Some casual unscientific research - a question to my fellow autistic HN contributors:
Do you have a "mind's eye" - that is, can you close your eyes, and voluntarily visualise mental images?
If you can't, you have a condition called "Aphantasia"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
When I found out about aphantasia, I was fascinated. I'd always imagined that "mind's eye" was a metaphor. I never knew it was literal, and that most of the population are able to visualise imagery in their head.
Could there be a link beteen aphantasia and autism?
Since I'm unable to visualise the faces (and thus expressions) of people, maybe this contributes to my lack of empathy and ability to predict other people's emotional state.
If you have autism, do you also have aphantasia?
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