Why can’t I see images in my head?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2023

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

CrowdScience listener Eileen cannot see images in her head of her memories. She only discovered by chance that most other people can do this. She wants to know why she can’t see them and if it is something she can learn to do.

Anand Jagatia finds out what mental images are for and whether scientists know why some people can’t create them.

Three per cent of the world’s population cannot see mental images like Eileen. And it is only recently been given a name – aphantasia.

Anand discovers why mental images are useful, why they are sometimes traumatic and how people who are blind or visually impaired can also create images of the world around them.

Contributors:

Emily Holmes, professor of clinical psychology, Uppsala University, Sweden Adam Zeman, professor of cognitive and behavioural psychology, Exeter University, UK Joel Pearson, professor of cognitive neuroscience, University of New South Wales, Australia Paul Gabias, associate professor, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada Marijke Peters, Hannah Fisher and Jo Glanville, CrowdScience producers

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Sound: Jackie Margerum

Image credit: Andriy Onufriyenko | GETTY IMAGES | Creative #1397973635

Transcript

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0:25.5	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:31.6	The Happy Pod is a special weekly episode from the Global News Podcast bringing new positive stories and
0:37.4	uplifting interviews from around the world.
0:39.6	Thousands of lives are being saved by bandages that can stop heavy bleeding in less than a minute.
0:44.7	It's there to save lives. It's great to go to bed night knowing that we can help.
0:47.8	Listen now by searching for the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:55.0	If I ask you to picture an apple, what happens?
1:00.0	Can you visualize an apple in your mind's eye?
1:04.0	Does it have a color?
1:05.5	Is it particularly vivid?
1:07.4	And if you can picture something,
1:09.5	where does this sensation arise?
1:12.4	Does it feel like it's inside your head? I'm Annan
1:16.8	Jagatier and this is crowd science from the BBC World Service and today we're
1:21.2	exploring the pictures that most of us see in our heads all the time.
1:25.5	Memories from the past that play out like movies.
	...

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