I love both. I'm not sure if I manage to conjure up vague scenes visually, or if I just feel I have the knowledge of what that scene looks like. It's almost as though the very lack of effort and intention allows me to form an image more easily--if that's what's happening. I'm not focused on forming an image when I'm reading, I'm focused on enjoying the story.
As recently as 2020, the only thing known about a genetic basis for aphantasia is that it runs in families more often than would be expected by chance (Zeman et al., 2020). So there probably are genetic markers, they're just totally unknown so far. Let's hope someone researches it soon!
Spatial ability, unlike object memory, is preserved in aphantasia. That may account for one of your paradoxes. I know the sensation you're describing...knowing the form and dimensions of an object, and being able to manipulate it, without being able to "see" it in any way analogous to the visual modality.
You're right about the subjectivity issue in cognition studies. (I'm a baby neuroscientist). They often come up with some extremely clever ways around that, though, like priming in binocular rivalry. Isn't the division of labor in marriage wonderful? My ADHD brain never has to do taxes again. That said, I'm mad about my husband's hyperphantasia because I'm an artist and he's not. :P I started writing a literature review on visual imagery mainly because I was interested in the different ways that people think -- pictures, words, sometimes even numbers. Fascinating stuff. Most of us don't even think about these differences in our inner lives. Why would we? How would we know they exist? It reminds me of that old question, do colors look the same to everyone?
I dream visually, although I think the vividness varies. And most sensory modalities are involved, sometimes even taste. I don't recall if smell is involved. I'm not sure if I'm considered a true aphantasic though. I'm probably a 4 on most VVIQ questions (dim and fleeting images).
Not that I'm aware of, and I've been doing quite a bit of research on the topic lately (writing a literature review). However, I have heard that ASD is linked to higher-than-average intelligence. I'm interested in the coexistence of your aphantasia and schizophrenia, since one involves a lack of imagery and the other an excess. If it isn't too personal, may I ask if you experience visual hallucinations? Or do you only experience hallucinations in sensory modalities that aren't affected by your aphantasia?
Hi Ian, I'm a VERY verbal aphantasic (or nearly aphantasic; I can get dim and fleeting images sometimes.) People with aphantasia use more verbal scaffolding on average than controls do during object memory tasks, probably because we can't form pictures directly so we give ourselves verbal cues. That said, spatial abilities are totally preserved in aphantasia, indicating that spatial and object memory probably use different neural systems. I don't think your experience is unusual. You're probably just using spatial rather than verbal workaround strategies where non-aphantasics would simply generate images. I hesitate to add this, because I don't want people to make automatic assumptions about themselves...but aphantasia is also correlated with autism, and some autistics have very pronounced abilities in spatial/mathematical thinking.