Aphantasia, Do You Have It?
Aphantasia is the name of a condition in which some people (approximately 2% of the population) do not possess a functioning mind's eye and cannot voluntarily visualize imagery.
I was tempted to ask if anyone was “suffering” from Aphantasia but in this day and age, people are discouraged from judging others based on any template of normalcy in order not to offend. Aphantasia is therefore seen as “gift” just like Autism and other mental conditions.
Besides being limited to vision, Aphantasia also effects all the other Senses. In effect #Aphantasia limits the Mind from fully accessing Memory. People with Aphantasia can function normally in society because everything they learn is saved; they just cannot recall the memory of anything they have experienced until they actually experience them again including emotions.
If you ask someone who has Aphantasia to describe what a fish looks like, what a food smells like, what a food tastes like, and what the bark of a dog sounds like they couldn’t do it. They will only remember an experience for a brief time when they actually experience it again. And because they lack emotional memory, they cannot recall feeling happy, sad, stressed, fearful, or the passion of someone they love.
Aphantasia was recently diagnosed in the past 15 to 20 years so no one knows how long the condition has actually existed in humans throughout history. If you don’t have it you might think it must be a hard thing to deal with but the mere fact that most people with the condition don’t even realize they have it until they reach adulthood speaks of its non-importance in society at large.
Aphantasia is the name of a condition in which some people (approximately 2% of the population) do not possess a functioning mind's eye and cannot voluntarily visualize imagery.
I was tempted to ask if anyone was “suffering” from Aphantasia but in this day and age, people are discouraged from judging others based on any template of normalcy in order not to offend. Aphantasia is therefore seen as “gift” just like Autism and other mental conditions.
Besides being limited to vision, Aphantasia also effects all the other Senses. In effect #Aphantasia limits the Mind from fully accessing Memory. People with Aphantasia can function normally in society because everything they learn is saved; they just cannot recall the memory of anything they have experienced until they actually experience them again including emotions.
If you ask someone who has Aphantasia to describe what a fish looks like, what a food smells like, what a food tastes like, and what the bark of a dog sounds like they couldn’t do it. They will only remember an experience for a brief time when they actually experience it again. And because they lack emotional memory, they cannot recall feeling happy, sad, stressed, fearful, or the passion of someone they love.
Aphantasia was recently diagnosed in the past 15 to 20 years so no one knows how long the condition has actually existed in humans throughout history. If you don’t have it you might think it must be a hard thing to deal with but the mere fact that most people with the condition don’t even realize they have it until they reach adulthood speaks of its non-importance in society at large.
