Is "visualizing" like images in dreams?
1 min readByEric Bruneton
I recently learned about aphantasia, and I think I have it but I'm not completely sure. I can visualize vivid images, with colors, when I dream (I'm sure about this from the rare cases when I'm semi-conscious, upon waking). But I can't when I'm awake.
Is this aphantasia (according to https://aphantasia.com/discussion/29204/minds-eye-but-only-when-half-asleep/ the answer is yes)?
Can people *without* aphantasia consciously visualize the same kind of images as in their dreams?
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gregory coghlan•recently
Personally, I did a whole lot of acid in the 1970s - I remember visual distortions but have no idea whether or not they were images b/c when I am not high on acid, I can't recall my hallucinations
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Julian F•recently
I've been reaching out to friends and relatives trying to figure that out myself.
I too have extremely vivid dreams but forget about it when I'm awake, maybe if I'm falling asleep or in moments where I get super distracted and drift out of existence I get like a 100ms flash of something like a dream but that is it.
Everyone I talked to said that their visualization is at some spectrum of the visualization in a dream. One friend actually put a number on it and said it was like 60% of a dream because the immersion was not there as he knew it was not real.
I can't know how they visualize, but based on what I've asked and have been told by all of them that it is to some degree like the visualization in dreaming.
As I can visualize vividly in dreams I can confidently say I cannot remotely summon any feeling or visualization that is like a dream of my own volition.
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Max L•recently
Idk what people without aphantasia can do, but you 100% have aphantasia.
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