Some time around 2022 I discoverd that I had a condition called Aphantasia. Aphantasia is a condition characterised by the inability to create mental imagery. In other words, a person with aphantasia can't "see" pictures in their "mind's eye". If you ask them to imagine a beach at sunset, they will know what that is conceptually, but they won't be able to visually "see" it in their mind.
The term "aphantasia" comes from the Greek words "a-" meaning "without" and "phantasia" meaning "imagination". The term "aphantasia" was coined by Professor Adam Zeman, a neurologist at the University of Exeter Medical School. In 2015, he and his colleagues used the term in a study to describe the condition of being unable to visualize mental images.
I personally dislike the term Aphantasia as the concept of being absent imagination is incorrect. Whilst it appears I have quite pronounced Aphantasia (i.e. I cannot see images at all, even in my dreams), I do not lack for imagination. Although my imagination is conceptual it is a characteristic that I have often complemented on, not least of all by the small nation of blue fluffy elephants that live in the magical land behind my bedside table; they think its great, even Jeffery and he is usually really uptight about these things. I would suggest that "Mental blindness" might be an appropriate term; or if we must represent these things in Ancient Greek perhaps, "Aeikona noitikí" Which think roughly translates to "without images of the mind"
Aphantasia is a spectrum, and the experience can vary widely among individuals. Some may have no visual imagery at all, while others might have very dim or vague images.
Imagine a Red Star, picture it in your mind. Now which of the images bellow best matches what you see in your mind.
These examples has been reproduced based on an image uploaded by reddit user u/aphanta; I was unable to verify the original source of the image.
Somewhat surprisingly, to me, most people seem to say five or six, depending on how hard they concentrate. When I first came across this test, I thought it was a trick designed to catch people out. I confidently reported that image one best represented what I could see in my mind, expecting the test to go on to explain how this is not what is meant by seeing pictures in your mind. It did not.
Aphantasia is not a disorder or a disability. People with aphantasia can think, reason, and problem-solve; they simply don't use mental images to do so. They often rely more on concepts, facts, and other forms of thinking that don't involve visualization.
The understanding of aphantasia is still relatively new, and much research is being conducted to learn more about how it affects cognition and daily life. Some people may not even realize they have aphantasia until they learn that others can visualize things in their minds. This was my experiences also; I didn't learn that I had a condition where I couldn't see things, so much I as I learned that everyone else could.
Interestingly, some individuals with aphantasia are quite successful in creative and artistic fields, demonstrating that visualization isn't the only pathway to creative understanding.