Comment by iamthepieman | Hacker News Reader

Comment by iamthepieman | Hacker News Reader

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I don't have aphantasia, quite the opposite, I see things constantly in my head and have to work hard on my environment and myself to be able to focus on the present moment or what's in front of me. I also learned about it from some random internet content (possibly here) and have a hard time imagining what it would be like to NOT picture things in my head. Much like you probably have a hard time imagining the reverse.

I can pull up an image of any place real or "imaginary" at a moments notice, see myself walking around in first or third person view and imagine any number of people or entities in the space. If I'm working on a physical object like a home project or building a piece of furniture or wiring a circuit, I usually start by visualizing it much like 3D modelling software, spinning it around in my mind, looking at it from all angles and modifying as needed before putting my ideas down on paper. Interestingly, this makes using actual 3D modeling software incredibly frustrating because I'm very much a novice and the speed and fidelity of the software in my hands is so much slower than my imagination.

I think I am pretty similar to you. When I was younger I used to build all sorts of things with paper and cardboard and used to imagine the whole thing in 3D and design its cutout template all in my head. I learned about aphantasia a few years back and it sounds very inconvenient to me.

I also have a habit of playing around with imaginary worlds and stories in my head and I pretty much visualize whole scenes and sequences in as much detail as possible. I wouldn't be able to do that with aphantasia.

You’re right; it’s very inconvenient. Especially frustrating because I’m in the same boat as OP: I can absolutely hallucinate, but only if I’m on the edge of dreaming, or actually asleep.

I really wish I could change that. The machinery is clearly there.

Nikola Tesla was that way

I’m this way as well. Though I wonder to what degree this type of mental imagery ranges from person to person. To use a simple example, like placing something somewhere in my house and imagining how it would look. It’s not like I can actually see it at that location when I look there. It’s more like I am superimposing my imagination on the visual input from my eyes to create a composite representation of what it might look like. So it’s two systems working together, not like a full real image, if that makes sense. I see it in my “mind’s eye”. Curious to know what other people experience in this situation.

Yes, it's all in my mind. I don't actively hallucinate. But I can put the image in my mind I to the real world. I still don't see it but I can "put it there" and trace the outline, add or remove elements and see how the imaginary object would interact with the real world.

For example, if I'm trying to see if a piece of furniture would fit, I can use this technique. I might still need a reference like a tape measure since I can't just see on a spec sheet that the bookcase is 2 meters tall and 1 meter wide and know it will fit but I do have a pretty good conception of physical space. I often set my table saw fence by eye and when checking it with a tape measure it's within 2-3mm.

I can't relate to any of this nor OP's description. I can definitely remember imagery (animated or static) and imagine new imagery. But it's all very vague and "bursted". So, for example, if I want to remember a moment in time, it'll just be short vignettes like a chaotic movie scene. Or, if I want to remember a specific tree, it's just a fairly indistinct object.

Now I'm trying to imagine what either of your internal thought processes are like.

> "and have a hard time imagining what it would be like to NOT picture things in my head"

funny this reminds me of when trying to sleep when my brain is still active, i try to focus on what i "see" in 100% darkness; i try to set my brain to visualize "complete darkness" - and then i try to "hear nothing" until i eventually fall asleep; sometimes its hard as hell, but something ive "practiced" for some years. Otherwise my brain is jamming to whatever song i was listening to and scheming some plan in whatever game i was playing last..

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