Blindness is darkness, blindness is blankness, and it happens to one in 50 people!!!

Let's do a test first. Please close your eyes and imagine the sea in the distance. The water is shining bright blue, waves are rushing to the shore, the white sand beach rises and falls with the terrain, and seagulls are circling in the sky...

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Can you immediately conjure up the corresponding picture in your mind? You may think this is an easy thing to do, but for some people, they can't do it because of a very special symptom - aphantasia .

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People who have lost their "mind's eye"

The word aphantasia comes from the Greek word phantasia (fantasy, daydream). Philosopher Aristotle used it to describe the images that appear in the mind. Adding an a in front of it means that you do not have this ability. Therefore, "heart blindness" is also called "imagination disorder" and "hallusion visual aplasia".

Source: Getty Images

In 2003, Dr. Adam Zeman (neurologist) of the University of Exeter in the UK received a strange problem from an old man named "MX": after a heart artery surgery, his vision was normal, but he could not form images in his mind. So Dr. Adam Zeman began studying this case in 2005.

Dr. Adam Zeman

Source: aphantasia.com

Although the existence of "heart blindness" was recognized in the 19th century, there was no specific term to describe this phenomenon. It was not until 2015 that Zeman's team used the name aphantasia for the first time after publishing a series of research results. The naming of "heart blindness" has aroused strong public interest and has led to a wave of research in recent years. Studies have found that the prevalence of heart blindness is about 2%, which means that one in every 50 people may suffer from it.

Source: Elina Cerla

People with heart blindness cannot imagine pictures in their minds. Their minds seem to be blank. However, their memory and language functions are intact. For example, if a red apple is placed in front of them, they can clearly describe the characteristics of the apple, including color, size, etc., even though they cannot remember what the apple looks like. This shows that people with heart blindness can solve the problem of visualizing words based on their memory of facts. Because of this, it is difficult to find the difference between people with heart blindness and ordinary people.

Source: Internet

To raise public awareness of heart blindness, Zeman and his colleagues have set up a website where people can learn about the latest research on heart blindness. In addition, they have designed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) to help people test whether they have problems with their imagery.

VVIQ Test

Source: aphantasia.com

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How does heart blindness occur?

Zeman's team scanned MX's brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Generally speaking, when people use their imagination, a neural network consisting of different brain regions will be activated, some of which are involved in decision-making and others in memory or vision. MX's imaging results showed that when he imagined the picture, there was very little activity in the visual cortex area of ​​the brain and some adjacent areas, while the areas involved in decision-making were more active. This finding suggests that MX uses a different strategy than ordinary people when processing visual tasks.

Source: Global Encyclopedia

Zeman is also exploring how the brains of people with heart blindness function differently from those of the general population. They found that when people with high VVIQ scores (indicating strong imagery) were asked to imagine something, only a few areas of the brain lit up. The same areas also lit up when their brains processed complex images, such as faces, events, and spatial relationships. In contrast, those with low VVIQ scores had more brain activations, and areas associated with controlling behavior and planning were more likely to be activated.

Source: Sophie Wolfson

In addition to the above physiological factors, researchers have also found that the cause of heart blindness may also be related to psychological factors. The researchers first asked the patients to imagine an image, and then presented a picture in front of their eyes. If the image is in the left eye, then press the left button as quickly as possible; otherwise, press the right button as quickly as possible. The researchers will record their reaction time.

Generally speaking, if people with heart blindness cannot imagine images, their reaction time should be faster than that of ordinary people. However, the experimental results show that the reaction time of these people with heart blindness is slightly different from that of ordinary people, which indicates that their brains can imagine images unconsciously, but they are not aware of it. So why do they suppress their imagination? At present, there is no answer to this question, and researchers will continue to explore more secrets of heart blindness.

Source: aphantasia.com

In addition, some researchers have found that heart blindness has a genetic factor. Based on the known patient cases, parents with this symptom are more likely to give birth to children with the same symptom than ordinary parents.

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Heart blindness also has advantages

Fortunately, heart blindness does not affect creativity. Many patients have successfully engaged in creative professions, such as artists, architects, etc. It does not cause much trouble in daily life. On the contrary, it has some benefits.

1. Stronger spatial memory and a greater preference for theory

Bainbridge, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, found through experiments that patients with heart blindness have a very good memory of the spatial location of objects in images. They can accurately describe the layout of items in a room, or the layout of the structure of a room, with a much higher accuracy rate than ordinary people. Researchers speculate that this may be because their brains use more resources to remember spatial location information. Some surveys by Adam Zeman found that a high proportion of people with heart blindness work in science or mathematics, perhaps because they lack imagination but are good at logic and theory.

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2. Better concentration and higher efficiency

Studies have shown that people with heart blindness have lower sensory sensitivity and may be less affected by the sensory world (taste, touch, sound, body sensation, etc.) than ordinary people. Sometimes, too much imagination can easily distract people, but heart blindness can help people get rid of the interference of messy information and be more focused, which is a good thing for study or work.

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3. Don’t imagine embarrassing or sad things

Do you recall the embarrassing moments you made in front of everyone N years ago, and toss and turn in bed with your mind still vivid in your mind? People with heart blindness will not have these troubles. They will not see the "images" of the past, which will not stimulate their brains and produce strong emotions. So, sometimes remembering too clearly can affect your mood.

It has been 19 years since Zeman noticed heart blindness. Although there is no cure for heart blindness yet, with further research in the future, I believe they can open the "eyes of the mind" again.