APR 21, 2019

Do you have aphantasia?

WRITTEN BY: Kathryn DeMuth Sullivan

Let's do a quick little experiment: close your eyes and think of an apple. Now focus really hard on creating as clear as an image in your head of that apple. Is it red or green? Does it have spots? Is it sitting on something or perhaps hanging off a tree branch or floating in mid-air? Is there a worm wriggling its little head out of it?

Were you able to visualize the apple? If you weren't, or if it was difficult for you to do this, you may have aphantasia - a condition that describes an individual that doesn't have the ability to voluntarily visualize imagery, or in other words, doesn't have a mind's eye. Because few studies have been done on this condition and it is generally not very well-known, you may have aphantasia and you may never have realized! If you're curious to learn more, watch the video!