Let's start this article with an exercise: close your eyes and imagine that you are walking along the beach, very close to the sea. Then visualize what the horizon would look like as the sun sets. Mentalize every detail, the different shades that make up the sky at this moment, the waves crashing far away or the birds flying against the light.
So, how clear are the images you just imagined? Even if you've never been to the beach, you've probably seen a similar scene in a movie, photograph or television show. And if you have ever witnessed this scene, you went to look for the memories somewhere in your memory to visualize the image of the beach in your head.
However, thinking about shapes, colors and textures can be quite frustrating for anyone with aphantasia. This condition, characterized by the inability to create images inside one's own head, is also called by neurologists as "mind blindness".
Science still knows very little about such a neurological phenomenon. The inability to form mental images or figures makes it impossible for people living with this condition to fall asleep “counting sheep”, to perform simple mentalization exercises, such as the one proposed, or to concentrate, such as those of visualizing a “white light”, common in some meditation practices. The mind is a blackout. Total darkness.
Aphantasia: what is it?
It is estimated that aphantasia affects about 2,5% of the world's population. For these people, images do not form in their thoughts, nor can they clearly remember the faces of people they know or places they have been to during childhood.
Most people who have aphantasia live without even knowing that it exists, since they don't even know what it's like to have visual imagination. Other people may suffer from the condition by not remembering loved ones, for example.
Aphantasia can be acquired after a neural injury, but it is commonly idiopathic, that is, the person is just born that way, without any apparent explanation. These are men and women who don't have the ability to imagine a relaxing scenario when they're stressed or think of endless possibilities inside their heads when they're "daydreaming." These people have a blind mind, where images do not form.
The term aphantasia only appeared in 2015, through Dr. Adam Zeman, a cognitive psychologist and professor at the University of Exeter School of Medicine in the UK. At the time, he documented the case of a patient who lost the ability to visualize images as an adult, after a surgical intervention. From there, several people contacted the teacher and reported that they never had this skill.
Why does it occur?
Very little is known about the factors that cause aphantasia. Research on the topic is still recent and offers only a few hypotheses about what goes on inside the brain of someone who has the condition.
What is known so far is that this may occur due to a failure to create patterns of what we see. Every visual stimulus generates an impression in our brain, which consequently becomes a shape, a pattern. When we remember something, these patterns manifest and create mental images.
Aphantasia does not allow these visual patterns to connect, so nothing that is seen with the eyes is able to become an image in the brain. What happens “outside” ceases to exist as soon as these people close their eyes.
How do people with aphantasia live?
Unlike most of us, who can visualize objects, faces, and experiences inside our minds, a person with aphantasia doesn't know what it's like to have that kind of image inside the brain. If asked to think of something, she can even describe the object and explain it, but no image will appear in her mental file.
Afantasia tem cura?
There is no known treatment for aphantasia, but it is also not a limiting factor in people's daily lives. Even individuals who cannot visualize images or people in their minds can use photographs, drawings, mental shortcuts and other devices to compensate for this memory failure.
Of course, not everything is flowers. This condition can cause a feeling of helplessness and loneliness when it becomes impossible to remember a loved one who has passed away or try to remember her/his partner's face when missing, for example.
Fun facts about people who have aphantasia
Aphantasia is also not an impediment to professional and personal success, nor a barrier to creativity. Many artists who work with drawing and illustration are unable to visualize the images before putting them on paper, but this does not influence their creativity or ability to draw.
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And what about dreams? Well, although they occur less frequently, aphantasic individuals can dream during sleep. On the other hand, dreams tend to be less vivid and in less detail than those of people who do not have the condition.
Perhaps the biggest challenges these individuals face are those related to personal issues. Not being able to remember the face of a dear family member who has passed away or not being able to relive the memories of the first meeting with the love of your life, among other things, can be a little melancholy. Even having a vague idea of the memory itself, it is practically impossible to remember the smallest details, no matter how hard you try.
However, aphantasia does not define what a person can or cannot do. Sometimes, just for this individual to understand why his mind works like this and to know that he is not alone, it already provides an improvement in his quality of life. After all, aphantasia is just a different way of experiencing the world around you.
