sometimes when i read, yeah. I have something kind of the opposite of aphantasia. folks used to say i had an overactive imagination. it is very easy for me to imagine/picture in my mind things that are described in stories (okay, things that are described well in stories. All tall handsome men are Alan Rickman and Henry Cavill and sometimes they hold hands in bookshops I cannot help the way the universe works). Sometimes I have an inner monologue reading along with me. There is always a soundtrack but that is my own personal insanity. It really depends on the genre, how much i’m liking the book, the time of day, my mood, &c how much I’m going to tune out the outside world and disappear into a book.
The opposite of aphantasia is hyperphantasia, if you want to look into it more :) the whole thing is a spectrum from people who see nothing to people who see things nearly as though they were real, and constantly.
I’m on the a- end, sadly, but a very good friend of mine has hyper-, constantly seeing super vivid imagery, and we’ve had some real interesting conversations about that :)
So mine is kinda weird. It’s easy for me to drift off into… I guess I think of them as sense memories? Memories of specific senses that were so strong that they created impactful marks on the psyche. A scar of happiness. That really good crab enchilada at south congress café with the green sauce. That first time you had esquites. The time Scott at the burger place made a new type of burger just for you and the next week it was on the menu with your name. That perfect crisp lick of cinnamon ice cream on a hot summer day. Those are a few of mine. I can just dip in, the smell in my mind takes carries me off and then… Fuck I’m hungry again. It’s kind of like an intensely vivid daydream. You know how you tune out your little brother because he keeps making the mistake of existing? Kind of like that but your brain replaces the nothing and tinnitus sounds coming out of the brother’s mouth with the sound of cookies being baked and shit.
I had to stare at a blank wall for a month straight with nothing to do or interact with or talk to (no that it’s not a joke) so I guess maybe my mind adapted to the boredom? Do not attempt that it breaks you like this
sometimes when i read, yeah. I have something kind of the opposite of aphantasia. folks used to say i had an overactive imagination. it is very easy for me to imagine/picture in my mind things that are described in stories (okay, things that are described well in stories. All tall handsome men are Alan Rickman and Henry Cavill and sometimes they hold hands in bookshops I cannot help the way the universe works). Sometimes I have an inner monologue reading along with me. There is always a soundtrack but that is my own personal insanity. It really depends on the genre, how much i’m liking the book, the time of day, my mood, &c how much I’m going to tune out the outside world and disappear into a book.
The opposite of aphantasia is hyperphantasia, if you want to look into it more :) the whole thing is a spectrum from people who see nothing to people who see things nearly as though they were real, and constantly.
I’m on the a- end, sadly, but a very good friend of mine has hyper-, constantly seeing super vivid imagery, and we’ve had some real interesting conversations about that :)
So mine is kinda weird. It’s easy for me to drift off into… I guess I think of them as sense memories? Memories of specific senses that were so strong that they created impactful marks on the psyche. A scar of happiness. That really good crab enchilada at south congress café with the green sauce. That first time you had esquites. The time Scott at the burger place made a new type of burger just for you and the next week it was on the menu with your name. That perfect crisp lick of cinnamon ice cream on a hot summer day. Those are a few of mine. I can just dip in, the smell in my mind takes carries me off and then… Fuck I’m hungry again. It’s kind of like an intensely vivid daydream. You know how you tune out your little brother because he keeps making the mistake of existing? Kind of like that but your brain replaces the nothing and tinnitus sounds coming out of the brother’s mouth with the sound of cookies being baked and shit.
I had to stare at a blank wall for a month straight with nothing to do or interact with or talk to (no that it’s not a joke) so I guess maybe my mind adapted to the boredom? Do not attempt that it breaks you like this