Escuertol t1_j61z1iq wrote on January 27, 2023 at 3:22 AM

Reply to comment by NaditzuKokoro in The voice in your head can't change volume, so you can't annoy mindreaders by yelling. by Neoslayer

For me, it works vastly differently from what the other guy wrote above. There is thought, I just don't hear my own voice "reading out loud" what I'm currently thinking, I just know that I'm thinking about it.

I've never had to memorize scripts for social interaction or anything like that, on the contrary, I'm a professor and I usually give my classes without much preparation, words just flow.

Aphantasia is a spectrum, so every experience will be different, some just don't see mental imagery, some don't have "mental smell", or hearing, or can't recreate physical sensations. I'm a total aphant so I don't have any of those, yet I still know what is red or how a truck sounds.

The best analogy I've seen is that of a PC that works perfectly fine, with its processor, its hard drive, graphics card and so on, it's just that the monitor is off.

Edit: I also lived until I was 25 without even knowing other people could do that in their minds. I still can't imagine how (pun intended)

edbles t1_j62xb9p wrote on January 27, 2023 at 9:33 AM

That sounds sort of like being in a state of flow constantly.

Escuertol t1_j64o1zc wrote on January 27, 2023 at 6:09 PM

Sooort of, it's not nearly as impressive as it sounds. Yeah I'm constantly "in the moment", but I too experience the flow state and it's quite different from my normal state of mind.

Some might argue they'd kill for being able to live in the present, but I'd kill to be able to play back my memories in my mind, instead of having a "list of things I've done" kind of memory.

All that being said, I did go through a depressive period when I realized this, but now I've come to see it in a different light.

NaditzuKokoro t1_j635r4l wrote on January 27, 2023 at 11:26 AM

I have that being able to just talk in a flow state as well. I used to do it high school when we had to give oral reports that didn't require handing anything in. These days it comes in handy with an argument or a debate.