FabSwingers.com forum: Aphantasia

By *teve_it_alone OP Man
over a year ago

Dunfermline

Anyone heard of this?

It’s not a new club, it’s a relatively recently discovered phenomenon (well, discovered in the 1800s, but only named and studied since 2015). Basically it is the absence of a “mind’s eye”.

Lots of people have it but don’t know they did. I’m one of them. For years I thought when people spoke like “picture yourself on a beach”, or “oh, I can picture his face” that they were just using metaphor.

I can remember what something looks like, but I can’t conjure up the image in my mind. Ironically, thinking of how people can do this reminds me of a book about the human body I had as a kid, where “memory” was illustrated as a little projector room inside the head. Again - seemed like a nice metaphor.

But no, it turns out normal people have these mad vivid hallucinations all the time. Bonkers!

I only discovered I had it a few years ago when I stumbled on a video about it online. There’s every chance you have it too!! If you search “aphantasia test” online you’ll find countless sites to help you work out if you do or not.

If I told you to close your eyes and picture an Apple… would you see an Apple? Vivid, in colour, with detail. Could you make that image move. Could you change the setting from, say, a fruit bowl to on a tree? Or (like me) is it just dark when you close your eyes with blotchy patches where the the light leaves a trace? Or something in between?

For those of you with intact visual memories/imaginations thinking this seems really weird - imagine how weird it is to find out that everyone else has hallucinations and you don’t! Equally mind bending.

Anyway, this is a swingers site so I need to turn it back to sex… one side effect is it means my “wank bank” doesn’t work like other people’s. I can’t conjure up images of sexy exes! I just have to think of the situation and remember the thoughts and feelings, etc.

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By *teve_it_alone OP Man
over a year ago

Dunfermline

Well, I clearly couldn’t have pictured how popular this would be!

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By *nferno sausageMan
over a year ago

Aberdeenshire

I'm picturing Mickey Mouse with a wizards hat on, and a wee broom dancing around with a bucket of water in each hand.

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By *nferno sausageMan
over a year ago

Aberdeenshire

"Well, I clearly couldn’t have pictured how popular this would be!

Have you considered an alphabet challenge?

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By *he Regina PhalangeWoman
over a year ago

Lanarkshire

It’s a bit early in the morning for this……

I’ll maybe read it again later!

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By *teve_it_alone OP Man
over a year ago

Dunfermline

"I'm picturing Mickey Mouse with a wizards hat on, and a wee broom dancing around with a bucket of water in each hand. "

I’m not… but that’s the problem!

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By *nferno sausageMan
over a year ago

Aberdeenshire

"I'm picturing Mickey Mouse with a wizards hat on, and a wee broom dancing around with a bucket of water in each hand.

I’m not… but that’s the problem!

Sounds like a bit of a Mickey Mouse problem, tbh.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I’ve always had a vivid memory and imagination and I can pretty much picture most things in my mind, sadly one thing for years I couldn’t picture was what my nana looked like after she passed away until about 4/5 years ago maybe I woke up one night absolutely sobbing my heart out as I got a really clear picture memory of my nana out the blue, she passed when I was 11 so I’d seriously thought I’d never remember her properly

Unfortunately the negative side of this is when you’re trying to sleep at night and a million things are flashing up in your mind so vividly you just can’t sleep

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By *teve_it_alone OP Man
over a year ago

Dunfermline

"I’ve always had a vivid memory and imagination and I can pretty much picture most things in my mind, sadly one thing for years I couldn’t picture was what my nana looked like after she passed away until about 4/5 years ago maybe I woke up one night absolutely sobbing my heart out as I got a really clear picture memory of my nana out the blue, she passed when I was 11 so I’d seriously thought I’d never remember her properly

Unfortunately the negative side of this is when you’re trying to sleep at night and a million things are flashing up in your mind so vividly you just can’t sleep "

Remembering faces is a big issue. Remembering any “scene” too to be honest. I find old photos really evocative because most of the time I’d forgotten so much detail of whatever they captured.

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