The Shape of Things Unseen: Conversation with Dr. Adam Zeman On The New Science of Imagination

In this exclusive interview, the neurologist who discovered aphantasia delivers revolutionary insights for anyone who has ever wondered about the nature of human imagination: his accidental finding has fundamentally changed how we understand creativity, memory, and consciousness - and revealed why the absence of mental imagery might be humanity's hidden advantage.

Professor Adam Zeman's groundbreaking research, detailed in his book "The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination," challenges long-held assumptions about how our minds work and opens new understanding about the diverse ways humans experience the world without mental images.

The Problem Nobody Knew Existed

For decades, scientists assumed everyone experienced imagination the same way. When researchers talked about "visualizing," "picturing something in your mind's eye," or "seeing it clearly," they never questioned whether everyone actually could do these things. It was like assuming everyone could taste chocolate the same way - until you meet someone who can't taste it at all.

The wake-up call came in the early 2000s when Professor Zeman encountered patient "MX" - a man who lost his ability to visualize after a medical procedure. What started as a curious case study would shatter everything we thought we knew about human imagination.

"I was delighted when 20 people got in touch over several years," Zeman recalls. "I thought this was going to be a rarity, an intriguing rarity. I hadn't at all expected that it would be a feature of experience which occurs in a few percent of the world's population."

Then Carl Zimmer wrote about the research in Discover magazine. Zeman's email exploded with messages from people worldwide who finally had a name for their experience.

The Creative Myth That Needed Busting

Here's where things get interesting. For generations, we've been told that creativity requires visualization. Art teachers insist students must "see" what they're drawing. Writers are taught to create vivid mental scenes. The entire creative industry seemed built on the assumption that mental imagery was essential.

But Zeman's research revealed something that should make us rethink everything: some of our most successful creatives have aphantasia.

Take Ed Catmull, past president of Pixar and Turing Prize winner for computer animation discoveries. When asked about his creative process, he responded:

"I don't know. I need a whiteboard. I kind of enter into dialogue with it and interesting things happen."

Or Glen Keane, the Disney animator who created The Little Mermaid's Ariel. Despite arguments with mentors insisting he must visualize to draw, Keane maintains he doesn't see images in his head. Instead, "the page is his mind's eye."

These aren't exceptions - they're proof that we've been wrong about what creativity actually requires.

What's Really Happening in Your Brain

When Zeman's team started scanning brains, they expected to find that people with aphantasia had "broken" visual systems. Instead, they discovered something much more nuanced.

People with aphantasia do activate visual regions when thinking about visual information. The difference isn't in the destination - it's in the connections. Aphantasic brains show weaker links between the frontal thinking regions and the visual system.

"People with aphantasia have said to me, 'I feel that there's imagery there, I just can't quite get to it,'" Zeman notes. "It's rather like a tip-of-the-tongue experience."

This explains why many people with aphantasia can navigate using spatial maps in their heads, even without seeing pictures. They're using a completely different neural pathway - one that handles location and spatial relationships rather than detailed visual information.

The Memory Trade-Off Nobody Talks About

Here's where aphantasia gets really interesting from a practical standpoint. Most people with aphantasia describe their personal memories as "thinner" than those of friends and family. They remember facts about their past rather than rich, sensory experiences.

At first glance, this might seem like a disadvantage. But Zeman's research suggests it might actually be protective. People with aphantasia appear to experience fewer recurring thoughts and intrusive images after traumatic events.

"Many people have said that they move on more easily from traumatic events than others seem to because they're not revisited by thoughts of the person they've lost or the place that they've left," Zeman observes.

It's like having a built-in emotional circuit breaker - painful memories can't replay in vivid detail because the replay system works differently.

The Genetics Nobody Expected

Family studies reveal something surprising: if your sibling has aphantasia, you're about ten times more likely to have it too. This suggests aphantasia isn't random - it's partly hereditary.

But it's not just about genes. The research shows aphantasia isn't a single condition but a spectrum of different experiences. Some people lack only visual imagery while maintaining sounds, smells, and other senses in their minds. Others experience what researchers call "multi-sensory aphantasia" - no internal sensory experiences at all.

The Default Mode Network Discovery

One of Zeman's most significant findings involves what scientists call the "default mode network" - brain regions that are particularly active when we're not focused on specific tasks. This network governs daydreaming, recalling past memories, anticipating the future, and making social and moral decisions.

During creative work, this network collaborates unusually with executive control regions, which might explain why some people can simultaneously reach deep for creative ideas while shaping and critiquing them. This discovery helps explain the neural basis of human imagination and why disruptions to these networks might lead to different imaginative experiences.

The Surprising Links to Other Conditions

Zeman's research has uncovered unexpected connections between aphantasia and other neurological conditions. There appears to be increased prevalence of aphantasia among people with autism, and many people with aphantasia also experience SDAM (Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory).

Perhaps most intriguingly, there may be connections to face blindness (prosopagnosia). These links suggest that aphantasia isn't an isolated phenomenon but part of a broader pattern of how different brains process and store information.

Can Aphantasia Be Acquired?

One of the most concerning questions Zeman addresses is whether aphantasia can develop after trauma. Some individuals report losing their imagery following traumatic events, suggesting the mind might "dial down" imagery as a defense mechanism.

However, Zeman emphasizes this area requires much more research. While some people do report acquired aphantasia, the relationship between trauma and imagery loss remains poorly understood and shouldn't be assumed to be causal without further investigation.

The Hypnotism Question

An unexpected finding from Zeman's work relates to hypnotism. Many people with aphantasia report difficulty being hypnotized, which makes sense given that traditional hypnotic induction often relies heavily on guided imagery. This practical insight has implications for therapeutic approaches that depend on hypnotic states.

The Demographics That Surprised Researchers

Preliminary research suggests some interesting demographic patterns in aphantasia, though Zeman cautions against drawing firm conclusions from early data. There may be slight differences in gender distribution and cultural factors, but these patterns need much more investigation before any definitive statements can be made.

More intriguingly, early research hints that aphantasia might nudge people toward STEM fields, possibly because abstract thinking becomes more natural without visual "clutter." However, successful aphantasic individuals are found in every profession, and Zeman warns against the "aphantasia stamp" - attributing all life choices retrospectively to the condition.

What This Means for You

If you're reading this and recognizing yourself in these descriptions, you're not broken. You're not missing out. Your brain is simply wired differently, and that difference might actually be an advantage in certain situations.

Craig Venter, the geneticist who first decoded the human genome, attributed his scientific success partly to his lack of mental imagery. Without visual "clutter," abstract thinking becomes more natural.

The key insight from Zeman's work isn't that aphantasia is good or bad - it's that cognitive diversity is normal and valuable. Whether you visualize in vivid detail, experience no mental imagery, or fall somewhere between, your unique cognitive profile contributes something important to human creativity and problem-solving.

The Bigger Picture

Zeman's research reminds us that human consciousness isn't one-size-fits-all.

"If we appreciated the complexity of the human organism, particularly the brain, we'd treat each other better," he reflects. "We are the most extraordinary creations. Each of us inhabits our own imaginative universe, and each of our universes is subtly different."

The Shape of Things Unseen, isn't just about aphantasia - it's about recognizing that the most important aspects of human experience often can't be seen from the outside. Understanding these invisible differences is the first step toward building a world that works for all types of minds.

As Zeman's research continues expanding our understanding of imagination, one thing remains clear: the variations in how we experience our inner mental lives aren't disabilities or deficits, but fascinating examples of the extraordinary diversity of human consciousness. And that diversity isn't just interesting - it's essential to human creativity and progress.