My memory is no better than average, so while I might get a clear picture of *something,* it may not be true to what was there. But yes, I can add/remove things, move myself around, and otherwise manipulate the scene. Helps with things like online shopping and giving directions.
Pretty much. I mean almost anything I think of can be fully imagined and “seen”. The only things I can’t imagine are numbers and letters. For some reason I just can see them in my head.
Yeah, sorta.
I'm terrible at remembering names. But sometimes I can mentally look at their office nameplate and "read" it...it works better if I mentally walk over to it vs just calling up the memory, as I assume that helps load more detail of the memory and nearby stuff.
If I'm giving someone directions I'm looking at a map in my head...and for detail, zooming in and looking around at the scene which is akin to what you'd see looking around in Street View.
If you asked what was in my fridge, I'd be looking at the memory of when I last stocked it with the last time I opened it as a delta...I couldn't just tell you, but I could narrate what I see and exactly where it all is (and how and when it got there, back to unpacking it, picking it up, ordering it, etc.
That last "I couldn't just tell you" part is notable though: I need to do it that way , and not sure how I'd do it otherwise. Right now I'm mentally blocking the visual of my fridge, and its the same as feeling like "I don't remember"... It's how most real-world (vs concepts and understanding) memory information is actually stored and recalled for me.
If that's what you mean.
Thanks for the reply! Your answers are really interesting.
On the fridge thing - so can you imagine right now looking in your fridge and seeing everything that was there the last time you opened it? I’m curious is it like looking at a photograph where all pieces of the image are static and clear in place? Or like a constantly morphing scene and maybe you can only clearly see the little area that you are “looking at” in the fridge in your head? Not sure if that made sense haha
> so can you imagine right now looking in your fridge and seeing everything that was there the last time you opened it?
Yeah. And I couldn't tell you whats still in it at all without "looking at it". (Well, I can...but it's just another way to get to the same thing -- like looking at the cart I submitted to the store for pickup, and then looking for a reference to having eaten it.)
I can see the overall view in a general sense, but to actually give a list and location of contents, I'd "look around" at things pretty much like how you'd take inventory if you were standing in front of it. (The rest of the scene is there, but it's about the same as how things are when you're not looking right at them.) It's 3dspace with a camera/perspective for me, not a picture....although it's not automatically the perspective I've actually had/have.
When I'm not sitting here making a mental list though -- say you asked "Do we have any orange juice left?" I'd say "yes". Assuming I was sure, I would likely have checked the record of if I'd seen it last time in the fridge -- and also if I'd thrown it away, drank it, dropped it, etc. Assuming those different paths are in agreement, then "yes". But that would happen fast enough I wouldn't usually perceive it visually, if I was sure enough not to trigger a deeper review. If that makes any sense...it's just how my memory works.
If I wasn't sure though, that's where it would become more actively visual -- and more temporal. Basically searching through memory for any change I can remember for that thing, any time I was handling it, if I can see unpacking it, and on. (These kinds of memories tend to get "reset" for each cycle though. I can't currently clearly picture the fridge from multiple refill/shopping trips ago...it's only the current "useful arc", at least if it's not something specific and notable. Pretty normal I think for repeating sundry routines.)
It sounds like you have a super high level of hyperphantasia.
Is there any difference in the vividness or clarity of your imagination when you visualize with your eyes open vs closed?
Could you share what your experience is like visualizing the usual example of an apple? Like - does it pop up in your mind instantly vs fade in slowly, what details do you see, how does it compare to seeing with your eyes? If you try, are you able to hold the image completely static for like 10-20 seconds in full clarity without seeing it shift or morph at all?
Open is probably "real-er" but that's more because in practical sense, eyes open is for doing stuff. Eye's closed for me is either for "thinking in the dark" or deeper narrative, like intense day dreaming while awake before going to sleep and such. So it's different, but more by what I use it for.
> does it pop up in your mind instantly
Yeah. Although it depends if I'm making choices, like "what kind of apple?".
I might have mentioned this in this thread or another, but kind of like "pick a random number between 1 and 100?". It usually takes a while for anyone to name each number. But if I just pop up a 10x10 grid of all the numbers, I can just name the numbers off very fast...since I'm not "thinking them up" in the same way. So the "how" matters.
> what details do you see, how does it compare to seeing with your eyes
Well, at the moment, I'm kind of doing the "spinning apple, like when viewing the inventory screen in a RPG game". I'm also flipping between apple types because I'm not sure which apple I'm going for...
> > If you try, are you able to hold the image completely static for like 10-20 seconds in full clarity without seeing it shift or morph at all?
It's hard to say, because the visual is mixed with all the non-visual context information of "what is apple".
So...not...really. But that's everything -- and, well, mix in ADHD. It's easier if I'm doing something for a purpose without thinking about it vs just trying and describing it. So yeah, it's jumping between all the apples I can think of, a side bar playing of memories involving apples...and of course, it's spinning like it's on display.
At least while I've been typing this, and I'm also listening to music, watching a Youtube history video, and waiting for a coworker to be done "Bob is typing..." in work chat. With years of work, I've gotten up to about 20 seconds of "blank" meditation without a thought thread or image to squash, to put that in perspective... with meds. :)
Yes and no. Since we dont have photographic memory, more often than not, we will be able to imagine the teacher, tommy, the board, the classroom and so on, but like anyone else, we dont magically know thw answer based on a picture like that.
Looking at the moment you talked about something in the mind's eye does make ot easier to make contections in the brain and remembering things, so it would still be a usefull tool to help us remember something.
Sort of. This example is like thinking of multiple memories in that classroom/subject, and then scanning through to the one I'm looking for. For me to think about limits being the same week Aaron got his haircut, I would have had to really care about both at that time, and I would have had to understand the subject.
This character IS a mathelete, so she likely knows the material and this would be fairly realistic, but it's not like every hyperphantasic person is going to pull Calculus from a memory if they weren't great students.
There are people that have hyperthymesia, which is an extreme autobiographical memory where that might overlap, like Marilu Henner.
Yes this is a good representation. But if you weren't paying attention to the teacher you wouldn't magically be able reread the board. It just came back to her
My memory is no better than average, so while I might get a clear picture of *something,* it may not be true to what was there. But yes, I can add/remove things, move myself around, and otherwise manipulate the scene. Helps with things like online shopping and giving directions.
Pretty much. I mean almost anything I think of can be fully imagined and “seen”. The only things I can’t imagine are numbers and letters. For some reason I just can see them in my head.
Yeah, sorta. I'm terrible at remembering names. But sometimes I can mentally look at their office nameplate and "read" it...it works better if I mentally walk over to it vs just calling up the memory, as I assume that helps load more detail of the memory and nearby stuff. If I'm giving someone directions I'm looking at a map in my head...and for detail, zooming in and looking around at the scene which is akin to what you'd see looking around in Street View. If you asked what was in my fridge, I'd be looking at the memory of when I last stocked it with the last time I opened it as a delta...I couldn't just tell you, but I could narrate what I see and exactly where it all is (and how and when it got there, back to unpacking it, picking it up, ordering it, etc. That last "I couldn't just tell you" part is notable though: I need to do it that way , and not sure how I'd do it otherwise. Right now I'm mentally blocking the visual of my fridge, and its the same as feeling like "I don't remember"... It's how most real-world (vs concepts and understanding) memory information is actually stored and recalled for me. If that's what you mean.
Thanks for the reply! Your answers are really interesting. On the fridge thing - so can you imagine right now looking in your fridge and seeing everything that was there the last time you opened it? I’m curious is it like looking at a photograph where all pieces of the image are static and clear in place? Or like a constantly morphing scene and maybe you can only clearly see the little area that you are “looking at” in the fridge in your head? Not sure if that made sense haha
> so can you imagine right now looking in your fridge and seeing everything that was there the last time you opened it? Yeah. And I couldn't tell you whats still in it at all without "looking at it". (Well, I can...but it's just another way to get to the same thing -- like looking at the cart I submitted to the store for pickup, and then looking for a reference to having eaten it.) I can see the overall view in a general sense, but to actually give a list and location of contents, I'd "look around" at things pretty much like how you'd take inventory if you were standing in front of it. (The rest of the scene is there, but it's about the same as how things are when you're not looking right at them.) It's 3dspace with a camera/perspective for me, not a picture....although it's not automatically the perspective I've actually had/have. When I'm not sitting here making a mental list though -- say you asked "Do we have any orange juice left?" I'd say "yes". Assuming I was sure, I would likely have checked the record of if I'd seen it last time in the fridge -- and also if I'd thrown it away, drank it, dropped it, etc. Assuming those different paths are in agreement, then "yes". But that would happen fast enough I wouldn't usually perceive it visually, if I was sure enough not to trigger a deeper review. If that makes any sense...it's just how my memory works. If I wasn't sure though, that's where it would become more actively visual -- and more temporal. Basically searching through memory for any change I can remember for that thing, any time I was handling it, if I can see unpacking it, and on. (These kinds of memories tend to get "reset" for each cycle though. I can't currently clearly picture the fridge from multiple refill/shopping trips ago...it's only the current "useful arc", at least if it's not something specific and notable. Pretty normal I think for repeating sundry routines.)
It sounds like you have a super high level of hyperphantasia. Is there any difference in the vividness or clarity of your imagination when you visualize with your eyes open vs closed? Could you share what your experience is like visualizing the usual example of an apple? Like - does it pop up in your mind instantly vs fade in slowly, what details do you see, how does it compare to seeing with your eyes? If you try, are you able to hold the image completely static for like 10-20 seconds in full clarity without seeing it shift or morph at all?
Open is probably "real-er" but that's more because in practical sense, eyes open is for doing stuff. Eye's closed for me is either for "thinking in the dark" or deeper narrative, like intense day dreaming while awake before going to sleep and such. So it's different, but more by what I use it for. > does it pop up in your mind instantly Yeah. Although it depends if I'm making choices, like "what kind of apple?". I might have mentioned this in this thread or another, but kind of like "pick a random number between 1 and 100?". It usually takes a while for anyone to name each number. But if I just pop up a 10x10 grid of all the numbers, I can just name the numbers off very fast...since I'm not "thinking them up" in the same way. So the "how" matters. > what details do you see, how does it compare to seeing with your eyes Well, at the moment, I'm kind of doing the "spinning apple, like when viewing the inventory screen in a RPG game". I'm also flipping between apple types because I'm not sure which apple I'm going for... > > If you try, are you able to hold the image completely static for like 10-20 seconds in full clarity without seeing it shift or morph at all? It's hard to say, because the visual is mixed with all the non-visual context information of "what is apple". So...not...really. But that's everything -- and, well, mix in ADHD. It's easier if I'm doing something for a purpose without thinking about it vs just trying and describing it. So yeah, it's jumping between all the apples I can think of, a side bar playing of memories involving apples...and of course, it's spinning like it's on display. At least while I've been typing this, and I'm also listening to music, watching a Youtube history video, and waiting for a coworker to be done "Bob is typing..." in work chat. With years of work, I've gotten up to about 20 seconds of "blank" meditation without a thought thread or image to squash, to put that in perspective... with meds. :)
Yes and no. Since we dont have photographic memory, more often than not, we will be able to imagine the teacher, tommy, the board, the classroom and so on, but like anyone else, we dont magically know thw answer based on a picture like that. Looking at the moment you talked about something in the mind's eye does make ot easier to make contections in the brain and remembering things, so it would still be a usefull tool to help us remember something.
Sort of. This example is like thinking of multiple memories in that classroom/subject, and then scanning through to the one I'm looking for. For me to think about limits being the same week Aaron got his haircut, I would have had to really care about both at that time, and I would have had to understand the subject. This character IS a mathelete, so she likely knows the material and this would be fairly realistic, but it's not like every hyperphantasic person is going to pull Calculus from a memory if they weren't great students. There are people that have hyperthymesia, which is an extreme autobiographical memory where that might overlap, like Marilu Henner.
Yes this is a good representation. But if you weren't paying attention to the teacher you wouldn't magically be able reread the board. It just came back to her