Pretty much. I have no clue how that would work. If it's not there, and my eyes aren't wide open, I cannot picture it. Describe it to me, colors, dimensions, geometric shape, etc., and I will have a pretty good idea of what it looks like; or a comparative description, otherwise, nope, nothing.

@Condor5 What about drawing? Are you able to draw things?

@arnies, not really. Only very crudely.

I don't look at it as a "problem," but just a difference.

@Condor5 So true.

Do you ever recall wondering what people meant when the y talked about "visualizing"? Did it occur to you that they meant they literally saw pictures in their heads?

@Condor5 when I need to recall a specific something, I must see the pic in my head...i canfreeze the moment whatever happened & peruse it as if it was a photograph until i "see" the info i need....my word-only recall stinks!

@AnneWimsey, with aphantasia, there are no pics in the head, except dreams.

@Condor5 so what category am i in...i see nothing but blackness behind my eyelids?

@AnneWimsey, if you can see pictures in your head while fully awake, eyes closed, or not, you are not aphantasic. There are really no "categories"; you either can, or cannot cosciously form visual pictures in your head.

@Condor5 ummm "antaphatsic" is one of I assume many categories...?

@AnneWimsey perhaps in the broad spectrum of human characteristics. If you're trying to get at, does it have degrees, like, say autism, then, no, not really. You can either bring images up in your mind, or you cannot.

Surprised the hell out of me. I would sit in staff meetings, or training exercises, and when someone said imagine this or that, or visualize this or that, my mind did not bring up pictures, but rather, I would recall something that would be comprised of descriptive characteristics of whatever it was we were supposed to "see." In other words, having seen something similar in the past, I could fit a description to it, but could never actually visualize it. It's sort of hard to explain.

My husband is having a hard time understanding my lack of visualization. We have spent the past 30 minutes going back and forth about it. For some reason he just cannot understand that my memory is not affected. I still remember, I just can't see it. I guess it is hard for someone who can. My youngest son just came home, and he too sees blackness.

@Browneyedlady, I would urge you to check out the Aphantasics.com website. Like this site, the topics are multiple, but there are many that talk about dealing with it, how others think about it, etc. I haven't been to it for awhile, but it helped me better understand the condition.

@Condor5 I will check it out. I guess it just gives me something else to research.

As long as I can remember, yes, I assumed it was normal until about two years ago, when I learned that when other people closed their eyes to visualize, they could actually see images. At first I thought maybe it was a mater of semantics, that no one could actually see what they were imagining, but as I began talking to others about it, they assured me they could actually draw up images, see things in their mind. So, I began to research it and found that there is a doctor/researcher in the U.K. who has been gathering information about it. And, as I mentioned, there is also a website: Aphantasics.com.

@Condor5 How do you feel now knowing that others can do this and you can't?

@BeeHappy, since I never had the ability to visualize, it doesn't bother me. But, it explains a lot of things I wondered about in the past. I actually believe it has helped me use my words better, and to be better able to verbally describe things using linguistic construct rather than just saying "picture this."

@Condor5, thank you for sharing that. ?

@BeeHappy, you're welcome. My primary purpose is simply to make others aware that there are more of us out here, and that there is no reason to think there's anything "wrong" with us; it's just a difference.