Aphantasia: the science of visual imagery extremes

Rebecca Keogh, Joel Pearson, Adam Zeman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Visual imagery allows us to revisit the appearance of things in their absence and to test out virtual combinations of sensory experience. Visual imagery has been linked to many cognitive processes, such as autobiographical and visual working memory. Imagery also plays symptomatic and mechanistic roles in neurologic and mental disorders and is utilized in treatment. A large network of brain activity spanning frontal, parietal, temporal, and visual cortex is involved in generating and maintain images in mind. The ability to visualize has extreme variations, ranging from completely absent (aphantasia) to photo-like (hyperphantasia). The anatomy and functionality of visual cortex, including primary visual cortex, have been associated with individual differences in visual imagery ability, pointing to a potential correlate for both aphantasia and hyperphantasia. Preliminary evidence suggests that lifelong aphantasia is associated with prosopagnosia and reduction in autobiographical memory; hyperphantasia is associated with synesthesia. Aphantasic individuals can also be highly imaginative and are able to complete many tasks that were previously thought to rely on visual imagery, demonstrating that visualization is only one of many ways of representing things in their absence. The study of extreme imagination reminds us how easily invisible differences can escape detection.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of clinical neurology
EditorsJason J. S. Barton, Alexander Leff
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
PublisherElsevier
Chapter15
Pages277-296
Number of pages20
ISBN (Electronic)9780128213773
ISBN (Print)9780128213780
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameHandbook of clinical neurology 3rd series
Volume178
ISSN (Print)0072-9752

Keywords

  • Aphantasia
  • Functional imaging
  • Hyperphantasia
  • Imagination
  • Involuntary imagery
  • Phantom perception
  • Visual imagery
  • Visual perception
  • Voluntary imagery

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