Which of these do you have? I have all twelve.
Which of these do you have? Tick all that apply.
Visual aphantasia — no pictures
Auditory aphantasia — no sounds in the mind
Tactile aphantasia — no imagined touch or texture
Gustatory aphantasia — no imagined taste
Olfactory aphantasia — no imagined smell
Kinesthetic aphantasia — no imagined movement or bodily sensation
No inner voice — no inner speech, monologue, or narration of any kind
Inaccessible autobiographical memory — facts but no re-entry into past events
Automatic worded thinking, without sound — words arrive whole, silent, unconstructed
No spatial imagery — can't build, rotate, or manipulate an object in the mind
No scenario-building or forward projection — can't construct or simulate an imagined situation, whether about the future or anything else
Out of sight, out of mind — no mental presence of absent people
I have all twelve. I'm trying to work out how rare that combination is.
A bit more detail. My autobiographical memory isn't just impaired, it's inaccessible. I know the facts of my life, but I can't re-enter any of it. I don't have an inner monologue or any kind of internal narration — no sound, no voice, no pictures, no sensory imagination of any kind.
I do feel real pain and real bodily states. I know when I'm hungry, when my throat is dry, when something hurts. What I can't do is generate those sensations in my mind when they aren't happening.
My thinking is worded, but it's automatic and silent. Words arrive whole, in the present, without prevarication or construction. There's no voice producing them, and I don't hear them. They're just there, as content.
I'd be interested to know whether anyone else has a similar profile, and how you experience memory, reading, and thinking. I've found that the standard descriptions don't quite fit, and I'm trying to work out what does.