Just wondering about this.
I have a friend who sometimes just specifically craves a certain dish from a certain food chain. (Like wicked wings from KFC or something)
Or they suddenly feel like watching a specific show (Like Boston Legal)
How does that work?
I never seem to experience something similar to that.
Is it common to feel like that?
I don’t think I have aphantasia. I can picture things in my mind. But it’s very vague. And i can’t keep focused on something for long
Very vague. I would have said my “images” were very vague before I learned I had it. It’s almost like I can see them but they just aren’t there.
Like when you picture an apple does it have color?
Do you read a book and imagine it playing out in your mind? Do you get disappointed when watching a movie based on a book you read that the visuals do not match what you had imagined?
Do you get random imagines popping into your mind that you don’t control?
It doesn’t really have colour no. But it differs quite a bit from day to day.
Some days I can try imagining something and it will just be nothing. just looking at my closed eyelids Other days I can have this very vague idea of an apple, but usually no color and it’s not very stable. Once in a while. like maybe once a year, I have this very clear, almost lucid image of an entire landscape, but only for a fraction of a second.
I don’t really imagine much when reading. And in general images don’t pop up in my head if I’m not actively trying.
Sounds like you might have aphantasia or a very limited visual memory.
Definitely contributes to your decision making processes
Most people can visualize well so you aren’t the norm
Wow interesting. I also have difficulty in general keeping things in my mind. If somebody tells me 3 things to do, I might forget the next two things when working on the first.
Maybe it’s related?
How would you attempt to store these three things in your memory?
If someone said:
I’d remember “Half orange juice, then gallon oil, then laundry”
I can infer where to get the stuff for example, but aslong as I remember certain details I could remember what I needed to do.
As long as I can repeat “Half orange juice, then gallon oil, then laundry” in my inner voice I won’t forget what I need to do.
There will be times where I will forget and then have to think. There was something I needed at the auto store…oh oil. Because I don’t break everything down into a perfect list like “Half orange juice, then gallon oil, then laundry”.
I feel like it’s easier for me to remember if the tasks are related or if the things are in one task. But that is probably for everyone
I wouldn’t attempt, I will write it down as soon as I have more than 1 thing to do.
Laundry specifically can be a bit tricky, because I might remember to do it and put the clothes in the machine and run it. Then forget that I was running a wash and accidentally stumble upon it a few hours later, clothes wet in the machine.
If I remember to take them out and hang them. I will often forget to take them back inside when they are dry. (it’s different depending on the sun, so not really something I can set a timer for)
Often I won’t notice until the next day, and then I might have to wait a bit longer to make sure they dry again if they got damp overnight.
“Out of sight, out of mind” really does ring true for people with aphantasia in my experience.
But from what I have heard and seen people with aphantasia are very good at memorizing lists.
It’s not really a how good of your memory it is but how you choose to store it. Are you going to pull up an image to remember, or are you just going to “know” it. Some things easier with images, some with just facts.
Like how many arches are on the Eiffel tower. Someone with really good image memory might pull up the image in their mind and count. Someone like me would have to know it as a fact and since “How many arches are on the Eiffel tower” isn’t common knowledge or I haven’t heard/memorized it then knowing it as a fact isn’t possible.
But images also tend to be wrong so you can’t always trust them.
In an experiment where people had to memorize a table set up. People with aphantasia got a total of less items on the table but placement and everything was more true. Someone with a true “photographic” memory could get everything right.
Makes me wonder how many people with Aphantasia have actually had a traumatic childhood.
Because for me it also seems almost like I don’t want to remember things or maybe my mind is unconsciously trying to process something or suppress something and that actually influences my capacity to remember and imagine things.