Source: UQSCHOOLOFPSYCHOLOGY 

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Context

A recent study published in Current Biology by Roberto S. Luciani and colleagues at the University of Glasgow explores the relationship between auditory and visual senses in people with Aphantasia condition.

Details of the study

Individuals without aphantasia exhibited strong neural activity in the brain’s visual cortex, indicating a connection between auditory stimuli and mental imagery.

However, in people with aphantasia, these neural hallmarks were significantly weaker suggesting limited visual imagination.

The study supports the idea that the capacity to visualize mentally exists on a spectrum with aphantasia at one end.

This challenges prior assumptions about uniform brain functions and highlights unique variations in human cognitive processes.

The research underscores that different parts of the brain are more interconnected than previously believed even in individuals with limited visual imagination.

What is Aphantasia?

Aphantasia is a condition where some people cannot create pictures in their minds. For example, if you close your eyes and think of an apple, most people can "see" an apple in their minds, even if it’s not really there. But people with aphantasia can’t do this—they just see darkness or nothing at all.

Aphantasia, first observed in the 1880s by British polymath Francis Galton and later named in 2015 by neurologist Adam Zeman, is a condition where individuals have limited or no ability to visualize images in their mind.

How Common is It?

Aphantasia is not very common; only about 2 out of every 100 people might have it. It’s not an illness or a disability—it’s just a different way that some people's brains work.

How Does It Affect People?

For most people, sounds like a baby crying or birds chirping can create mental images. But for people with aphantasia, this doesn’t happen.

People with aphantasia often say they don’t “see” pictures in their dreams, but they might remember feelings or sounds instead.

Even though they don’t "see" pictures, people with aphantasia can still be creative in other ways, like writing, problem-solving, or working with numbers.

Why Does It Happen?

Scientists are still learning about aphantasia. They know it happens because the part of the brain responsible for imagining things works differently.

Is It a Problem?

No, aphantasia is just one way of experiencing the world. People with aphantasia can still live normal, happy lives. Many of them don’t even realize they have it until someone asks them to imagine something, and they realize their minds work differently.

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