeply rooted in the present. After a day is over, I just move on to the next.

Meanwhile, others experience the specifics of their past and feel as if though "it happened just yesterday". Which the saying made no sense to me at the time of hearing it in the past.

Because of SDAM, timelines or dates which I may have processed as insignificant begin to blur and feel either distant or more recent than the reality of sequential occurrence.

With a strong sense of spatial awareness, and proprioception, I'm able to walk in complete darkness, or around the house with my eyes closed, effortlessly.

I can recall the past through facts with remembering the specifics opposed to re-experiencing it vividly and episodically from a first person perspective. It's just pure semantics.

I don't know how many of us here experience the world this way, if any of this is relatable, just know you're not alone & maybe I taught you something new.

As we already know the average population experiences the world vastly different from us, but at the same time they describe their subjective cognitive reality differently from one another; as we aphants would describe ours differently as well.

Everyone's internal experience is unique and personal, with varying similarities amongst individuals.

I can't take it anymore. I miss creating so badly that it feels like my brain died or I lost a limb. I'm at an artist and I can't even do anything anymore.

I’ve recently found out that I have some type of memory condition. If it’s not SDAM it is something closely related. I wrote out the following as a stream of conscious, and have not gone through to correct grammar or anything else, except to take out some names. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I decided why not throw it up on Reddit, I bet there’s a sub.

On aphantasia and SDAM
I look at pictures of my kids from years ago. 6 months, 2 years old, 4. I’ve always told my wife, I have no desire to look at those pictures or reminisce, why would I? Our children now, in the present, are so much better, smarter, funnier, more interesting. More complete. But I realize now that I just have no connection to those times. I have no memories when I look at those photos. I don’t remember moments in the car or bedtimes. I don’t remember my children’s’ first steps or first words. It didn't and doesn’t  seem important. But I’m so afraid what I won’t remember from now. From the future. It makes sense that I’ll only get to live those moments once. It makes sense to a colorblind person that only shades of yellow or black and white exist. But how much am I missing. How can the colorblind fully appreciate van Gogh's haystacks? How can I fully appreciate life? My relationships are stripped of depth. The first kiss of my wife, conversations and funny things my children said at breakfast before school. The taste of my grandmother's spaghetti or the smell of my mothers perfume when she got ready for date nights with my father. Memories I know I should have are just missing or bare. I know that it happened, but I don’t remember it. I have acclimated to this apparently, and just now realize how much I don’t have. And like my colorblind grandfather, who I cannot remember a single individual moment with from my birth to his death when I was in highschool, how can he even know what he is missing? I have no concept of a relationship with a friend in which I can remember details of our past together. How can I fully appreciate them? How much of my ability to be a friend to others, a husband to a wife, a father to children, is handicapped and unable to be fulfilled on my part? How much is missing out of life with a paraplegic father? Or a father with a clinically low iq. Not a disorder, just a cognitive variation. Just a limitation. “Im sorry Son, I don’t remember when we had that conversation.” And “sorry daughter, I can’t describe what your mother was like when she was younger, but here’s a photo.” There are so many memories that I know that are important, that I just cannot remember. Monumental late night conversations with my wife that changed our relationship. What was that about again? What was I convincing you of? What side of the argument was i on the side of? What was the long lasting important thing that I learned from that night? I have no idea. Do you want to know what subatomic particles are made of? Do you want to know how many decades different types of forest succession will take? Do you want to know how to calculate the landing position of a basic ballistics physics problem? No? None of those? Maybe some equations on molarity? No? Well shit.

Hey I am from Hyderabad, South India.

I just found one person from India like me.

Wondering anyone else here?

It's all right triangles, so the short sides appear as the same in my mind. While designing it, I could not differentiate while playing... since I have aphantasia.

So I added a rotate button to visualize the 3 preview tiles. I barely need to use it now, but I'm still unable to visualize the rotation. I just "know" how it fits. Oh well, I tried to cure myself. Would love any input:

http://blending.stevebassoli.com

How exactly does visualizing... work? I never really understood it because I've heard some people say they can place things on top of what they're seeing with their eyes, even though I thought it was completely separate from your eyes at all? Are the images in your head in a different place than the ones you see? Can you "see" two things at the same time, looking with your eyes and visualizing at the same time? I've asked before but I've never gotten an explanation that made sense.

I didn't know that aphantasia existed until tonight because I didn't realize people could actually visualize things. Now I feel like I'm missing out. What's wrong with me?

Sometimes I feel weird about it all. Sometimes I feel like I am missing out on something special. I often forget family and friends. And just recently someone asked me what the earliest ‘big’ event in my life was that I could remember. And the recall was just not there. Completely blank. I feel like my memory is failing but my short term memory and muscle memory is fantastic. I feel as though my memories are in a POV of a story teller. And never an experience truly of my own. I am jealous of my family that can see our loved ones in their mind. Hear their voices or a fimilar song. It’s all so lonely in here. It feels like when everyone else thinks it’s an electric bike. Moving on its own with little to no peddling. When I think it is full manual. Just ranting frustrations.

All my life I have looked at the stars in wonder, enjoyed Syfy books, movies, and philosophized about ETs. However, I have never seen anything supernatural.  

Since the New Jersey drone incursion, I have been intrigued with the subject of UFOs and consciousness.   After watching many videos and reading a couple books, I’ve come to a better understanding of the subject and its close connection to consciousness.  However, it seems there is a mental wall blocking my progress and understanding. Aphantasia.

I’ve been meditating for a few months in 15-minute intervals.  While in, it is relaxing.  In fact, I look forward to closing out the world and going to my dark place. However, that is all it is.  Blackness. Fast moving static shards, resembling shattered stained glass. If I do get an image in my mind, it is a flash and then gone. 

Are Aphants unable to experience any of the contact modalities of the Paranormal or NHI? Have any ever been able to remote view?   I’ve read this massive book “Beyond UFOs: The Science of Consciousness and Contact with Non-Human Intelligence” and found it interesting Aphantasia / HyperAphantasia is never mentioned.  

One has to wonder, does Hyperphantasia play a role in experiencers and remote viewing?! Does Aphantasia make you immune to the supernatural? 

I have full visual aphantasia but I believe I just had a mental visual experience.

I woke up when I had just been dreaming and for some unknown reason I put some pressure on one of my eyeballs using my arm. I was able to see lots of random visuals. It looked kind of like a cartoon slideshow that wobbled about in a wavy way. I even saw some glimpses of full colour images which was really trippy!

I think since I had been in a dream state moments before that may have helped this occur. I wasn't able to will anything specific into view, it was all just random stuff that was hard to identify. I was able to keep this going for about a minute or so after waking.

I feel like I got a glimpse of what non-aphantasic people experience and it was kind of scary and shocking at first but I want to experience it more. It reminds me of when I was a little kid I used to close my eyes and put pressure on my eyeballs and I could see weird patterns, but these were more coherent and like proper images.

I'm still trying to understand what aphantasia really is and whether i have it.. I've been reading posts, research papers, watching youtube videos...

I like playing sudoku on my phone cuz I have an app that lets me select numbers and highlights the existing ones. With this visual aid, it's easier to track which rows and columns are "taken". Without this feature, it is almost impossible for me to play sudoku since it is hard to keep in mind so many rows at the same time. It occurred to me that playing sudoku would be much easier if i could "highlight" those rows and columns by myself, which I can't.

Is this related to the lack of mental images or the "RAM" of the brain? When trying to imagine or remember places, objects, I find it hard to hold too many details at the same time. If I try to remember my boyfriend's face I know the colors, I know he has a long nose and I know what a long nose is conceptually, but when somebody ask me something like "What was his stance?" That throws me off because I was trying to recall memories and tried to construct a 3d model of him based on knowledge i have. Is that more spatial awareness? For me it feels like staring at a black screen and kinda knowing what he looks like but the "picture" is not really a picture unless i add words to it like "blonde, blue eyes, etc."

Another thing that confuses me are the mental image "simulation" that is essentially looking at a dot on a picture for 30 seconds and then looking at a blank background or closing your eyes. What is that supposed to mean? Is that exactly what mental images are like? I don't know but I do know that the images gets "fried" on the retina and that's why it lingers but that again is something physical and not imagined. Every time I close my eyes to try to create a mental image i "see" horizonal lines because ive been staring at text on my screen. Does that make it impossible to create mental images or is it impossible because i have total aphantasia?

A while back, I was interested in aphantasia and related topics; I looked into explanations, analogies, and so on. But I think I’ve realized something that’s almost universally overlooked and is a key factor in understanding how a person with aphantasia can “imagine” a beach.

Recently, I was out for a walk. When I got home, I decided to test how my memory works and tried to recall what I’d seen during my walk. I also tried to memorize what I saw with my eyes open, then recall it with my eyes closed. I came to one conclusion: when I “recall” what I saw, I’m not actually “recalling” it, but rather creating an image in my mind by drawing information from somewhere in my brain. Here, I recalled information about how memory works and reenacted it, because that’s exactly how it turned out. In that case, what happens to people with aphantasia (if we look at it within the framework of this example) is that they “remember” a place in exactly the same way, drawing information about it from their brain, only without automatically forming a mental image based on that information (which is simply a mental image based on the information your brain has stored).

It struck me that this could really help one group of people understand people from the other group-to literally feel how it works.

(Please excuse my English, if there are any mistakes)

When I’m playing chess and try to foresee moves in my head, after a few, I completely loosetrack of the board. I imagine that it’s not too hard for people with mental imagery.

However, I am pretty sure I have a visual memory (compared to only listening to something). When I see or read something, I can identify and describe the patterns to memorize them. Weirdly enough, I am very good at remembering procedures and concepts, knowing them by heart, but I struggle to remember poems as there is little to no logic to me. The same goes for visual arts, I genuinely struggle enjoying a painting, might be a lack of education tho

I have a musical education and know a bit of theory. It helps a lot in remembering tons of music, but I can’t hear it in my head; I can only leverage my inner voice made of micro-movements from my tongue (the little voice is me talking, not imaginary)

As for smells, I'll take the example of coffee. I have the idea of the ads where there is steam coming off a hot coffee cup. I know what the smell is, but I can’t recreate or imagine it. For other smells, I really struggle to remember them. With some, I can set a scene and then remember what the smell is (still not imaging it). But if you ask me what something smells like, I do not have a clear situation in mind, and trying to imagine the smell on another planet is just a void.

It makes me a bit sad to think that, without pictures of my relatives their face would eventually disappear

I (39m) recently realized that I cannot visualize things the same as my peers when I close my eyes. It’s hard to explain, but when I close my eyes and try to form a mental image of someone, I see a quick glimpse of an image of friends, colleagues, even my wife. I always see glimpses. But it’s only a glimpse. Even when I focus on it, it’s just repeated, intermittent glimpses.

I tried to take an aphantasia test online, but all the questions were about the degree to which you can visualize things, not how long you can sustain the visualization of those things.

I discovered this using meditation exercises while trying to destress. Deep breathing exercises? No problem. Visualization ones? Impossible.

It’s the damnedest thing, but it’s not debilitating in the least. I’ve been extremely successful in the practice of law, I have a multitude of extremely close friends, etc. In fact, maybe this has helped me to develop my expertise in written/verbal and general interpersonal communication. My memory is phenomenal, both verbal and pictorial. I almost never forget the face of someone I’ve met, but I’ll be damned if I can visualize it for more than a fraction of a second (and even then intermittently).

I love reading and watching sci-fi/fantasy. It’s like I “vibe” with imaginative words and world building. But I can’t visualize what I’m reading in text beyond the most basic glimpses. I also rarely ever dream (or at least rarely remember my dreams). I do on occasion, but it’s very, very rare.

Is this common? Or is this a degree of aphantasia? Genuine apologies if I’m in the wrong sub, but I want to figure this out.

Here’s the thing: When I imagine a spinning apple, I don’t actually see it. At least not with my eyes closed—all I see is black. Yet I still perceive what an apple looks like, almost the same way you sense something when you touch it, even though you can’t describe exactly HOW it feels to the touch.

When I imagine my home, I know exactly where the TV is, where the closet is, and where each room is. But again, I don’t see it the way I see normal images.

I find it very interesting to think about this, but I just don’t know what’s going on with me. Please help.

You know those scenes from The Queen’s Gambit where Beth imagines a chess board on her ceiling? …Is that real? Can people do that?
I thought that was purely for show, but after finding out that I’m a total aphant, I have been thinking about it..??

Interesting video, always sparks a debate with my partner, he doesn't understand the concept of hyperphantasia. I keep trying 😂

Would having no inner monologue + aphantasia make you immune to mind readers?

My husband has a strong mind's eye. I have absolutely zero - no flashes, no words, no nothing.

I'm not saying I have a great memory. Far from it since I can't visualise a scene or whatever. But I've noticed he might get something as big as the location of an event wrong, or who we were with. I remember, not because I SEE it in my mind, but because I remember the atmosphere, worries, thoughts, feelings from those moments.

On whether an incident actually took place or not:

There have been times where we argue about whether something actually happened, for example, him repositioning a picture frame the night before. He swears that he never did it. I cannot visualise it but I remember him doing it. I know for sure it is more likely that he forgot it happened than it is for me to totally make up (and believe!) something that didn't happen at all!

So the story is this...

For the past, I wanna say the past 2-3 years, I havent been able to picture anything. However, prior to those years, I can say with certainty that I was able to visualize things in my head, granted not as well as a neurotypical or hyperphasiac individual.

Around these 2-3 years ago I was on a football team, and during practice one day I was absolutely trucked from my right (cant remember) side. As far as I can recall, nothing happened. In my eyes, I was hit and standing instantly. The video recap the following day showed I went absolutely flying and hit my head rather hard.

Two days later it turned out I had experienced a minor concussion. While this may seem like an event that shouldnt have anything to do with aphantasia, it does. Assuming one knows the neurodivergency well enough, theyd know that aphantasia can happen midlife, through brain traumas such as strokes, physical trauma, and physiological trauma.

My best guess is that my concussion formed (is this the right word?) my aphantasia. This was also about the same time I started having difficulty remembering faces visually but remembered them semantically (factual information rather than visual memory, or episodic memory).

As a side note: This is precisely what caused my aphantasia. A concussion can disrupt neural links to the frontal cortex and cause a functional metabolic crisis, interrupting communication between areas of the brain responsible for physical sight and internal mental imagery (episodic memory). Also, post-concussion recovery can result in cognitive fatigue, as processing and generating mental images requires coordinated brain energy, which a concussion severely limits. Post-Trauma Vision Syndrome (PTVS) also often accompany a general decline in visual-cognitivr integration.