Michael Peele

There is a certain amount of visual stimulus such as the blood going through the veins in the eyes, the pressure of the eyeball, and other physical things. Those can look like black smoke on a black background possibly combined with the old school tv static, I think.

I think that is one of the superpowers of aphantasia. Memories that are horrible are abstracted and don't create the same sort of emotions as when it happened.

I always assumed that when people "imagine" things that they are speaking theoretically using the word "see" because there isn't another word for it. And, people who really do see things must be crazy or ill or something. Like hallucinating - I'm fairly sure I can't, and that might be some superpower.

There are lots of ways to learn and more variances than (a)phantasia for learning. I believe that there are very, very few things in school that are a near-impossibility for an aphant to learn/do, and those are along the lines of writing about poetry and stories that are supposed to invoke some emotional reaction, or cause some sight, sounds, or smells. If the assignment is how it affects "you" the student, then it is a problem. But, "what is the author trying to convey" should not be a problem. I believe most aphants don't know it, and shouldn't worry about it. I've found quite a few in various STEAMA careers (sci, tech, eng, arch, math, accounting).

Sometimes I think it might be nice to have some phantasia, but having aphantasia is a superpower. I never get an image stuck in my mind. People describe something unpleasant and someone says "Now I can't get that image out of my mind!" I don't know what they are talking about because there was no image to get stuck. To answer the question, apparently some have some success with various drugs, like medical shrooms in a medical setting, others practice and can do some, others not. Take it as a gift.

Aphantasia is a superpower.  You ever see something gruesome or disturbing in social media, and someone writes "Now I'll never get that out of my head." Guess what? As soon as I scroll past - It is gone! It's not coming back.  And, I don't know about you, but since I don't have an interest in reading fictional descriptions, I skip them. I skip a lot of reading. A LOT. I really just skim. But, I can skim something and tell what's going on. I only read at two speeds - very slow trying to pretend to understand descriptions, or very fast, and skip that stuff.  Not knowing what a person looks like is also associated with face-blindness. I have some of that. I am good with voices though. I have to work through context clues and other possibilities to figure out if I know someone, and who they are. If I meet new people, especially if it is a group where I'm going to meet lots of people, I will say, "Nice to meet you. I'm meeting a lot of new people tonight, so please forgive me and remind me if I don't remember you quickly." or something like that.  As for writing. I can't help. I can't do descriptions. Good luck. 

Critical thinking -  Who or what created the big bang, laws of physics, and all matter and energy?  #define ABCDEF "being created the big bang, laws of physics, and all matter and energy, sometimes called God, goes by lots of names, but regardless of the name, somehow matter and energy and laws of physics came into existence".  Done. 

Albert Einstein: "Never memorize something that you can look up." Why would anyone want to memorize the periodic table?  I know where Hydrogen and Helium are. Carbon, Oxygen, and Nitrogen are in the air and are somewhere in the top right.  Iron, Gold, Silver, Lead - they are in the middle somewhere.  Iron is Fe, Gold and Silver are Au and Ag (which is which, I don't remember nor care), and Lead is Pb. I remember these cause they aren't based on English.  Atomic weights, number of protons, isotopes - all stuff to look up.  If you become a jeweler, you might want to memorize the properties of the metals used in jewelry - which will only be a dozen or so.   

I just learned about this, in my 40's, and my son was in elementary school. He also has it.  We talked to his teacher and then the school counselor, and then 6 other school counselors from the county. None of them had ever heard of this, had zero training, and yet, they were all very, very interested, intrigued, and then wondered why they never heard of it. (This is is a very large, affluent county.)  We decided that my son would be the one to mention it to a teacher if something seemed like it required non-aphantasia to do well. And, if so, he'd either be coached, or provided with an alternate requirement.  He just stared a new grade at a new school, and mentioned this to a couple of teachers and they both were interested.  So far, we don't feel like a new curriculum would be necessary, as schools currently don't make students memorize 1000 minerals, or recite all the presidents in order; they are more interested in learning.  He's gotten a couple of slightly altered assignments which many students may find harder, but he finds doable.  Regarding your statement on college requirements -- I have a Master's degree, and I taught college for 4 years. I firmly believe that college degrees need to be reduced in courses and hours, and remove a bunch of the "rounding" stuff. I got an Engineering Bachelors, which required 150 hours, vs. the standard 120 - that right there is a bit of a sham. I'll stop before I digress too far. 

Aphantasia, ADHD, Dyslexia, Amusia, Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (SDAM)? I had to look up amusia...  I can't play an instrument or carry a tune in a bucket. But, I can hear them. And, I can recognize voices. Really well. I can recognize most actors not by appearance but by voice.  I don't think I have dyslexia, a little adhd, definitely have SDAM and aphantasia.  I can empathize (actually I "can't" really empathize, but I know what you mean) with not recalling things.  With friends or at work, I'm more focused on what is going on now, and will be going on vs. what happened. When they start talking about stuff, I often extrapolate to what will/could happen. 

I can't remember much. I don't memorize much.  However, I did get an Engineering degree and an Engineering License.  Engineering programs do not rely much on memorization. It is about how to memorize a process, and how to research.  Eventually, I start remembering some things, mostly random tidbits of stuff...  I just re-read, talk out loud, listen, and re-read in order to try to memorize. But, I've focused on education and career paths that are focused on learning, research, and process. 

I have high aphantasia and low empathy.  Similarly, I have to make some sort of internal logic process of "person seems to be doing ____, thus, I think I need to _______."  I have taken a LOT of classes on dealing with people, EQ, and empathy.  I believe I can relate.   

Could be something that causes some synesthesia?  Doesn't LSD do that? Are there any actual scientific studies available to participate in? 

Everyone is good and bad at different things.  I find that instead of trying to do everything, focus on what I am good at.  I did STEM + Econ in school, and ended up in Engineering.  I'd say that the big thing is that knowing that some types of homework can be a major problem/trigger for a full anphant - for example - Read this and write how it makes you feel.  Describe what you see in your imagination when you read this (the answer is "Nothing, its black, just black, always is")  Draw/paint/color anything abstract  any assignment with feelings, imagination, or emotions/empathy.  If they describe something in pure, simple fact format, like "describe the room", and they say "10m x 15m with white walls", vs someone who says "warm with colorful pictures and a carpet as soft as a kitten" that's fine.  Memory works differently in different people.  You know when someone posts a scary picture on social media or TV, and someone says, "I'll never get that out of my head!" As soon as it is gone, the aphant says "what picture??" I don't remember any. I can't get a disturbing picture _in_ my head.