Aphantasia

It's not a Disney musical with dancing hippos

During the opening of this episode of Blocked and Reported, co-host Katie Herzog discusses her discovery that she has aphantasia. It was the first time I had heard of this term and it shocked me that people had this condition, so naturally, I needed to learn more.

In short, aphantasia is the inability to visualize - to have a mental image. It’s worth listening to the first 5 minutes of the episode to get a firsthand account of aphantasia and what it’s like. (Blocked and Reported is one of the podcasts I listen to regularly, so it’s also worth listening to the whole episode and subscribing).

A basic example, provided on Wikipedia, is this image with multiple representations of an apple:

When asked to picture an apple in your head, there is a wide range of what that image might look like to different people. Some can generate photorealistic images (1), while others are completely unable to hold an image in their minds (5). I’m closer to a 1 or 2, so the fact that there are people at 5 is shocking.

If that basic example isn’t enough to establish where you are on the spectrum, here’s a more detailed test.

There are also people on the opposite side of the spectrum who can imagine photorealistic images and settings.

I didn’t do too much research, but it appears there’s a pretty normal distribution across the spectrum from aphantasia to hyperphantasia.

Figure 1. Frequencies and proportions of VVIQ and self-identification of the reduction in visual imagery. The black bar graph illustrates the frequencies for each VVIQ score (n = 2,871), the white bar graph illustrates the frequencies of self-identification (n = 301) in each VVIQ score, and the line graph shows the rate of self-identification for each VVIQ class. (Source)

Apparently, it can be distressing when you discover you have aphantasia and you realize some people can imagine whole worlds in their minds, so apologies if this sparks that realization. But you may find comfort that Ed Catmull, legendary animator, Pixar exec, and author of this fantastic book, also has this condition! So it doesn’t seem to hinder one’s success, even in a heavily creative and visual industry like animation.

I will definitely think about this more and would love to hear about others’ experiences, especially those on the more aphantastic side, but that’s a good primer for now.

It’s yet another example of how people perceive the world differently and something to keep in mind as we interact with one another.