Aphantasia: When the Eye of the Mind is Blind
Written by Daphnnie Robyn A. Flores
Imagine yourself walking in a large garden. Flowers of varying colours in full bloom surround you. The scent is sweet, and the breeze is cool. It is early. You feel sleepy. The sun just peeked between the hills in the distance. You start to hear birds chirping as if to greet you “good morning.” You sit beneath a tree for shade, and slowly, your eyelids fall shut as you fall into a peaceful slumber.
You may think that picturing this image is simple enough, but that is not the case for some individuals. There is a spectrum condition called aphantasia, which refers to an individual’s failure to make voluntary mental pictures through visual imagery (Fox-Muraton, 2021; Jacobs et al., 2018; SciShow Psych, 2020; Whiteley, 2021; Zeman et al., 2015). These individuals are unable to or have difficulty imagining pictures that are not otherwise explicitly and directly presented to them (Jacobs et al., 2018). However, since aphantasia is on a spectrum, some individuals experience a less severe version of the condition, such as seeing less vivid mental images than other individuals picturing the same thing (SciShow Psych, 2020). Although Francis Galton described this condition in 1880, it was only in 2010 that a case report by Zeman et al. (2010) described an individual referred to as “MX”. This was soon featured in Discover magazine (Zimmer, 2010). After Zimmer’s article, 21 individuals reached out to Zeman and colleagues, reporting their experiences of aphantasia (Fox-Muraton, 2021; Jacobs et al., 2018; SciShow Psych, 2020; Zeman et al., 2015; Zeman et al., 2016; Zeman et al., 2010; Zimmer, 2010).
Some research suggests that around 2% to 3% of the population may experience aphantasia anywhere on the spectrum, but there are not enough large-scale studies to confirm its prevalence. (Fox-Muraton, 2021). Individual MX was one of those suggested 2% to 3% of the population.
Individual MX
The individual referred to as MX (not his actual initials) was a 65-year-old, retired building surveyor when he started experiencing symptoms of aphantasia. Before the symptoms appeared, he saw himself as someone who had a talent for imagining things, which he found useful as a surveyor. However, four days after a treatment for blocked coronary arteries, he started to see only darkness when he closed his eyes. During the procedure, he felt a “reverberation” in his head and a tingling sensation in his left arm. He did not think anything of it, so he did not say anything to his doctors (Zeman et al., 2015; Zeman et al., 2010; Zimmer, 2010).
After his surgery and resulting symptoms, MX reached out to Zeman, who had teamed up with Della Sala, to try find a cure. Unfortunately, they were unable to find a cure, but they decided to use this rare opportunity to learn more about the condition. With MX’s consent, they ran a series of tests (Zimmer, 2010).
First, the researchers wanted to assess whether this condition was only a symptom of another bigger disorder. They tested 10 control subjects who were about the same age, IQ level, and profession (architects) as MX. They tested items like intelligence, memory, perception, etc. (See Zeman et al., 2010). The results from the first set of tests showed that MX resembled the control subjects: high IQ, good and reliable memory, normal vision, effective ability to put names to famous people’s faces (Zeman et al., 2010; Zimmer, 2010).
Seems like everything was in tip-top shape, right? Well, not so fast.
The researchers then asked MX and the control subjects to answer the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire. In this test, participants try to picture things (e.g., landscape, a friend, etc.), and to rate them as 5 if they resembled normal vision and as 1 if no mental image was present. The results showed that MX’s visual imagery was markedly lower than that of the controls (Zeman et al., 2010; Zimmer, 2010).
The researchers also did some neuroimaging tests to find the source of this condition. When shown a series of faces, MX’s brain reacted the same way as the control subjects’ brains. However, when provided with just famous peoples’ names and asked to imagine the face of those people, results were again, markedly different. The control subjects’ brain regions that control for the “mind’s eye” became active (e.g., inferior occipital gyri and fusiform gyri), whereas MX’s brain regions did not (Zeman et al., 2010; Zimmer, 2010).
The test results described above do appear to confirm that MX’s mind’s eye is blind. However, other tests showed that MX succeeded on tasks that one would think require the mind’s eye. For example, when asked if a letter had a low-hanging tail (e.g., the letter “g”), he answered correctly. When asked for information about famous people’s faces (e.g., whether a certain celebrity has dark- or light-coloured eyes), he answered similarly to the control subjects (Zeman et al., 2010; Zimmer, 2010). Because MX performed normally on some of the imagery tasks without the use of any kind of visual experience, the researchers suggested that having visual imagery or the mind’s eye is not necessary to do some imagery tasks. These results may indicate that people with aphantasia can still do the same visual imagery tasks as others by using alternative strategies (Zeman et al., 2010; Zimmer, 2010). This could be done through words and symbols or using a good “mind’s mouth” or “mind’s nose”, to use imagery such as gustatory imagery (for taste) or olfactory imagery (for smell; Maddox, 2019; MasterClass staff, 2021).
Reflection
Returning to what I asked you to picture earlier, how would you describe your experience? Did you have trouble picturing yourself in that scenario? Did you use other forms of imagery? Aphantasia is a rather new research topic, but it is an interesting area to explore and learn about. To read more about the mind’s eye, individual MX, and further studies on aphantasia, check out the works by Zeman et al. (2010, 2015, 2016) and Zimmer (2010) in the references section below.
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References
Fox-Muraton, M. (2021). A world without imagination? Consequences of aphantasia for an existential account of self. History of European Ideas, 47(3), 414–428. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2020.1799553
Jacobs, C., Schwarzkopf, D. S., & Silvanto, J. (2018). Visual working memory performance in aphantasia. Cortex, 105, 61–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.10.014
Maddox, L. (2019, November 14). Aphantasia: What it’s like to live with no mind’s eye. BBC Science Focus Magazine. Retrieved January 13, 2022, from https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/aphantasia-life-with-no-minds-eye/
MasterClass staff. (2021, September 29). Sensory imagery in creative writing: types, examples, and writing tips – 2022. MasterClass. Retrieved January 13, 2022, from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/sensory-imagery-in-creative-writing
SciShow Psych. (2020, October 1). We don’t all have a “mind’s eye” | Aphantasia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A91tvp0b1fY
Whiteley, C. M. K. (2021). Aphantasia, imagination and dreaming. Philosophical Studies, 178(6), 2111–2132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-020-01526-8
Zeman, A., Dewar, M., & Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery – Congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019
Zeman, A., Dewar, M., & Della Sala, S. (2016). Reflections on aphantasia. Cortex, 74, 336–337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2015.08.015
Zeman, A. Z. J., Della Sala, S., Torrens, L. A., Gountouna, V.-E., McGonigle, D. J., & Logie, R. H. (2010). Loss of imagery phenomenology with intact visuo-spatial task performance: A case of ‘blind imagination.’ Neuropsychologia, 48(1), 145–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.08.024
Zimmer, C. (2010). The brain: Look deep into the mind’s eye. Discover, 31(2), 28–29.
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The blog posts are for informational and educational purposes only. The posts should not be considered as any type of advice (medical, mental health, legal, and/or religious advice). All blog posts have been researched, written, and edited by the undergraduate students and alumni of the Lifespan Cognition Lab. As a teaching and research-based lab, we encourage all lab members to help make knowledge more accessible to all communities through these posts.
