Aphantasia - The Unseen Enemy of Creativity

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Let’s try a little experiment.

I want you to close your eyes and imagine something or someone you know very well. It can be anything you like — a loved one’s face, your dog, a piece of fruit, your favourite flower, an elephant, or even an alien from a movie you’ve seen. Picture your chosen subject in your mind’s eye. Imagine it as accurately and as detailed as you can.

Now open your eyes and describe your subject in detail. Think about its shape, texture, any patterns or colour gradients, the shadows and the highlights.

• Does your loved one look happy with a bright smile?
• Are your dog’s ears big and floppy?
• Did you see a big and juicy apple — bright red, green, or yellow?
• Is your flower in full bloom with a visiting bee collecting nectar?
• Was the elephant alone, or was it a new mother gently guiding her little explorer?
• Will the scary-looking alien be starring in your nightmares tonight?!

Most people will see an image of their subject, ranging from a blurry shape to a fully formed and highly detailed representation.

Me? I see absolutely nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nil. Nada. Complete and utter black.

This phenomenon is called aphantasia, from the Ancient Greek word phantasia, meaning appearance or image, and the prefix a- meaning without. Aphantasia is essentially the inability to visualise objects that aren’t present. Experts believe it affects between 2% and 4% of the population. It’s not classed as a medical or mental condition — it’s simply another quirky characteristic, like being left-handed. Many people aren’t even aware they have it, because they don’t realise there’s something different about the way they perceive the world.

The scale is often described as:

• hyperphantasia — extremely vivid, often lifelike images
• phantasia — typical, detailed mental imagery
• hypophantasia — vague or blurry images
• aphantasia — no image at all

People with aphantasia are known as aphantasics, aphantasiacs, or simply aphants.

Having aphantasia doesn’t mean I lack imagination — it just means I can’t see the things I imagine. My mind compensates for the complete lack of imagery by creating an extremely accurate description of the image instead. Think of it this way: most people are watching TV, and I’m listening to the radio.

This can make creative and artistic projects challenging, because I can’t picture anything. However, aphantasia doesn’t mean an end to creativity or artistic pursuits. For example, I can’t draw a picture of a horse from a mental image, because there simply isn’t one. But I can draw a basic or cartoon-style horse from my internal audio description, without needing external reference material. The artist Glen Keane — who designed and animated Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid — also has aphantasia.

What did you see when you tried the experiment? Some of you might be surprised, as I was, to discover that you’re also an aphant.

Let me know in the comments below.

Further reading:
Aphantasia Network: https://aphantasia.com

Cleveland Clinic: Aphantasia: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia

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What an interesting topic. I myself am a hyperphantasia. Unfortunately a lot of the stuff I think up in my head and visualize looks so amazing that after I recreate it in the real world it never lives up to what I imagine. I don’t know whos worse off, you or me lol :rofl:

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It’s the same with going from designs on a bright backlit screen to flat printed images. It never quite lives up to the promise.

Were you already aware of it as hyperphantasia?

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Yes I was, studied education and different learning abilities and I came across this in uni. When did you find out?

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It’s great that it was covered in your studies as it seems to be mostly unknown.
When my daughter was young she asked me what I see. She’d been thinking she imagined things differently to her friends in school so we did a little research. We discovered that she has hypophantasia, with only very dim and fleeting images, and I have aphantasia.
I think she felt quite relived that it wasn’t just her.

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I am terrible when it comes to details especially with people because I tend to pay attention to the eyes. When I close my eyes, 95% of the time I see movies, nothing you see in the theatre, like I’m watching live events but they can’t see me. It is a strange feeling and a lot of the time I open my eyes to make it stop. I just found out I do have a quirk. HSP Highly Sensitive Person. No one in my family has this. I’ve always wondered why I cry so easily. Not sad tears, happy tears. If you all remember the Kodak commercials, well that would trigger tears flowing or when soldiers come home and surprise their loved ones & in church when we sing praises. I have zero control of it. We humans area certainly interesting :rofl:

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My wife is exactly like you Nancy, so please know that you are not alone. She’ll sometimes start crying - and then laughs saying that there’s not even anything wrong.
We all have our strange (and occasionally funny) quirks.

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There’s an actual website for us LOL
I also have Verbal Dyslexia which means anything that has more than 2 or 3 steps to learn & math are all challenging. Also my brain knows what it is going to say but by the time it gets to my mouth it’s completely off.

HSP: https://hsperson.com/

Thank you for the kind words. Much appreciated.