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Aphantasia... apparently 3% of the world has it. Any aphantasists in here, who've had success improving their condition? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Transcendant@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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10 years ago, I'd have put my ability to visualise at 0 out of 10. Practice and occasional halucinogen use has got me to 2 out of 10. It causes no end of problems in day to day life, so I'm interested to hear if anyone has tips or just experiences to share so it doesn't feel such a lonely frustrating issue.

edit informative comment from @Gwaer@lemm.ee about image streaming, I did a bit of digging on the broken links, the Dr isn't giving the info away for free anymore without buying their (expensive) book, but I found some further info on additional techniques here, pages 2/3: https://nlpcourses.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Image-Streaming-Mode-of-Thinking.pdf

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[-] notabot@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

I'm mostly group 2, but I can 'see' simple things if I want to, although they're somewhat ghostly in appearance. I found that drawing was a good way to start. Begin by drawing simple objects accurately, really focus on their shape and texture. That level of observation help you learn to really see things, rather than just looking at them. With that level of mental model it becomes easier to overlay or insert it into your perception of reality. With practice you get better at it.

Bear in mind that this is just my experience and I don't have much to base it on except what's worked for me.

[-] Otome-chan@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

So I'm firmly in type 2. I can close my eyes and just see black/the back of my eyelids. No matter how hard I try I will never be able to "override" my actual vision. Instead, I have a sort of "mental" model in my brain which can handle imagery and 3d scenes and such, but it's very different in experience than my actual vision. The two don't overlap at all for me.

"ghostly" is how I'd describe it, but it's really a different set of qualia altogether, not a "faint" version of my vision.

But yeah as you mention a few comments here kinda makes it sound like it's just a matter of practicing visualization (trying to create objects within my actual field of vision, as well as "emphasize" or "focus" on my #2 visualization). I'll have to spend time seeing if I can practice it...

this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023

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