Just wondering about this.
I have a friend who sometimes just specifically craves a certain dish from a certain food chain. (Like wicked wings from KFC or something)
Or they suddenly feel like watching a specific show (Like Boston Legal)
How does that work?
I never seem to experience something similar to that.
Is it common to feel like that?
Makes me wonder how many people with Aphantasia have actually had a traumatic childhood.
Because for me it also seems almost like I don’t want to remember things or maybe my mind is unconsciously trying to process something or suppress something and that actually influences my capacity to remember and imagine things.
It’s an interesting thing to think about.
My mother and brother both have aphantasia and I never remember seeing any images in my head ever. Counting sheep never made sense to me. So I think mine is more hereditary.
That makes me wonder again.
How do they separate the effects of genetics from behavior you have learned from your parents?
Especially considering it is often said that most of your behavior is learned from the first few years of your life.
Apparently conditions like Autism and Complex PTSD also have a lot of overlapping symptoms and it can be difficult to distinguish one from the other. (And often they are also co-occuring)
My father is an imager. My mother raised me but I did more things growing up with my father.
My mother wouldn’t have done any mind image imagine stuff with me. I wouldn’t have gotten any practice. So that could definitely contribute.
Like apparently an imaginary friend is an imager thing?
I played a ton with Lego stuff growing up. I can imagine building Lego sets in my mind, not with images but with What,Where,Why,How,Etc… I enjoyed the instruction manual because in a way it tells a story. But once I built one I could replay building it in my own way with more details.
Then video games probably fried my brain
I was never put in a situation to really need vivid images growing up. I always had movies and video games. I’ve never liked reading, I’m not getting the head movie, it’s just facts I have to remember. A good story is a good story though and there are some I have enjoyed. Flowers for Alegernon is a great read, it’s in an epistolary style.
I never needed an imaginary friend. But maybe if I did I would have developed the skill?