Cognitive profiles of multisensory images, memories, and dreams in aphantasia

Dawes, AJ, Keogh, R., Andrillon, T., et al. Cognitive profiles of multisensory images, memories, and dreams in aphantasia. SCI Rep 10, 10022 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65705-7

Commentary

For most individuals, visual imagery is an intrinsic feature of many internal experiences and plays an important role in supporting core cognitive processes.

However, some individuals lack the ability to generate visual imagery completely spontaneously. This is a condition known as "aphantasia".

Recent research suggests that aphantasia is a condition defined by a lack of visual imagery, not a lack of metacognitive awareness of internal visual imagery. Here we describe the cognitive "fingerprint" of aphantazia and show that individuals with aphantazia report reduced imagery in other sensory areas when compared to control participants with imaging abilities, but not all report a complete lack of multisensory imagery.

They also report less vivid and phenomenologically rich autobiographical memories and imagined future scenarios, suggesting a constructive role for visual imagery in representing episodic events. Aphantasia individuals reported fewer and qualitatively poorer dreams compared to controls, but spatial abilities did not appear to be affected, and Aphantasia individuals do not appear to be protected from all forms of trauma symptoms in response to stressful life events.