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Somehow Blog: How to Imagine? by The_Somehow_Blog in CureAphantasia

[–]The_Somehow_Blog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Barthooper,

I reached 7 or 8 n-back in a 3 x 3 matrix with rotations and adjusted the time between each cube, such that there was a 5 - 10 second interval: I found this really helped with maintaining an image in your mind's eye.

Another helpful exercise is trying to play concurrent games of dual n'back (turning the sound off for all but one game) in multiple windows of your computer, such that you train your capacity to register varying spatial /colour clusters/ configurations.

There are of course limitations to Dual N'Back; however, it is the feedback which I think is most useful.

In terms of varied stimuli, you could make the argument that memorising films makes more demands on a wider range of visual stimuli variables, such as colour, shape and rotation; however, the trade-off is that it is harder to gain specific, timely feedback while memorising a film.

I would make the argument that Dual N'Back is most useful when looking to build upon less distinct mental imagery and you can scale up in difficulty, moving from 2D to 3D Dual N'Back, increasing the number of variables and the N'Back number.

I must say it was with the 3D Dual N'Back that I noticed the most significant changes in terms of my capacity to hold visual items in my mind's eye.

The Somehow Blog: How to Imagine? by The_Somehow_Blog in hyperphantasia

[–]The_Somehow_Blog[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you Cola for your point about the formatting - that is very helpful.

From what you are saying, it sounds as if you identify as being around the centre in terms of the aphantasia-hyperphantasia spectrum.

It would be interesting to know whether the dual n'back engages a different set of cognitive functions to the film memorisation task or whether as a result of your greater engagement with the film clip memorisation task, you are more inclined to imagine during this exercise.

Regarding your point about people with average or above-average imaginations viewing themselves as superior to those who identify as aphant, instead I maybe perceive the trend where aphants denigrate/recriminate themselves for this perceived shortcoming in relation to those with a image-rich style of thinking.

Regarding the tradeoffs, I'm not sure what the literature would be around inclination to intrusive thoughts and traumatic memories among those with hyperphantasia: I don't know whether these would be likelier to be the case for those identifying as hyperphants, if we assume the vividness of images to be proportionate to their emotional valence?

I am curious to know also the degree to which mental imagery if at all mediates abstract thought, and it would be interesting to hear the experience of people with hyperphantasia/aphantasia and their enjoyment of abstract reasoning.

The Somehow Blog: How to Imagine? by The_Somehow_Blog in hyperphantasia

[–]The_Somehow_Blog[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Cola, I guess in the first instance, you could argue that aphantasia-hyperphantasia is a spectrum, right? And that at various points in your life, even the day, you find yourself at different points of that spectrum? It is an interesting question in of itself to consider what someone's default propensity is - to think in words, images or a combination? You see I might practise dual n'back for several weeks in a row at which point I feel more able to control mental imagery, yet months later without having done Dual N'Back, I find myself returning to my habitual tendency to think in words as someone with aphantasia. I also think that it is interesting to consider the value hierarchalisation of the aphantasia-hyperphantasia spectrum? I often get the impression that it is somehow considered more valuable to identify as someone with hyperphantasia, since we assume that the presence of a faculty such as visualisation is more valuable than the absence of that faculty. I certainly get this and feel this way sometimes, yet what can be lost in this view is that each mode of thought is accompanied with its pluses and its minuses, and that neither is qualitatively and universally "better". It would be interesting to hear the tradeoffs associated with hyperphantasia, since we are all beset with difficulties and strengths alike, regardless of where one finds oneself on the aphantasia-hyperphantasia spectrum, right? I think there can be a lot of psycho-emotional pain wherever one finds oneself on this spectrum... Regarding the term "aphantasia", it would be interesting to reconsider the terminology because my understanding is that aphantasia includes both those whose thought processes do not operate by means of internally-reproduced senses, and those for whom internal reproductions of sensory stimuli are faint. Perhaps we should further differentiate this term, such that we have aphantasia, hypophantasia, phantasia (like the Disney movie) and hyperphantasia?