Minds eye...able to visualise

Yes, I think I said upthread that I can see these things when my eyes are open not shut.

Is imagination another word for your mind's eye?

NJalims same for me I can imagine a garden with red flowers and tall trees but I don’t see a photograph of them
I can imagine sheep jumping and yes I can imagine one stumbling but I don’t see a photographic picture of them
So I m really confused as to what these people with this newly named condition are actually seeing or not seeing or whether I and the poster husband have it or don’t have it
a number of posters including myself have said when we close our eyes we see darkness ...so when you close your eyes you dont ?

I'm not quite sure what your friends mean by memories and imagination - is that thoughts ie words and imagined scenarios?

I see photographic pictures, some I have actually seen, some I have seen pictures of and some are imagined. eg I have never actually seen sheep jumping a gate except in my mind's eye and sometimes one will stumble and I can feel an 'ouch' if it knocks its leg.

But when you are all saying you have vivid visualisation do you actually see photographic picture behinds closed eyes because I ve now talked to friends since reading this and none see actual pictures just memories and imagination
So if this is a rare condition it seems an awful lot of people have it and are without this photographic feature

Unfortunately my DH is unable to visualise
When changing decor I can visualise quite well, colours, room plan etc.
As with clothes DH does not instinctively know when certain colours just don't go together.
If someone describes a scene or situation I again can visualise it.
My husband can't.
There is a downside for me as I often
visualise unpleasant or bad things.
Resulting in anxiety.

Jordana Does your husband remember dreams?
I have vivid dreams virtually every night and can recall next morning.
However my DH is unable to remember any of his dreams and although he accepts that he probably does dream he is completely unaware that he dreams during the night.
As a child I was also what my parents called a Day Dreamer.
I wonder if there is a possible connection?

DH has great sense of direction whereas I have zilch

Grandma2133, I experience the same sort of thing. I can close my eyes and these random faces flit pass of people I don’t know. As it usually happens when I am lying on the bed but not asleep I put it down to tiredness

I can visualise faces in great and clear detail. Unfortunately when a person dies I gradually lose the ability,until the only way I can remember their features is by looking at a photogragh. It's rather sad.

When reading a book I can picture each character and setting, but if the book has been filmed it's usually not how I imagined it. An exception was the Swedish(?) version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo- just as I'd imagined it when I read it. The American version with lovely Daniel Craig was so wrong.

I visualise better with my eyes open rather than shut.

DS always had an amazing sense of direction even as a very small child.

Are we talking about different things I imagine how things look I can imagine scenarios when I read a book which I thought was my ‘minds eye’ but if I shut my eyes I only see blackness not real pictures
If you said to me imagine a house and garden my mind will think about a house, the colour, the curtains, the grass and flowers the path, but I don’t see a photographic picture of them only a detailed thought which I could describe it all to you so isn’t that my minds eye then ?
I do have a dreadful sense of direction and even somewhere I ve been before looks totally unfamiliar each time unless I ve been there a lot
I have no sense of loss as I ve never had anything different and always thought I was completely normal and perhaps I am I don’t consider I ve got a problem as I still can imagine everything and as a number of people on here have described it the same as me it can’t be very rare can it?

What an interesting and informative discussion.

I'm fascinated by Lemongrove's comment about visualising a map and never getting lost. People have always been amused at my hopeless sense of direction and as I've got older it causes me some distress. I have never thought about it being an actual 'condition' but I believe it might be now. I don't think I can visualise a route easily.
I have always drawn, or even scribbled, pictures as an aide memoire but thought this was because I like drawing. How interesting.

I asked DH and apparently he can - although years ago he was puzzled by the concept.

I’m the same as hildajenni. I can’t see anything when I try to visualise them. I kno what things look like and can describe them but can’t see an image. All of th rest of my family can see images but I can’t. I wonder if that’s why I can’t do relaxation with visualisation? Seems like it’s more common than the article says

Sorry! don't like the feeling

Applegran Glad its not just me. I have put it down to stress.Although am waiting for an orthopaedic op and don't know how long I will have to wait so my doc has increased my meds to cope with pain so that might be another reason.Don't like the feeling.

no picture in my mind either but I have no problems I'm aware of, same as hildajenni
eg:
with directions - if it's right at the oak tree/pub/traffic lights etc I know what they look like so will turn right.
Looking at houses to buy it didn't need to be dressed - any room can be what I want it to be whether it looks like that with the vendors furniture in or not.
And I definitely don't have pictures in my mind for books but read them everyday and can follow the story easily

You see, I can remember what things look like, I can describe places I've been to, and tell you all about them, but I cannot conjure up a picture of any of these things in my head. When I read a novel, I cannot visualise the people or places and am thankful that I have the memories of houses I've visited or TV series I've seen, which helps in this respect. I can give directions in my local area, and can remember routes to places when driving, but this is different from making a mental image. I don't know how else to describe it, but I've never missed picture in my head.

Fascinated by aphantasia, which I had never heard of, or imagined could exist. There is a nice little quiz on the Beeb web site with just eight questions to see how strong your powers of visualisation are: www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34039054
It makes me wonder what else is going on in the minds of even our nearest and dearest that we are unaware of. My OH certainly thinks in a very different way to me, but its hard to get a handle on exactly how, because he is a numbers person and cant always articulate to me how he sees things.

Another example which I've come across (before the days of SatNav!) - when given directions to drive to a place, I form a visual image in my head, for example 'there's a pub on the left', 'turn right where the oak tree is', etc whereas other people I know have to have a set of written instructions.

My youngest has dyslexia, which we discovered whilst trying to teach her to spell - you know, the "bed" way of deciding which way round a letter goes. I wonder if it's related?

When you close your eyes, do you see a real picture, like a photograph?

I don't have to close my eyes to see something in my mind's eye.
Perhaps that is why I was always called a 'daydreamer' when I was a child.
I don't think that DH can see things in his mind's eye the same as I do.

I am finding as I get older that when I'm driving I struggle sometimes to remember the way to places I really know well. Or I can remember the way to two places, but struggle to work out the way from one of them to the other. I've read that this is not uncommon in older people. Otherwise I visualise things easily in 'my mind's eye'. This is different from 'seeing black' when I close my eyes - my 'mind's eye' is not behind my eye lids, but just where it says it is - in my mind.

jordana As a retired neuropsychologist I am fascinated (and sorry!) to hear of your husband's condition. It is extremely rare and I have never met anybody with it. How does he manage if asked to give directions, say from the station/bus stop to your house?
Do you think his quality of life has suffered as a result? Does he read especially novels?
I'm glad we have TV and videos, for his sake.
Wishing your husband well and much happiness to you both.

Interesting. I can't see a picture when I close my eyes but I could remember what something looked like.

I do have a problem with visualising things I buy in place or vety often when I buy clothes online they are not as I thought. But I thought this was normal. 2% is a very high number of people.