Any of you creatives out there have Aphantasia (mental blindness)?
I’m guessing most won’t know what Aphantasia is even if you have it but it means you don’t have any visual imagination.
When Aphants imagine say a shiny, red apple all we see in out minds is blackness as we can’t imagine images.
It’s believed to affect around 1.5% of the population and in my experience, a lot of these people are creatives ironically enough.
If you don’t know if you have it, try to imagine a picture of a shiny, red apple.
Do you see it in your mind?
If you do then all’s good in the hood.
If not, then you’re most likely an Aphant.
If you are an Aphant, how do you find it impacts on your work?
Aphantasia badly explained here:
https://www.iamscotty.com/picture-this-for-a-moment/
Replies5
- @Scott Jackson hey. Yes Wired UK.
- @Andrew Diprose Is that the Wired UK channel?I look forward to seeing that.I saw that animation a few years ago and she totally nailed it.I found I had it about fifteen years ago before it was accepted and had a name.It's my theory that Aphantasia and the lack of a mind's eye forces many people to be artistic and to create the images they lack in their imagination.
- @Peter Jackson Interesting Peter. Late in life I found I had Dyslexia also.
- It's a fascinating area.Aphantasia was named in 2015 as an absence of the mind's eye.You may also enjoy this:https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peterjacksonimv_visualdesign-designthinking-creative-activity-6673116593569972224-SjuZ
- Hi Scott,I'd never heard of Aphantasia, but we're working on a film for WIRED UK and I think it's fascinating. Do keep an eye on our You Tube channel for it to drop (in the next month or so).You're also completely right, there are SO many artists who have the condition - Pixar co-founder Ed Catmul being one of the most famous. Amy Right has a great animation up on the topic too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewsGmhAjjjI
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