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Comment by bsedlm | Hacker News Reader

IMO, this is a skill that can be practiced (I feel the same way about Aphantasia).

i.e. I believe that even people who don't have it could learn it.

However I do concede that some some will barely feel like doing it and they'd be doing it well already. While others will really really have to work for it before they can achieve it.

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As a person with Aphantasia, I never knew that picturing something in your mind was literal. I dream in interactive images/video/whatever you want to call it, but when asked to picture something (the common example is a green apple), I do not "see" it, but instead have a database of words that describe it from the shape to the color to the waxy sheen of the skin. I also have a very hard time with faces if anything changes too (like a haircut or glasses or even basic aging), I watch a LOT of movies, a LOT a LOT, and I cannot remember what I know actors or actresses from even if I literally watched a movie with them that SAME day (with some major exceptions like Robert Downy Jr. or Brad Pitt).

For me the “pictures” in my mind are very diffuse and can’t hold much complexity. It’s certainly very different from clear actual seeing with your eyes. I also have a hard time remembering faces if I don’t see them frequently. But I wouldn’t ever say that I can’t/don’t picture things in my mind. While there’s probably a spectrum in how clear people’s mind’s eyes are, I wonder if there’s also a difference in how people conceptualize their internal perceptions. I.e., I could conceivably imagine that someone with the same internal picturing capabilities as myself would deny that it constitutes “seeing” something in their mind.

I didn't have one until I was 10 or so and tried to have one, just on a lark.

At some point it became permanent. IMO it's net-negative but not enough so to be a big deal.

you're referring to an inner monologue?

I wonder why you consider it a net-negative?

In my own experience, having become more adept at using it, may I suggest you just need more practice?

Personally, learning to "turn it off" (or giving a rest) and even moreso learning about the limitations of such language-centric mindsets; being able to "put the language down" and pick it back up when needed (so to say) has allowed me to cancel out the negative aspects.

> I wonder why you consider it a net-negative?

No perceived benefit, and now there's chatter in my head. It's not exactly counterproductive, but I don't see how it's helpful.

> In my own experience, having become more adept at using it, may I suggest you just need more practice?

I'm coming up on 40 and again, it's not really that big a deal, so, heh, a little late. I don't even know what I'd "use it" for—I was great at language use, written composition, totally fine at speaking, creative play, all the things one might think it'd help with, before it, so it just seems like a tag-along that's not doing much good, or a little annoying at times, but nothing helpful. I can "use it" for things but I was fine at those before.

> Personally, learning to "turn it off" (or giving a rest) and even moreso learning about the limitations of such language-centric mindsets; being able to "put the language down" and pick it back up when needed (so to say) has allowed me to cancel out the negative aspects.

Yeah, the negatives aren't that bad, I just don't see any benefit, either.

I find that I have a lot more monologues if I’m talking with people a lot during work. Or if there’s some unresolved thing I want to discuss with someone. When I spend long times without speaking with anyone then I find the chatter goes away

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