so if I say cube, you don’t immediately see it (not even if you close your eyes) and can’t then turn said cube in all 3 axis visually in your headspace?
no, I just know what it looks like, and if I think about rotating it, it just jumps from one perspective to the next because I know what those perspectives should look like
I can think about how the light reflects off it as it rotates smoothly, and I know what that would look like, but I don’t actually visualize it happening
If it’s a completely grey cube, I can sort of imagine it, but it’s like I can’t smoothly rotate it or visualize things like lighting or shades of grey. It’s sort of like just seeing it jump from one angle to the next with a lot of the angles just not “showing up” in my mind, and they aren’t really connected images. I couldn’t visualize movements on a Rubik’s cube, but that’s not the same as not being able to run the algorithm and solve it with my hands. For clarity, I don’t know the algorithm to solve one, but I mean the colors aren’t something I can really imagine on the cube. Like I said, I don’t have complete aphantasia, so this is solely my experience. I don’t know if that’s just me or purely the aphantasia.
You’re welcome! It’s not something I really think about often as it really doesn’t affect my day to day life in a meaningful way, but I’m happy to help clarify it a bit for others! I was extremely confused when I found out people can just fully imagine an apple or something with loads of detail. Haha.
I think my aphantasia is at one on any scale. I cannot imagine a cube at all, but the other direction is not a problem. The instant I see a cube I know that it is one.
I can draw a cube based off remembered facts, having noticed things like perspective and angles and how dice work over many years. There is nothing in my mind that I am trying to reproduce on the paper, but I will know it when I see it.
That’s really interesting. That’s more or less how it is for me. I know to draw two overlapping-but-offset squares and to connect the corresponding corners with a line, but I can sort of visualize the concept of a cube more than the cube itself. I also can generally instantly recognize a cube on paper if I see one.
When you think about a memory, do you see anything at all visually? I can imagine a very blurry image, but the actions feel like it’s stop motion and very out of focus. I just have to sort of know or have an intuition for what the objects may be. As an example, I know the first vehicle I drove and the physical details, but visualizing it only shows a sort of rough, dark outline that I can’t place any of those details on or even really describe them in enough detail that someone else could draw it.
so if I say cube, you don’t immediately see it (not even if you close your eyes) and can’t then turn said cube in all 3 axis visually in your headspace?
no, I just know what it looks like, and if I think about rotating it, it just jumps from one perspective to the next because I know what those perspectives should look like
I can think about how the light reflects off it as it rotates smoothly, and I know what that would look like, but I don’t actually visualize it happening
If it’s a completely grey cube, I can sort of imagine it, but it’s like I can’t smoothly rotate it or visualize things like lighting or shades of grey. It’s sort of like just seeing it jump from one angle to the next with a lot of the angles just not “showing up” in my mind, and they aren’t really connected images. I couldn’t visualize movements on a Rubik’s cube, but that’s not the same as not being able to run the algorithm and solve it with my hands. For clarity, I don’t know the algorithm to solve one, but I mean the colors aren’t something I can really imagine on the cube. Like I said, I don’t have complete aphantasia, so this is solely my experience. I don’t know if that’s just me or purely the aphantasia.
fascinating. thx for sharing!
You’re welcome! It’s not something I really think about often as it really doesn’t affect my day to day life in a meaningful way, but I’m happy to help clarify it a bit for others! I was extremely confused when I found out people can just fully imagine an apple or something with loads of detail. Haha.
I think my aphantasia is at one on any scale. I cannot imagine a cube at all, but the other direction is not a problem. The instant I see a cube I know that it is one.
I can draw a cube based off remembered facts, having noticed things like perspective and angles and how dice work over many years. There is nothing in my mind that I am trying to reproduce on the paper, but I will know it when I see it.
That’s really interesting. That’s more or less how it is for me. I know to draw two overlapping-but-offset squares and to connect the corresponding corners with a line, but I can sort of visualize the concept of a cube more than the cube itself. I also can generally instantly recognize a cube on paper if I see one.
When you think about a memory, do you see anything at all visually? I can imagine a very blurry image, but the actions feel like it’s stop motion and very out of focus. I just have to sort of know or have an intuition for what the objects may be. As an example, I know the first vehicle I drove and the physical details, but visualizing it only shows a sort of rough, dark outline that I can’t place any of those details on or even really describe them in enough detail that someone else could draw it.