I’m not an expert but my understanding of it is that our brains aren’t like computers. So, rather than storing precise memories, we probably have multiple memories sharing the same neural connections. Like, the memory of grandpa’s beard is probably mixed up with the memory of all sorts of beards.

In that way, the artificial neural net seems similar (while at the same time vastly different).

Even people with aphantasia see as a result of a combination of bottom-up and top-down processing.

Also note that aphantasia is not a condition which is confirmed to even exist.

My understanding (happy to be proven incorrect) is that's still a matter of disagreement. AFAIK, the idea of the brain having feature detectors of various kinds remains a matter of research as it has been for decades.