APHANTASIA-Inability to visualise

I write about this topic because I am in the 1-3% of the population who have aphantasia.

The study published on 9/6/2021 [see below] states that aphantasics measure lower than the control group in four areas of life:

• Slower or weaker in decision making and attention.
• Weaker in facial recognition
• Weaker in remembering their past life events
• More introverted.

Professor Zeman, states "However, this shouldn't be viewed as a disadvantage—it's a different way of experiencing the world. Many aphantasics are extremely high-achieving, and we're now keen to explore whether the personality and memory differences we observed indicate contrasting ways of processing information, linked to visual imagery ability."

In Cognitive Principle Theory people can be strong left brain, strong right brain or balanced left and right brain. Aphastasics can't visualise, this also relates to the inability to add substance when reading descriptive words, which affects their processing and memory of "the story".

• A strong left brain person [Head IQ], who is also aphastasic, would move away from words and move towards mathematics, engineering or science and could become high functioning if they had that ability.
• A strong right brain person, who is also aphastasic, would use their spiritual brain "SQ" and have the ability to conceptualise or "know". If they had a high EQ [Heart Brain] or a high PQ [Body brain], they would "know" the answer, but have difficulty finding words to describe it.

The Left brain dominant person uses the Task Positive Network [TPN] more than the right brain dominant person, who uses the Default Mode Network [DMN]. The person with aphantasia can learn to process information using the DMN in creative mode, which is faster than processing information in the TPN. The TPN relies on words, which processes at 40 bits per second, whereas the DMN processes information electrically at 40 million bits per second.

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Brain connections mean some people lack visual imagery

by University of Exeter Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain 9th June, 2021

New research has revealed that people with the ability to visualize vividly have a stronger connection between their visual network and the regions of the brain linked to decision-making. The study also sheds light on memory and personality differences between those with strong visual imagery and those who cannot hold a picture in their mind's eye.

The research, from the University of Exeter, published in Cerebral Cortex Communications, casts new light on why an estimated one-three percent of the population lack the ability to visualize. This phenomenon was named "aphantasia" by the University of Exeter's Professor Adam Zeman in 2015 Professor Zeman called those with highly developed visual imagery skills "hyperphantasics."

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the study is the first systematic neuropsychological and brain imaging study of people with aphantasia and hypephantasia. The team conducted fMRI scans on 24 people with aphantasia, 25 with hyperphantasia and a control group of 20 people with mid-range imagery vividness. They combined the imaging data with detailed cognitive and personality tests.

The scans revealed that people with hyperphantasia have a stronger connection between the visual network which processes what we see, and which becomes active during visual imagery, and the prefrontal cortices, invovled in decision-making and attention. These stronger connections were apparent in scans performed during rest, while participants were relaxing—and possibly mind-wandering.

Despite equivalent scores on standard memory tests, Professor Zeman and the team found that people with hyperphantasia produce richer descriptions of imagined scenarios than controls, who in turn outperformed aphantasics. This also applied to autobiographical memory, or the ability to remember events that have taken place in the person's life. Aphantasics also had lower ability to recognize faces.

Personality tests revealed that aphantasics tended to be more introvert and hyperphantasics more open.

Professor Zeman said: "Our research indicates for the first time that a weaker connection between the parts of the brain responsible for vision and frontal regions involved in decision-making and attention leads to aphantasia. However, this shouldn't be viewed as a disadvantage—it's a different way of experiencing the world. Many aphantasics are extremely high-achieving, and we're now keen to explore whether the personality and memory differences we observed indicate contrasting ways of processing information, linked to visual imagery ability."

The study is entitled "Behavioral and Neural Signatures of Visual Imagery Vividness Extremes: Aphantasia vs. Hyperphantasia' and is published in Cerebral Cortex Communications.