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Good article on #aphantasia.
Like many described in the story, I have never been able to 'picture' anything in my brain. Anything. I always thought when people told me they were imagining a scene or seeing something, that they were being allegorical.
I therefore have no experience of what it's like to think any differently. This is the brain that I've always had. There are no pictures in it.
The article describes the experience of a person with hyperphantasia: "Then the cat died, and after his death she saw him everywhere—on the sofa, on the floor, on her bed, wherever he had been in life. She saw him so clearly that it was as though he were actually there in front of her. Her grief was made so much worse by this relentless haunting that she began to feel as if she would not be able to cope."
Holy shit. If I had that I would not be able to do anything. I would still be crying about Cookie. Instead, I only think of her when I see a thing that reminds me of her. A photo, an item, something in real life.
I wonder how aphantasia impacts the way that I write.
For me, writing is the primary and most precise way in which I can express myself.
When I write, I don't imagine any visuals. I don't have a picture of what I am trying to write. Instead, I have.. chunks of text, that I.. perceive, feel, hear? It blows my mind (with no images, haha) that everyone's brain is so, so different.
I think it impacts my music-playing in this way: if I have to think about a specific note before I play it (for example if a conductor says 'play a F#'), there is a bit of a lag between my brain processing it and actually doing it. I don't have any visuals so I 'translate' that request into a sound.
Vs
Playing in a more jazz-like / free environment and 'feeling' the specific note before it even arrives, is much easier to me. Like my hands know where to go, but if I have to 'think' about doing a task first I really struggle.
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