What is aphantasia?
Aphantasia is a condition characterized by a lack of the ability to voluntarily create mental imagery, to visualize. They are unable to see images in their mind at all, not even of familiar places or family members. Around 3-4% of the world's population likely has this condition, though many of those who do may not know it.
Aphantasia is not currently listed as a disease or mental condition by the CDC or other official organizations, but has been identified in studies, both through questionnaires revealing the subjective experiences of aphants, and through brain scans indicating the true lack of an ability to voluntarily form images in certain individuals.
More Information
The term aphantasia was first coined by a study in 2015 by Professor Adam Zeman, and comes from the Greek word phantasia, which means "imagination", and the prefix a, which means "without”.
Those with aphantasia come up with alternative methods to do tasks most people would normally use visualization for. Aphants conceptualize, instead of visualizing. They are aware of a concept or idea, and what it would look like, but cannot actually see it in their head.
There are different levels of visualization, ranging from aphantasia to hyperphantasia, the condition of having extremely detailed mental imagery.
There are multiple sub-categories of aphantasia based on senses that are affected. Some individuals lack not only the ability to visualize images, but also to experience other senses such as touch, smell, taste, and hearing.