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Some people can't see mental images

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183 points petalmind | 1 comments | 30 Oct 25 17:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.252s | source

https://archive.ph/iMdvd

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andy99 ◴[30 Oct 25 18:12 UTC] No.45763166[source]▶

>>45762837 (OP) #

I’ve read tons of these and still have no idea if I have aphantasia or not. I can’t understand whether people just have different ways of describing what’s in their minds eye or if there’s really a fundamental difference.

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1. teaearlgraycold ◴[30 Oct 25 21:42 UTC] No.45765725[source]▶

A guy was talking to me about designing some robot legs. He was just getting started and was new to mechanical design. The more questions I asked him the more I realized he couldn’t internally visualize what he was designing. When I’m putting something together in my head it’s like a mental CAD where I can place objects down, constrain them to each other, and see how they move in relation to each other. For this guy I recommended simply diagramming on paper to work out how it should function.

I have a fuzzy mental stage for these things. It’s like my mind’s second monitor. It mostly goes ignored but I can focus on it if I want to. Shapes and colors are weak but are definitely there. But still a useful tool.