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[โ€“] 27 points 2 years ago (77 children)

Aphantasia is a condition that prevents people from creating mental imagery . It is rare, affecting only about 4% of the global population..... My visual memory is like looking through a frosted window. I see some colors and blobby shape and that's about it.

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  • [โ€“] 23 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    4% is a pretty big chunk of the population. That's 1 in every 25 people. Which makes it all the more insane that nobody realised it existed as a condition until just a few years ago.

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  • [โ€“] 11 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    It just doesn't come up all that much. Folks live without knowing they are different.

    And it is on a spectrum. Some folks is nothing others are can force a few pictures if they have to but aren't clear. I dunno.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    It really depends on how you define aphantasia. Often the VVIQ score is used, a vividness score ranging from 16 to 80.

    About 0,8 % of people have a score of 16, and 3,9 % have a score <= 32. The figures are from one of the more recent studies. Other studies report similar figures, for example one study by Zeman found 0,7 % with a score of 16.

    About ยผ of all people with visual aphantasia also have multisensory aphantasia (all classical senses and emotions).

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 2 years ago*

    Any mental imagery in general? Like through mind's eye? Dreaming? I had a mind palace (like no joke) it took me years to build into something I could use, and I had a few seizures in relatively quick succession and I cannot imagine images with nearly the same clarity. My dreams are like trying to swim in molasses while wearing scuffed scratched glasses, and I haven't been able to access my mind palace in years. Any time I close my eyes I just see vague blurry shapes and colors, there's an environment there but I can't see it. Now, I can still see faces and remember them, but imagining in my head kissing my girlfriend is impossible. Her face warps and melts and my mental vision goes fuzzy.

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