Aphantasia

How it works

Most people can call up a picture of an apple “in the mind’s eye”. Aphantasia is the absence of that picture¹. A person with it knows how an apple looks but cannot see it. A 2015 paper named it after studying 21 people with lifelong weak or absent imagery².

In one study, 63.4% of people with aphantasia still dreamed in pictures³. For them, only the image called up on purpose is missing. About half also lack imagery in other senses³.

The opposite end is hyperphantasia, with images almost as vivid as real sight³. Aphantasia may run in families. For the most extreme form, brothers and sisters seem about ten times more likely to have it³.

How common it is

All figures come from self-report questionnaires, usually the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). It asks for 16 images, four details from each of four scenes. Each is rated from “no image at all” to “as vivid as normal vision”⁴. A 2022 study tested 1,004 people who were not told the topic. Of these, 0.8% had no image and 3.9% had none or only dim ones. Men and women had similar rates⁴. A 2020 study checked 1,288 members of a local research register. It found 0.7% with no image and 2.6% with the most vivid score³. Rates vary with the cut-off used⁴.

Try it

1. Close your eyes and think of a friend’s face.
2. Rate the image from 1 (no image, only facts) to 5 (as clear as real sight).
3. Count the windows in your home. Notice how you do it. Most people use a mental picture. People with aphantasia use facts or a sense of space²³.

A self-check is not a diagnosis.

Is it a problem?

No. Lifelong aphantasia is not a disorder. The team that named it thinks it is a normal variation, like synesthesia²³. People with it more often report weaker memory for personal events and trouble recognising faces³. Some people find the discovery upsetting⁵.

Mention it to a doctor if your mental images were normal and then faded. Later loss can follow a head injury, a stroke, or a psychological cause¹³.

History and culture

In 1880, Francis Galton asked people to picture their breakfast table. Some said they had no power of visualising². Many scientists he asked said mental imagery was unknown to them¹. In a 2020 study, people with aphantasia more often worked in science and computing. People with hyperphantasia more often worked in creative jobs³.

Ed Catmull, former president of Pixar, has aphantasia. He says the Disney animator Glen Keane has it too⁵. The Aphantasia Network, an online community, reports over 90,000 members⁶.