2024/03/27 by Adam Zeman · 1 voice · 4 citations
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Face Recognition and Perception #Multisensory perception and integration #Visual perception and processing mechanisms
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2024.02.007
openalex publication_date 2024/03/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The vividness of imagery varies between individuals. However, the existence of people in whom conscious, wakeful imagery is markedly reduced, or absent entirely, was neglected by psychology until the recent coinage of 'aphantasia' to describe this phenomenon. 'Hyperphantasia' denotes the converse - imagery whose vividness rivals perceptual experience. Around 1% and 3% of the population experience extreme aphantasia and hyperphantasia, respectively. Aphantasia runs in families, often affects imagery across several sense modalities, and is variably associated with reduced autobiographical memory, face recognition difficulty, and autism. Visual dreaming is often preserved. Subtypes of extreme imagery appear to be likely but are not yet well defined. Initial results suggest that alterations in connectivity between the frontoparietal and visual networks may provide the neural substrate for visual imagery extremes.