Aphantasia

Happy Easter everyone. I know it’s more or less over by the time this post comes out, but I hope you had a nice brunch. I sure did. (I think, I don’t know yet when I’m writing this post). Read this while you digest your food!

I’ll be honest, I’ve wanted to talk about this subject for a while now, and linking it to autism feels a little bit like cheating, but I did find out recently that aphantasia is incredibly common among people on the spectrum. So before we talk about this, let me explain to you what aphantasia is, because I bet some of you haven’t heard this term before. I also knew of the concept before I learned what the word to describe it was, after all.

Let’s do a very simple test together. Think of an apple. We all know what an apple looks like, although what we picture it to look like can differ from person to person. Now close your eyes. Well, read the rest of the instruction before you close your eyes, else you get stuck like that, but the next step is closing your eyes. Then think of the apple and try to look at it with “your mind’s eye.” Do you see an apple in your mind? Congratulations, you’re part of the majority. How well you see this apple in your mind can differ greatly from person to person, with some people being able to see a perfect apple as if it was in a bowl in front of them and for others it can be more of a vague shape that can be recognized as an apple. Do you see absolutely nothing at all? Congratulations, you have aphantasia, just like me. Aphantasia is the inability to see things in your mind. I’ll include a nifty graph below for your convenience to see the different steps. 

Now why am I talking about this subject specifically during autism awareness month? Just like autism, aphantasia is a spectrum. And it turns out that people who are on the autism spectrum tend to be on the extreme when it comes to the aphantasia spectrum. Although no proper conclusions have been found – that I can find – there does seem to be a commonality between the two. It looks like the percentage of people with aphantasia is much higher among people on the autism spectrum than the regular populace. Studies have been done to back this up and it does seem like there is a connection from early results. It might have something to do with how our brains work. Unfortunately the website I found this information on doesn’t link its sources (the website is called reframing autism) so I couldn’t make sure where they found it. The best I can find is a 2024 study by King, Buxton & Tyndall. From my limited understanding of their study, the commonality of aphantasia among people on the spectrum – both diagnosed and self-diagnosed – seems to be about twice as high as among neurotypical people. That’s enough for me to think there is a connection, but small sample sizes need to be taken with a grain of salt of course.

So, what does this mean for my daily life? Not much, honestly. I can still think about an apple and recognize one, so it’s fine that I can’t see one in my mind’s eye, right? I do feel like this causes me to struggle with things like spatial awareness. If my dad asks me what it would look like to have a couch there, blue curtains and a new table in the center of the room, I find it very difficult to visualize it. I usually just give up and wait until it’s actually there so I can see what it looks like. I think it also makes it harder for me to recognize faces and pick out familiar people in a crowd, but that’s possibly unrelated. I’m trying to recall the face of a coworker that I talk to often and I can imagine their face but not actually see it. It’s really hard to describe it. I could tell you his features and I know what he looks like, but when I close my eyes I can’t actually see him.

The big thing that I often wonder is how this affects my writing. I’d like to think that I can make pretty cool and believable worlds, but not being able to actually see them might hinder the creativity I can inject into my worlds. That or I just need to try harder. Either way, I think aphantasia is fascinating and I can’t help but wonder how different things would be if I didn’t have it. Let me know what you think. Can you imagine what an apple looks like or not? Let me know in the comments down below. Thanks for reading!