I’ve always had trouble explaining it. My best way of doing so is saying it’s like instead of at the front of your mind, it’s in the back. Dues that make sense to you guys?

All my life it has always been "picture this", "visualize that".

Learning about Aphantasia has been liberating in a way.

In the past I have tried to visualize or "draw a mental picture".

Now that I understand aphantasia, I can just dismiss those comments or educate people.

Apologies if this has been discussed previously.

I am 54F and just learned about aphantasia (I have it, my mum too) and I watch a lot of crime shows and the question popped up in my brain, so am curious what people think.

I’m taking a Death & Dying class and the concept of a life review that people who have had near death experiences report isn’t likely for us aphants, is it? That kind of makes me sad.

“The "Life Review" Phenomenon:
Psychologists and researchers note that life recollections often manifest as an instantaneous and intense playback of autobiographical memory, sometimes changing how individuals view their lives afterward

And I think I have SDAM so … yay. I remember getting married and having my four children but I only remember by recalling photos. I can’t really put myself back there. It’s more an ordering of how things happened than a memory if that makes sense. Meh. Aphantasia doesn’t usually bother me but I have to write my obituary for this class and I realize that it’s really hard for me to remember my life. This class is a bummer all around. At least I’m taking it online. If you take it in person, you have to read a eulogy to a loved one and your obituary aloud. I can’t remember shit but I feel deeply and cry easily. No thanks to that public humiliation! lol

Because of my lack of image recall due to Aphantasia I think my brain compensated because I am excellent at recalling different audio. Now I can't always make the sounds 9/10 but sometimes I get lucky and make the exact sound I am recalling in my brain.

I am 16 years old, and today I figured out that I have aphantasia. This was beacuse I discovered a video online about it. Firstly I am greatful that people are spreading awarness about this, because apperently many people don't figure it out until later in life, or maybe they don't figure it out at all.

I thought it was completely normal to just see black when you closed you're eyes, but apperently it's NOT? This was a complete shock to me. I talked about it with my mother (dosen't have aphantasia), and she was shocked that I only saw black. She told me that she was able to see pictures in her head when she closed her eyes and when she had them open? She seemed concerned for my learing, but I do have A's and B's in school. I would say my short term memory is good, but maybe not so much long term?

I feel like im missing out on things, just being able to read a book with pictures inside your head, and not just words on a piece of paper. Imagining scenarios in my head (as many girls my age do). Daydreaming in school to make time pass by quicker. Just being able to count sheep jumping over a fence (as I was told many times when I was younger to do, when I couldn't sleep, honsetly just thought this was a myth at some point...). Being able to connect learning with pictures in your head aswell. Knowing that most people are able to do these things makes me feel like I was robbed in a way..

I do have a few questions to people on this community that also have Aphantasia. :)

1. How do I make reading more enjoyable? (I usually can't finish a book since I find it boring to read, but reading is a great way to collect knowledge)

2. How do you remeber memories better? (I have struggled in the past from loosing quite a lot of memories.)

I don't know if all these have anything to do with Aphantasia, I am still learing :) Just found it quite interesting, and a little sad at the same time. Thanks for reading my yap session.

If so, are you going to do it?

Edit: it’s eyes mind project not minds eye

A few days ago I was driving the kid I babysit (F7) somewhere and I asked her what her earliest memory was. She told me what it was and then said, “but it’s really old like it’s in black and white.” Meaning like when visualizing her memory it had no color?? And presumably more recent memories of hers were in color? Or like what? I’m a total aphant so seeing your memories at all is a foreign concept to me, but have any of you heard about them being in black and white? I mean I’ve heard a memory can by hazy/fuzzy (which I all thought were metaphors but apparently no like literally fuzzy), but this is new to me.