The Quanta Podcast

What Happens in a Mind That Can't 'See' Mental Images

Dec 11, 2024
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ANECDOTE

Schaumstein's Aphantasia Discovery

  • Sarah Schaumstein, a vision scientist, realized she had aphantasia during a seminar.
  • She was asked to imagine an apple but couldn't visualize it, unlike her colleagues.
INSIGHT

Aphantasia Prevalence and Nature

  • Aphantasia affects 1%-4% of people, who lack mental imagery.
  • It's not a disorder, but a different way of experiencing the world, potentially due to varied brain connections.
INSIGHT

How Mental Imagery Works

  • Mental imagery may work by reversing visual perception.
  • An idea triggers high-level visual regions, which then fill in details, unlike perception starting with light on the retina.
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