Hi all,
Today's post is about aphantasia and anauralia, or a lack of the ability to form imagery in your "minds eye" and the lack of an inner monologue, respectively.
I've been married to my wife for more than 10 years, but it's only recently that I learned she doesn't form mental pictures. If you ask her to picture the beach, she knows that there should be sand and waves, and she can tell that to you, but she doesn't "see" it when she closes her eyes. Like many people with aphantasia, she didn't realize this was a thing until it came up in conversation with a friend as an adult. She told me and I said, "Oh, so you're third eye blind, then?"
With further questioning, we think she has anauralia as well, meaning she doesn't hear her voice in her head narrating things when she's thinking.
This is interesting to me, because my inner voice DOESN'T. STOP. TALKING.
I suppose like many things about the human condition, the ability to form mental imagery and self-talk exist on a spectrum. I found an online survey by a group studying the phenomenon and I'm on the far right tail of the bell curve for "strong inner voice."
My wife has seen it happen, because eyes will lose focus, I'll be totally lost in thought, and she'll see me having a conversation with myself in my head. The most fun conversations will make me giggle to myself.
Maybe part of what makes writing so therapeutic for me is that it lets the inner voice out. Anyway... thanks for listening to my inner monologue.
Best regards!
Sam
aka THE Awkward Engineer