Some people don't have a 'mind's eye'

[Voltaire 4,559]

So volty... Every time you see a chick naked is like the first time for you?

I never see any naked chicks. That's the downside of getting married.

 

But if there were a hypothetical naked chick, the 10th time I see her naked would be like the 10th time I see her naked.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

I never see any naked chicks. That's the downside of getting married.

 

But if there were a hypothetical naked chick, the 10th time I see her naked would be like the 10th time I see her naked.

Ok. Say you see a hottie on the street. You can't picture what she would look like naked ?

[RLLD 3,455]

Ok. Say you see a hottie on the street. You can't picture what she would look like naked ?

 

This is my superpower......

[Voltaire 4,559]

Ok. Say you see a hottie on the street. You can't picture what she would look like naked ?

If I turn my head, I can't visualize what she looks like in the clothes she's wearing. If I give her a really good look over to try to memorize what she looks like this is the result...

 

No picture. The voice you hear talking to me on the telephone is the same voice I hear inside my head speaking to me. She was wearing a red dress with a flower motif and black high heel shoes. Since I failed to note of the dress was frilly or long or whatever that info is lost to me. I didn't recognize the flower in the motif. I didn't make a note of it's color, that information is lost to me. The shoes were black and high heels, I can't see them, I don't recall if they were open toe or not.. I don't have the vocabulary to describe jaw lines or cheeks or eye shapes or lips so they don't register.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

If I turn my head, I can't visualize what she looks like in the clothes she's wearing. If I give her a really good look over to try to memorize what she looks like this is the result...

 

No picture. The voice you hear talking to me on the telephone is the same voice I hear inside my head speaking to me. She was wearing a red dress with a flower motif and black high heel shoes. Since I failed to note of the dress was frilly or long or whatever that info is lost to me. I didn't recognize the flower in the motif. I didn't make a note of it's color, that information is lost to me. The shoes were black and high heels, I can't see them, I don't recall if they were open toe or not.. I don't have the vocabulary to describe jaw lines or cheeks or eye shapes or lips so they don't register.

Wow. That is incomprehensible to me.

 

I frequently just close my eyes and play movies in my head. When i read, I see pictures.

 

That is very interesting.

[Voltaire 4,559]

Wow. That is incomprehensible to me.

I frequently just close my eyes and play movies in my head. When i read, I see pictures.

That is very interesting.

Yeah, I don't know what's going on inside anybody else's head either. So I'm just now learning about you too. I can only see movies when I dream so I suspect I dream normally. The sense of touch is stored too. I remember feeling vividly once the feeling of very course brick in a dream. Because when I woke up once, I made a note of how lifelike and real the brick felt in my dream. Apparently you can do that at any time, you can smell the salt air of the sea or recall senses at will.

 

I now know that I'm missing out on something that's a big part of being human. It's just amazing that I am. I hadn't felt deficient in any way until two days ago.

[IGotWorms 3,315]

Yeah, I don't know what's going on inside anybody else's head either. So I'm just now learning about you too. I can only see movies when I dream so I suspect I dream normally. The sense of touch is stored too. I remember feeling vividly once the feeling of very course brick in a dream. Because when I woke up once, I made a note of how lifelike and real the brick felt in my dream. Apparently you can do that at any time, you can smell the salt air of the ocean. I cannot.

 

Now, I always liked my brain. I don't know if there's a connection to aphantasia but I excelled in school. It all came very easy to me with little effort. My SAT, ACT and ASVAB test scores were all really good despite East Detroit High School's lousy unchallenging curriculum. My whole life, and this will come across as GFIAFPish, but I always get the sense that I'm the smartest person in the room. So I was always proud of myself upstairs. But now, shockingly, I 'm finding out there was a very steep cost for that. I'm not yet sure there's a connection. I'd hate to think some folks are both aphantasiatic and a rock. Maybe its just a coincidence.

 

I now know that I'm missing out on something that's a big part of being human. It's just amazing that I am. I hadn't felt deficient in any way until two days ago.

Thanks Naomi

[Voltaire 4,559]

Thanks Naomi

Sorry. I'm going to delete this. This is all new to me maybe I'm projecting. One woman wonders if her lack of a sense of direction is related to this. No, my sense of direction is excellent. Another wonders if his computer skills are related to this. No, I 'm the biggest incompetent tech-idiot I know.

 

So maybe the school thing is just me. I should probably shut up about it unless a pattern forms with others. I'm also left handed and heterosexual. When everybody's sample size is one, whatever quirks a person has gets amplified.

[mmmmm...beer 691]

Sorry. I'm going to delete this. This is all new to me maybe I'm projecting. One woman wonders if her lack of a sense of direction is related to this. No, my sense of direction is excellent. Another wonders if his computer skills are related to this. No, I 'm the biggest incompetent tech-idiot I know.

 

So maybe the school thing is just me. I should probably shut up about it unless a pattern forms with others. I'm also left handed and heterosexual. When everybody's sample size is one, whatever quirks a person has gets amplified.

Meh.. don't delete man. It's all good.

[IGotWorms 3,315]

Sorry. I'm going to delete this. This is all new to me maybe I'm projecting. One woman wonders if her lack of a sense of direction is related to this. No, my sense of direction is excellent. Another wonders if his computer skills are related to this. No, I 'm the biggest incompetent tech-idiot I know.

 

So maybe the school thing is just me. I should probably shut up about it unless a pattern forms with others. I'm also left handed and heterosexual. When everybody's sample size is one, whatever quirks a person has gets amplified.

I'm very confused right now. My post was just a joke, playing off how your whole world was turned upside down by something Naomi posted

 

Certainly didn't want you to delete anything

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

You need to have a spank bank. It is like a survival tool.

[penultimatestraw 473]

If I turn my head, I can't visualize what she looks like in the clothes she's wearing. If I give her a really good look over to try to memorize what she looks like this is the result...

 

No picture. The voice you hear talking to me on the telephone is the same voice I hear inside my head speaking to me. She was wearing a red dress with a flower motif and black high heel shoes. Since I failed to note of the dress was frilly or long or whatever that info is lost to me. I didn't recognize the flower in the motif. I didn't make a note of it's color, that information is lost to me. The shoes were black and high heels, I can't see them, I don't recall if they were open toe or not.. I don't have the vocabulary to describe jaw lines or cheeks or eye shapes or lips so they don't register.

I don't think most men notice women's clothes at all. Just the silhouette beneath them.

[Voltaire 4,559]

So today I was trying to practice seeing things. Look carefully at an every day scene, focus a bit, close my eyes try to see what I'd just seen... no. Maybe a little. I suppose I'll do that some more anyways, see if it gets better.

 

I'm use to doing without things that other people take for granted. That's what being poor entails. This one though kind of grates me though more than most because it's exceedingly personal and I was supposed to get it for free.

[mmmmm...beer 691]

We may have broke Voltaire. He didn't even know he was broke till we told him. Now it's making him do some deep, deep reflection. Which is breaking him more.

 

Good job guys!

[Voltaire 4,559]

We may have broke Voltaire. He didn't even know he was broke till we told him. Now it's making him do some deep, deep reflection. Which is breaking him more.

 

Good job guys!

 

I dunno, I always liked my brain. I did good in school with little to no effort. If it turns out that this helps me learn stuff easier, then I don't mind it. If it turns out I was book smart for other reasons and this condition doesn't offer any academic upside then I'll feel really jipped.

 

Hopefully before I die, a pill will come along that allows me to do this. Or maybe there'll be some visualization exercises to help me out. I'll take that hang around college campuses visualizing the chicks naked, ponder what might have been. At least I live in an era of massive internet pron, so there's that.

[vuduchile 1,941]

I don't think most men notice women's clothes at all. Just the silhouette beneath them.

For me, it's both. I can instantly recall photos or movie scenes of hot women in certain clothes.

 

Marilyn Monroe - the subway

Jennifer Lopez - Versace dress

Halle Berry - Cowgirl outfit in Last Boy Scout

My ex wife - garters and stockings she wore for her first time anal.

 

The list goes on and on.

[BLS 313]

So volty... Every time you see a chick naked is like the first time for you?

 

Like a goldfish.

[vuduchile 1,941]

For me, it's both. I can instantly recall photos or movie scenes of hot women in certain clothes.

 

Marilyn Monroe - the subway

Jennifer Lopez - Versace dress

Halle Berry - Cowgirl outfit in Last Boy Scout

My ex wife - garters and stockings she wore for her first time anal.

 

The list goes on and on.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcb19CfOpSA

[kutulu 1,545]

He didn't even know he was broke till we told him. Now it's making him do some deep, deep reflection. :

Explains a lot

[fandandy 3,311]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcb19CfOpSA

 

I see how you conveniently leave out the video of your ex wife.

[Big Guy 1,400]

I'm sure Odell Beckham Jr. has at least a couple mind's eye's, just ask ESPN or NFL Network.

[vuduchile 1,941]

 

I see how you conveniently leave out the video of your ex wife.

We did occasionally record stuff but she always deleted it after watching it once. I don't think we recorded that particular session.

[penultimatestraw 473]

 

I dunno, I always liked my brain. I did good in school with little to no effort. If it turns out that this helps me learn stuff easier, then I don't mind it. If it turns out I was book smart for other reasons and this condition doesn't offer any academic upside then I'll feel really jipped.

 

Hopefully before I die, a pill will come along that allows me to do this. Or maybe there'll be some visualization exercises to help me out. I'll take that hang around college campuses visualizing the chicks naked, ponder what might have been. At least I live in an era of massive internet pron, so there's that.

Meh. I did well in school and can imagine naked chicks.

[penultimatestraw 473]

For me, it's both. I can instantly recall photos or movie scenes of hot women in certain clothes.

 

Marilyn Monroe - the subway

Jennifer Lopez - Versace dress

Halle Berry - Cowgirl outfit in Last Boy Scout

My ex wife - garters and stockings she wore for her first time anal.

 

The list goes on and on.

Yeah, there is something to be said for a sexy outfit. But the only thing I'm imagining 99% of the time is what I can't see underneath it.

[Voltaire 4,559]

Can you guys make stuff up? Like the bumper sticker "Imagine Whirled Peas" do you 'see' peas whirling?

[mmmmm...beer 691]

Can you guys make stuff up? Like the bumper sticker "Imagine Whirled Peas" do you 'see' peas whirling?

Uhhh of course... and now imagine its a rainbow of different brightly colored peas like skittles whirling down a drain... now make them black and white which turns into Jimmy Hendrix catroon singing purple haze... and on and on...

 

Of course dude... thats what we normals call... iiiimmmaaaaaaginaaaation.

[mmmmm...beer 691]

I've had a feeling for a day or so he's focking with us. .

 

"And then Chin Lee I told these stupid bak gwei I couldn't imagine peas! Hahaha stupid motherfockers.... peas!"

 

 

[shotsup 832]

I EyeFuck like 20 broads a day. That's like what we are talking about now AmIRite? Or did I just Creep out

[naomi 343]

I've had a feeling for a day or so he's focking with us. .

 

"And then Chin Lee I told these stupid bak gwei I couldn't imagine peas! Hahaha stupid motherfockers.... peas!"

 

 

 

Ha.

 

If it makes you feel better Volty, my dad is in the same boat. In fact I thought he wouldn't relate to the not being able to picture family members part of it...but yep, he can't see people, or anything, in his mind's eye at all. Guess it's more accurate to say he doesn't have one.

 

It's weird trying to understand how he actually does process things.

 

Since you non-visualizers can still dream, you kind of understand what the rest of us are talking about, but maybe we just don't at all do something you do and therefore can't even conceive of it.

 

To me the idea/knowledge of a loved one or closely known person is inextricably, automatically tied to an image. If I was blind it would probably be knee jerk tied to their voice and my sense of their physicality..height, weight, feel of skin, etc. It's not like that's the main aspect of their person to my mind, but it's just part and parcel with accessing them in thought.

[jerryskids 5,206]

This thread is kinda focking with my mind. I think I may be on the spectrum of this, or maybe not, I can't tell. I stare at this computer screen, then close my eyes, then... I don't see it. Am I supposed to see a picture in my mind? I don't. I can describe it, but maybe I've memorized it?

 

I asked my older daughter, she seems similar to me. Is it hereditary?

 

Fock, I need to look into this.

[naomi 343]

Visualizers are like 'you name it, we can see it/our brains can't help but to attempt to see it.' If you started describing something non-existent, my mind would have an evolving image as you went along. If you say purple fly, I can see a purple fly. When it comes to things that exist and I've seen, it's purely automatic. The purple fly takes a bit for me to be seeing because it's more willful. It's actually a decision. Although the more I make that decision (was using it as an example in conversation) the more automatic it's seeming.

 

It's not seeing in the sense of your actual sight, and what you're 'seeing' taking up all your visual attention. Visualizers can be truly looking at something in front of them and mentally, separately, having something in their mind's eye. The two fields don't compete with each other.

[kutulu 1,545]

Dancing banana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[naomi 343]

 

(a post that brings all of us together)

[jerryskids 5,206]

Visualizers are like 'you name it, we can see it/our brains can't help but to attempt to see it.' If you started describing something non-existent, my mind would have an evolving image as you went along. If you say purple fly, I can see a purple fly. When it comes to things that exist and I've seen, it's purely automatic. The purple fly takes a bit for me to be seeing because it's more willful. It's actually a decision. Although the more I make that decision (was using it as an example in conversation) the more automatic it's seeming.

 

It's not seeing in the sense of your actual sight and what you're 'seeing' taking up all your visual attention. Visualizers can be truly looking at something in front of them and mentally, separately, having something in their mind's eye. The two fields don't compete with each other.

Yeah, that's not helping me figure out if I'm lacking this ability.

[IGotWorms 3,315]

Uhhh of course... and now imagine its a rainbow of different brightly colored peas like skittles whirling down a drain... now make them black and white which turns into Jimmy Hendrix catroon singing purple haze... and on and on...

 

Of course dude... thats what we normals call... iiiimmmaaaaaaginaaaation.

Are you serious? I could never do any of that, ever.

 

I must be broke like Volty

[OldMaid 1,838]

Oh, you're on the spectrum, Jerry...

[jerryskids 5,206]

Oh, you're on the spectrum, Jerry...

 

I'm trying to envision you as an attractive woman. Not working.

[shotsup 832]

I EyeFuck like 20 broads a day. That's like what we are talking about now AmIRite? Or did I just Creep out

I crreped meself out with thus. Think WA s a sboerb when I written it. Dunno.

[OldMaid 1,838]

I'm trying to envision you as an attractive woman. Not working.

Well duh... You can't envision me as an ugly woman either.

[naomi 343]

Yeah, that's not helping me figure out if I'm lacking this ability.

 

A man in the article in the OP realized it through learning people actually do "count sheep" and my dad connected to that pretty quickly. He says that he always thought it was nonsensical because for him it basically meant just counting (to himself I suppose) but adding in the word sheep.

 

He has always regarded visualization as a meditation practice as really flaky and I thought it was his aversion to the new-age aspect of it, but now I realize it's not just the spirit of the practice, but the means itself must have sounded like complete bs to him, ie., no one can "visualize" unless maybe their awareness is hijacked and they're in hallucination territory.