“Picture this” is a phrase that is associated with the simple action of imagining. For the majority of the population, this is an act that involves making a mental picture that is visible to some degree inside of the mind. However, for a slim minority of the general population, that picture doesn’t exist.
Aphantasia is a neurological phenomenon in which an individual is unable to conjure visual imagery. In layman’s terms, Aphantasia is when the mind’s eye is blind. It is believed that people with the condition are able to use previous context to conceptualize what something might be like in their head, but they can’t actually visualize the information vividly.
Visual imagery exists on a spectrum, with Aphantasia being on one of the extremes. The condition is incredibly rare, only occurring in less than 5% of the population according to the American Psychological Association.
So what is it like living with this condition? For a lot of people that have aphantasia, they aren’t even aware that they might be different in the first place. Aphantasia has only been termed for under a decade; it was first termed in 2015. The condition flies under the radar because it does not have any significant impact on individuals that experience it.
Aphantasia can look different depending on the person. For some people, Aphantasia comes with the inability to form imagery in dreams, usually instead having dreams with emotional or conceptual context. For others that's not an experience. Some with the condition will have a lack of ability to hear songs and other audio information in their head, while others don’t.
Contrary to popular belief, Aphantasia does not have any correlation to lack of artistic ability or creative ability in general. Studies have found that people with Aphantasia perform just as well in these situations as people who do not have the condition.
Overall, the condition is incredibly understudied. Researchers are still spending time and energy trying to understand this complex condition. As technology improves, studying neurological conditions has become easier to achieve.
(Find on Page 9 of Mystician 83.7)
Bình luận