Can You Visualize Things You Imagine.

I never thought about this before but apparantely people visualize things they imagine differently.



Some can imagine and see something perfectly, then be able to draw that thing in perfect detail as if copying from a photo.

Some can imagine something and visualize it but see it in black and white.

Others can't see anything but blackness when they try to visualize something they are trying to imagine.

I'm 5, can't visualize anything in my mind. From what I read, the most common is 1 then 5 and the others follow.

I... don't think I can see anything? Idk, just seems weird to me if other people can actually see photographic color images when they close their eyes.

Like I can visualize things I've seen out in space in front of me, but not actually "visualize" as in I can actually see something. I can have a google map of my area in my head and zoom out and tell you exactly where you need to go and direct you with a finger in the air on an imaginary map. I can remember a piece of writing that I care about like an important to-do-list or a frame from a neat comic and again, see how it looks out in open space in front of me but not actually "see" it and instead just know what it looks like in my mind and describe it perfectly to you. HELL, I can basically put myself perfect in a situation from my childhood that was meaningful or memorable and almost describe to you everything there and the sights and sounds and smells and exactly what was going on and who was doing what. But it's not a picture. It's just an idea of what the thing is. A concept.

Personally? People having photographic, HD, color, ETC images inside their head where they can close their eyes and basically be watching television just sounds like a bunch of *** people have made up. Either that or you're all crazy and hallucinating floating ****ing apples and ***

2-4 are the most common, then 1, then 5. It's both rare for people to be unable to picture things in their minds at all, and for people to be able to see things in complete perfect detail just from their memory. Those kind of people are the ones that can memorize a password not just from remembering the numbers themselves, but also by picturing how the password looked on the paper or screen they read it from in their head. Dr. Adam Zeman, a scientist that studies the phenomenon, estimates about 2.6% of people are a 1 (hyperphantasia) and about 0.7% are a 5 (aphantasia), with everyone else in between.

2-4 are a smooth spectrum that varies from person to person, and ranges from "I can see something in my head in very good detail" to "I can see a vague colorless shape of something I remember", and everything in between. I'm about a 2.5, myself. I can picture an object or scene, and it will have colors, shapes, and general orientation, but specific details are sparse, and I usually get some things wrong if I double check it with what I'm imagining.

This is a blog from someone who has full strength Aphantasia, and it's quite detailed and specific as to their experiences and abilities compared to other people they've talked to:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/2862324277332876/

Similar concepts also extend to other senses than sight. On one end of the spectrum, some people are completely unable to conceive of music unless they're actively listening to it, while on the other, some people can note for note "listen" to music in perfect fidelity in their head to the point that as long as they can remember a song, they don't need to actually listen to it for the full experience. Most people are in between, just like with sight. The same goes for smell, taste, and touch.

I can recreate almost perfectly something I've seen in two dimensions, whether it's a photo or even the output graphics from a video game. But if you ask me to picture what my mom or dad look like, at best I'd be able to recall a photo of them.

i fail to imagine a apple... but snicker bars man, as vivid as they get.


i'm pretty sure there was something mixed up, the fast majority of ppl have a abstract representation of objects in their mind, so more in the 2-4 range, not 1. ask someone without anatomy training to draw a heart and most of them will draw a <3 shape even if they've seen a real heart befor. same goes for everyday objects like eyes.
it makes sense that way cause it's enough to identify things while avoiding information overflow.

it's kind of difficult to prove wether or not someone has a vivid representation of a real life object in their head or "just" a abstract, but kind of detailed one, since only cause you can imagine it doesn't necessarily mean you can translate it 1 to 1 on a piece of paper, especially if the person is not a trained artist.
however if you tell trained artists to draw/paint a object with as much detail and as close to realty as they can, once just from mind and then again from a reference image, a hand full of savants aside, the fast majority of them will draw the one from reference more detailed than the one from imagination.

imho the hole "close your eyes" thing doesn't necessarily help with imagining things.
imagining things is a skill and just like any other skill it can be trained by observing things more conciously and recreating them by for example drawing, painting, carving, maybe 3D modeling. i think artists speak of building a "visual library".

try imagining something you are familiar with, maybe your favorite REMA if you still can't see anything maybe imagining it in motion helps like during your favorite WS.

Works well for me when I dig into my spank bank.

the pay off of intense anatomy studies.

but yeah, no man can tell me they have no mental image trying to imagin a nice set of mommy milkers.

i never though people where not able to see a picture in your head when imagining things
whenever i play D&D i have a clear visual indication on what is going on hos things looks. maybe not in photographic detail but a clear and with details

Pictures in my head are often vague, as if everything is generalized. Transferring any of it to paper is rather difficult. It also makes creative writing difficult, as I can explain events and ideas well enough but describing anything visual is a pain. Most of my character designs involve outfits with one-color themes.

It's similar but different when it comes to music. Even though I'm musically inclined and can hear complex music in my head just fine, there's a disconnect when trying to plink out the notes on a piano, as if some kind of brain filter is screwing with my ability to connect the world of actual audio with mental music. This really sucks when an original song pops in my head and there is no way for me to transcribe it before it is forgotten.

I went for an education and career in numbers and hard logical processes just because I can process those easily and express concepts with little ambiguity.

There are pros and cons to each person's method of visualization, I would think. It all comes with unique strengths and weaknesses.

Between a 1 and a 2. Almost perfect recall of what I've seen, but I can't transcribe it with drawing.