Annoyingly, I'm a 5. It runs in my family. I have mental models and the like in my head, but they're very conceptual. I sense them rather than see them. It's possibly why I like whiteboarding and mindmapping - creating a physical visual representation of what I sense but cannot see.
If you ask me to close my eyes and picture my kids' faces, I can't do it. I get nothing visual. But what I can get is a very real, visceral emotional response. And this varies depending on how I think of seeing them - are they laughing, are they crying, are they looking mischievous?
Ask me visualise a cup of coffee. I see nothing. But I can practically feel the warmth seeping from the cup into my fingers, I feel like I can smell the aroma. It's very hard to describe.
That's fascinating, wonder what the mechanisms are for it, and why there is such a spectrum, I've read that in some people with aphantasia is that psychedelics can trigger it, or at least provide an example experience to what these visualisation do.
Given you can sense structures, maybe you can use these systems, and build them up from what you can visualise.
I reckon if we ever get direct neural interface we will all get an expanded additional capacity that might be able to enhance us and provide greater resolution in our heads.
Interesting you say that. The only time I've experienced real visualisations was during a 90 minute breathwork session that was designed to get your brain into that psychedelic state, without the psychedelics. They were still somewhat abstract visualisation, but remarkable to me due to the novelty.
Wonder then if you can train to see visual imagery, though to be honest, you're not at a cognitive deficit with aphantasia, it's just a different way of thinking, I'm sure there are method that will work with both different styles.
The breathwork thing is super interesting, I've also experienced it, another thing is meditation, letting your mind wonder on specific mantras for a while.
Annoyingly, I'm a 5. It runs in my family. I have mental models and the like in my head, but they're very conceptual. I sense them rather than see them. It's possibly why I like whiteboarding and mindmapping - creating a physical visual representation of what I sense but cannot see.
If you ask me to close my eyes and picture my kids' faces, I can't do it. I get nothing visual. But what I can get is a very real, visceral emotional response. And this varies depending on how I think of seeing them - are they laughing, are they crying, are they looking mischievous?
Ask me visualise a cup of coffee. I see nothing. But I can practically feel the warmth seeping from the cup into my fingers, I feel like I can smell the aroma. It's very hard to describe.
That's fascinating, wonder what the mechanisms are for it, and why there is such a spectrum, I've read that in some people with aphantasia is that psychedelics can trigger it, or at least provide an example experience to what these visualisation do.
Given you can sense structures, maybe you can use these systems, and build them up from what you can visualise.
I reckon if we ever get direct neural interface we will all get an expanded additional capacity that might be able to enhance us and provide greater resolution in our heads.
Interesting you say that. The only time I've experienced real visualisations was during a 90 minute breathwork session that was designed to get your brain into that psychedelic state, without the psychedelics. They were still somewhat abstract visualisation, but remarkable to me due to the novelty.
Wonder then if you can train to see visual imagery, though to be honest, you're not at a cognitive deficit with aphantasia, it's just a different way of thinking, I'm sure there are method that will work with both different styles.
The breathwork thing is super interesting, I've also experienced it, another thing is meditation, letting your mind wonder on specific mantras for a while.