alt Hacker NewsI know someone with aphantasia. It's absolutely wild to me that he can't see things in his head. Totally alien from my perspective, since I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. I see what's in my head so vividly that I often won't see things in real life which are right in front of me.
But what's even more wild to me is the people leaving comments refusing to believe that different people are actually different. Refusing to believe aphantasia or hyperphantasia exists. Refusing to believe that other people are telling the truth when they describe their experiences. Insisting that everyone is the same, actually, and anyone who thinks differences are real must be confused or misunderstanding something.
I guess these are both types of cognitive disability... but I know what aphantasia is called. Not sure what the other thing is called, but I'd imagine it's something which sounds pretty unflattering.
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I believe some people have aphantasia and hyperphantasia, but a lot of people who claim they have either are somewhere on the bell curve between them.
I also suspect that some of the people who think they have aphantasia could learn. I personally am not good at visualising and don't naturally do it, but these days I can imagine a not very good apple if I try hard, and I trained this by building on my existing ability to imagine the tactile feel of holding an apple and on spatial awareness.
To be polite, it is called "typical-mind fallacy". To be less polite, it is called "cope".
I'm one of the naysayers denying aphantasia in the comments.
Why would we default to believing people, though? I get your point. Believe people when they tell you their experience. Sure, that seems like a reasonable thing to do. But in this case, when there is zero evidence besides a self-reported experience, why do we default to believing that there are suddenly two types of people, instead of assuming that semantics has created this illusion?
You're defaulting to being nice, which is fine, but it doesn't make you any more right than me and my skepticism. We both have no idea what the truth is.
im like you where i become so caught up in the image in my head that i lose track of my surroundings
when engaging in small talk i make eye contact and have been told im very easy to talk to
when discussing something im interested in, i stare into the distance and start waving my hands around gesturing at the diagrams im describing. its to the degree where my managers prefer i not meet with one specific customer who commented on this
at my first job my coworkers pointed out that i stare directly up to the ceiling for a period of time, then will type furiously, and repeat. id never known that was different before. assumed everyone constructed their ideas mentally before getting it down on paper
im reminded of my high school AP physics teacher who would close her eyes while lecturing because i assume she was picturing things. the funniest students knew how to get some physical comedy into those windows of obliviousness
when it comes to aphantasia it reminds me of Stan in South Park: "I get it now! I don't get it!" the best i can do be nice and accommodating and acknowledge i simply cant relate