I can't imagine what it's like to not be able to picture things but now I wonder if I'm really picturing things at all or if I'm just imagining them.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/c4i94n/tifu_by_explai...
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/c4lzwm/tifu_by_readin...
What's the difference between imagining something and seeing a picture? That's kind of rhetorical, and kind of not. The article that this page links to from 2005 says:
"Asked to imagine a familiar item or recall a recent event, most people can call to mind an image that is less vivid than the original but has a visual ‘feel’. This expresses our capacity to experience visual mental imagery."
Which is still super vague as to what people do when they "call to mind" something, or what a visual feel is...
I think it's pretty easy to explain relatively unambiguously though.
When you're looking at an object, let's say an orange, you are experiencing a unique, particular sensation which usually only happens when you're looking at an orange. Being able to visualize things is to be able to create the same sensation wilfully even when you're not looking at an orange (albeit of perhaps a lesser intensity).
It can also be used to conjure a short movie like sequence or animation as well. I most frequently use it to plan routes in my mind whether its in the car or how I'm going to move through a particular space it helps orient you and improves reaction speed and can be tied to muscle memory. It takes some focus and is rarely used simultaneously with other activities. It's more like a planning or focusing activity for brief bursts before you take action.
Its actually quite like those slow motion 360 sequences in the matrix. I think that's probably why that film technique gained such traction, as its a slowed down version of what our brains do when we use our visual memory to navigate our movement.
So far, it has been very problematic to explain to others what it is like to not see images in your mind, I guess because it is fundamentally a process of understanding.
There is a reddit community /r/aphantasia if anyone want to know how it is from their point of view.
My visualisation of images rates as 0/10 - power cut in a basement. I can't even create a colour (except the inside of my eyelids on a sunny day). Not even aware of a visual component in dreams.
But I can mentally 3D model. I can sort-of "just know" how things interrelate that is more an unconscious time and distance journey around the thing. It works well enough to plan a model, something I want to build from wood, or redesign the kitchen with an idea of where the possible clashes are, before I hit paper. So the spatial sense is there - somehow.
Explaining it without a lot of hand-waving "I just sort-of know" is a challenge I also fail at. It's more like asking you to visualise something non-visual like honesty I suspect.
Anything you're picturing in your mind's eye would require the use of your imagination no? What is the significant difference between imagining and picturing something in your mind?
EDIT: someone in this thread linked to a quiz that makes me think I'm likely somewhere in the 'normal' realm.