A cognitive profile of multi-sensory imagery, memory and dreaming in aphantasia.

ABSTRACT: For most people, visual imagery is an innate feature of many of our internal experiences, and appears to play a critical role in supporting core cognitive processes. Some individuals, however, lack the ability to voluntarily generate visual imagery altogether - a condition termed "aphantasia". Recent research suggests that aphantasia is a condition defined by the absence of visual imagery, rather than a lack of metacognitive awareness of internal visual imagery. Here we further illustrate a cognitive "fingerprint" of aphantasia, demonstrating that compared to control participants with imagery ability, aphantasic individuals report decreased imagery in other sensory domains, although not all report a complete lack of multi-sensory imagery. They also report less vivid and phenomenologically

SUBMITTER: Dawes AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7308278 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature