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Comment by amenghra | Hacker News Reader

Do you think you have some form of Aphantasia? This post by Blake Ross might be helpful? https://m.facebook.com/notes/blake-ross/aphantasia-how-it-fe...

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I always wondered whether a good way to describe Aphantasia to people who don't have it is to ask them to "imagine" an odor. Most people can recognize specific oders effortlessly and remember them for decades (example: you smell some brand of aftershave, and you immediately know that this is how your great-grandfather always smelled, who has been dead for 20 years), but you cannot "think" of an odor and actually smell it the same way you can think of an apple and see and inspect its image inside your head. Yet you "know" what gasoline smells like, or fresh bread.

This leads to another interesting question: are there people who cannot imagine music and other sounds, like speech? Is this related to Aphantasia?

A question even more interesting: are there people who can imagine odors, or combinations of them? I would expect this to be very handy if you are designing perfume, for example.

Wait, you cannot imagine odors? They are more vivid than images in my head.

Wow, I never thought about that, didn't realise that was a thing. I can only so very vaguely imagine what things would smell like that I wonder if I really am at all.

Music, sounds and voices have always been the most clear for me (I can think through some of my favourite orchestral pieces with multiple instruments at once), but I've never been as good at visual.

It's the same for me. If it's an unaltered condition, it seems at least more common than lack of internal voice or eye :)

Oh my god :(

I love unintentional epiphanies :)

I can imagine odors decently. I didn't know this until I just tried it after reading your comment. But yeah, I just imagined what a jasmine bush smells like, my dog's poop, strawberry scent car freshener, baby powder, and distant brush fire.

My best guess is that I'm imagining them at something like 30% fidelity, and some are harder than others to synthesize in "my mind's nose"

It's not nearly as good as what I can visualize in my mind's eye, so your analogy is still helpful.

Yeah, I think I have a relatively poor visual imagination, but when I try to picture a specific object it's probably ~10% as vivid as actually glancing at it. When I try to recall a smell, it's probably more like 20% as vivid as smelling it.

I can definitely think of odors and smell them, certainly more vividly than I can see mental images.

Thinking of fresh bread nearly makes me wonder whether someone is baking it nearby. Sounds are similar for me. I can play most songs in my head with full orchestration, and pick out different instruments. After hearing my alarm and turning it off, I will sometimes think of it later and have to check to make sure it isn't playing again.

Images though, require sustained effort for me to maintain. I would never ever mistake a mental image for a real image - they are completely on completely different "screens" if you will.

Plus the artist for the Little Mermaid had it so it would fit in with being able to draw things but not visualise them.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2019/apr/...

> Do you think you have some form of Aphantasia?

Yes, I think so, it is so strong the first time I tried to take the test I was somewhat surprised that you were supposed to be able to do all these things.

I'll add the article to my reading list immediately :-)

Edit: yep, read a few lines, very similar and interesting. Haven't seen this article before, thanks.

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