summary: A new study reveals that anhallucinators, or people who cannot visualize, are more resistant to unconscious visual thoughts, such as imagining a pink elephant. Vivid visual imaginations often result in intrusive images, but numbers seem to direct their thoughts toward other mental processes, such as abstract ideas or auditory fantasies.
This suggests that aphantasia is part of the natural diversity of the human mind, and that strengths such as reduced sensitivity to intrusive images balance out the inability to visualize. I am. These findings challenge the assumption that mental imagery is universal and highlight the unique ways different minds navigate thought.
important facts
- Definition of aphantasia: People with aphasia are unable to visualize voluntarily and are less likely to have involuntary visual images.
- Intrusive thoughts: People with vivid visual imaginations are more likely to experience intrusive images.
- Cognitive diversity: Aphantasia has strengths such as being less visually intrusive but allowing for different types of fantasies.
sauce: conversation
“Tell a man not to think about the pink elephant, and he will never stop thinking about the beast!”
This quote from Kurt Siodmak’s 1974 novel City in the Sky explains how difficult it is to suppress our thoughts. “Don’t Think About the Pink Elephant” serves as a classic example of how difficult it is to intentionally avoid visualization.
the study suggest Many people who have read about pink elephants have probably imagined seeing a pink elephant.
But some people, like us, have aphantasia that we can’t visualize. So we’re a little confused by the idea that others can see things that aren’t there.
in new researchfound evidence that the pink elephant problem is not universal. Some people, including people with aphantasia, are able to block unconscious visual thoughts from their minds.
What is aphantasia?
People with aphantasia are unable to spontaneously imagine seeing things in their mind’s eye. So if we are asked not to think of a pink elephant, we cannot imagine a pink elephant.
Aphantasia is usually described as a defect. When people first learn they have aphantasia, they are often upset to learn that others can do things they cannot. For example, you might imagine seeing a character in a book or think of an absent loved one.
However, deficits are often balanced by profits. There is suggestion People with aphantasia (or aphantasis, as it is sometimes called) may have an increased resistance to unconscious intrusive thoughts.
Another way to look at it is that hallucinations are part of the natural diversity of the human mind, and different people have different abilities to visualize. If the anophonist has no abilities, most will have average abilities, and a small number will have very strong visualization abilities.
Vivid mental imagery and unconscious visualization
Our new research examined the link between the strength of people’s visual imagination and their tendency to visualize even when they aren’t trying to visualize. People with vivid visual imaginations were more likely to visualize unconsciously, and measuring their brain activity was able to predict these results.
Some people may find it fun to be able to imagine detailed scenes whenever they like. However, this seems to come at the cost of not being able to shut down these experiences.
Most people don’t have very vivid images, but they seem to be able to suppress those thoughts.
Do people with aphantasy have a peaceful mind?
People with aphantasis are less likely to visualize unconsciously. Does that mean they have a peaceful mind?
In our study, people who reported poor imagery were less likely to imagine seeing something they had been trying not to think about. However, they were more likely to report thinking errors.
If this explains numbness, then instead of visualizing what you’re told not to think about, your mind may turn to other thoughts, such as what to have for dinner. there is. Therefore, we will not have a more peaceful mind, but simply a resistance to thinking about the things we are trying to get out of our heads.
Do anhallucinators daydream if they cannot visualize?
Our own experience confirms that at least some anucinogens have a wandering mind. But when our minds wander, neither of us imagine seeing things. Our experiences are different.
When Derek’s mind wanders, he imagines hearing and participating in a purely audio conversation. Since daydreaming is usually associated with vision, he did not realize until recently that these imaginary conversations could be described as his daydreaming experiences.
Loren can’t visualize or Imagine hearing things. She experiences her thoughts as sensations of different textures and imagined movements. These are the things she experiences when her mind wanders.
Are people with aphantasy immune to the trauma of reliving?
perhaps.
Our evidence suggests that anhallucinators are resistant to involuntary visualization, but whether we are resistant to reliving trauma or whether trauma is simply a combination of different types Further research is needed to determine whether it simply triggers imaginary experiences.
What is clear is that Siodmak was wrong. When you tell people not to think about the pink elephant, some people are happy to put the beast out of their minds and turn their thoughts to other things. What’s for dinner?
About this visual neuroscience and aphantasia research news
author: derek arnold and Lauren N. Bouyer
sauce: conversation
contact: Derek Arnold and Lauren N. Booyah – Conversation
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
“Don’t think about pink elephants: Individual differences in visualization predict unconscious imagery and its neural correlatesWritten by Derek Arnold et al. cortex
abstract
Don’t think about pink elephants: Individual differences in visualization predict unconscious imagery and its neural correlates
The ability to have imaginary visual experiences ranges from a lifelong inability (congenital aphantasia) to those who report imaginary experiences as vivid as what they see in real life (hyperphantasia). There’s a big difference.
Congenital aphantasia is usually thought of as a cognitive disorder, where a weak or absent ability to have imaginary visual sensations results in a high resistance to intrusive thoughts that are experienced as imaginary sensations. It may be balanced by forces.
Here we report the results of a direct test of that proposition.
We asked people to imagine or try it out. do not have Imagine having a variety of auditory and visual experiences while recording their brain activity with an electroencephalogram (EEG).
Assessments that describe the subjective vividness of different people’s spontaneous visualizations show that the person also has involuntary visualizations (such as the imaginary experience of seeing a pink elephant when asked not to look). We predicted whether people would report experiencing it.
Both the prevalence of involuntary visualization in different people and the typical vividness of that visualization can be predicted by neural correlates of disinhibition, working memory, and neurofeedback.
Our data suggest that people’s tendency to unconsciously engage in visual experiences may vary depending on the subjective intensity of their typical visual experience.
