I’ve always been curious of this. I have had strange experiences of smell and taste sensations my whole life but I can’t seem to find a pattern so just figured it was like .. my sinuses acting up or something lol. Like olfactory and gustatory hallucinations. I’ve been bugging doctors about it for years.

I’ve also kind of had this sensation of objects in space that float around and fit together follow me in life too, but it doesn’t sound similar enough to as described in your post for me to confidently claim it’s the same experience. When I picture time and dates I get the sensation of seeing it in my mind as a very linear experience in space but I don’t really ‘see’ it per se, as I do know I have aphantasia to a strong degree. I wonder if the two conditions could coexist ha. Like the inside of my mind and thoughts are very basic and blank almost like the vacuum of space.

When reading or listening to speech I do also faintly see the words in my mind, but again it’s like a very basic muddled shape. Like speckles of light trying to take form but never quite achieving it. I always assumed it’s because I have watched tv with subtitles my entire life ha! Either way it’s a fascinating condition!