Some People Don’t See Anything In Their Mind When They Close Their Eyes & The Aphantasia Test Reveals If You’re One Of The Rare Ones
Pavel Danilyuk | PexelsDid you know that when some people are reading a book, they don't actually see what they're reading in their brains? Scientists call this inability to visualize in the mind aphantasia, and it's a pretty unique gift.
You might assume everyone pictures memories and other situations in their mind the same way you do, but as it turns out, not everyone visualizes things the same way in their heads. People who see nothing in their imagination only make up between 1 to 4% of the global population, so, seriously, if your brain works this way, you are definitely one of the rare ones.
Some people see nothing in their minds when they close their eyes.
For example, someone posted this picture on X, asking their followers to close their eyes and picture an apple, then select the corresponding image that matches what they see in their mind's eye.
The image seen by the OP was a complete blank. That means no mental image, just darkness. That may be attributed to aphantasia.
What is aphantasia?
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Aphantasia is an inability to see images in one's mind. People with a typical mind’s eye can form a mental picture of things and see them as if they were right in front of them. Those with aphantasia, however, can recall details without actually picturing them.
It might sound like a disorder, but it's not. The simplest explanation is that not all brains function the same way. While some people are born with it, others may develop aphantasia after a brain injury.
More technically, it is a neurological condition that affects the visual cortex, which is estimated to occur in roughly 80-320 million people worldwide. The name was coined in 2015 by researchers Adam Zemana, Michaela Dewarb, and Sergio Della Sala.
The 'Ball on a Table' Aphantasia Test:
The simplest way to test for aphantasia is a visualization test. A common one is the ball on a table test with a scenario specifically designed to test what you "see" in what Shakespeare called your mind's eye.
1. Visualize (in whatever form of mental imagery comes naturally) a ball on a table.
For the purposes of this test, "visualize" can mean picture, think of, imagine, or whatever it means to you when you hear that request.
2. Imagine someone walking up to the table and giving the ball a push.
"What happens to the ball?” the post asks.
3. Once you’ve done that, answer these questions:
- What color was the ball?
- What is the gender of the person who pushed the ball?
- What did they look like?
- What size is the ball? Like a marble, or a baseball, or a basketball, or something else?
- What about the table? What shape was it? What is it made of?
- Did you already know the answers to these questions, or did you have to choose a color/gender/size, etc., to fill in the details after being asked to get more specific?
Your answer to the last question is perhaps the most important when it comes to gaining insight into whether or not you have aphantasia:
While some people automatically have answers to all of the questions listed above, others can only conceptualize all of this happening without ever "seeing" an image of any of it in their head. These people are thought to have aphantasia.
Aphantasia isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
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In fact, researcher Zoe Pounder, who studies aphantasia, told The Conversation that those “with aphantasia have intact spatial imagery abilities” and can perform just as well in other imagery tasks, such as mental rotation, as those without aphantasia.
“On the other hand, it’s been documented that some people with aphantasia — but not all — are more likely to report difficulties with recognising faces and also report a poor autobiographical memory — the memory of life events — a type of memory thought to rely heavily on visual imagery,” Pounder explains.
For example, Mozilla co-founder and self-proclaimed aphantasic Blake Ross describes aphantasia as being “blind in your mind.”
“If you tell me to imagine a beach, I ruminate on the 'concept' of a beach. I know there’s sand. I know there’s water. I know there’s a sun, maybe a lifeguard. I know facts about beaches. I know a beach when I see it, and I can do verbal gymnastics with the word itself,” he wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post.
“But I cannot flash to beaches I’ve visited. I have no visual, audio, emotional or otherwise sensory experience. I have no capacity to create any kind of mental image of a beach, whether I close my eyes or open them, whether I’m reading the word in a book or concentrating on the idea for hours at a time — or whether I’m standing on the beach itself.”
The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) is a more in-depth way to rate how vivid your visual imagination is.
The ability to create mental images exists on a spectrum, with some people having extremely vivid mental images and those with aphantasia having the complete absence of mental images. The VVIQ can help you see where you fall on that spectrum.
The test presents scenarios and asks you to form mental images of them in your mind. You then rate how vividly you see them in your mind on a 5-point scale.
For example, when you think of someone you know well, can you see the exact contours of the face, head, shoulders, and body, or can you only recall that person’s hair and eye color?
The test then rates you on a scale of aphantasic (no mental imagery) to hyperphantasic (extremely vivid imagery), with most people falling somewhere in the middle.
While a fun test to take, it’s important to note that, as with any free online personality test, the VVIQ is not an actual diagnosis.
Micki Spollen is YourTango’s Editorial Director. Micki has her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism & Media Studies from Rutgers University and over 10 years of experience as a writer and editor covering astrology, spirituality, and human interest topics.
