I can see things in my head, rotate them, look from different angles, try out different colors for a room, etc. But it's not really the same as seeing visually. It's just kind of imagining what it would look like. It's hard to explain. It's as if you were dreaming it while you are still awake. But also less vivid than a dream.

And how in the hell does one [...] enjoy a book, if they’re not a #1?!

I can only speak for myself (#5) here, but I can barely enjoy books. If they're any sort of fiction, where I have to imagine a world, characters, objects, ... it's very exhausting. I read fiction books in school, but haven't picked up a fiction book out of my own will in years. But I do enjoy non-fiction books, especially when they convey Ideas you don't need (or maybe can't) picture visually.

Side note: I found people who read a lot (of fiction) often being critical of movie adaptations. I never understood this, because even 'meh' movies offer a far superior experience than just reading the book to me. It took me a while to realize that movie adaptations are a kind of 'disability aid' to my aphantasia.

I don't know how to explain it but mine is in constant flux.

I'll bounce between full on 3d animated cutscenes to like "Old ass TRON style wireframes of the object"

Some people also don't have an internal monologue. I'm probably a 3 or 4, it takes significant effort to see something in my head. But my thoughts a words and they definitely have a voice.

I assume there is a scale for how well we can imagine every sense.

#1 is really useful for 3d modeling. I can work out most of the details in my head, then put the final design into a computer to print.

I once managed to write an entire OpenSCAD model on paper. When I typed it into a computer (aside from a few syntax errors) the model was exactly as I wanted.

The advantages are very fast design iterations. The disadvantages are that I have to remember the entire final product and not confuse it with any previous iteration while writing it down; and that I have to actually write it down and not just assume that the 3d printer will start on its own.

You guys are gonna lose your shit when you find out some people don't have an inner monologue.

I thought it was either 1 or you have aphantasia. Didn't realize there was a range.

I have severe 5 aphantasia. It was such a relief when a name was put to it.

Isn't 5 is called Aphantasia ? To be unable to visualize something in the mind?

Your mind has an active visual cortex. Other folks think more using their audio cortex. Some more with somatic awareness (feeling tone).

Mathameticians can visualize math.

Everyone is wired a bit different.

I'm a two or a four on the scale, depending on how much weed I consume. As heavy weed use dulls the minds eye. Though irregular use can enhance it.

And after years working in kitchens, I can think in smells. I.e.mix spices in my mind and smell them in my head before adding to a dish.

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How many Au/ADHD can do this vs non-neurospicy? Just curious of there’s a difference or likeliness one way or another.

I can see and manipulate objects in my head. I can make up voices or objects in my head and “hear” them. I can remember a smell, but I couldn't make one up - iow I could slice an imaginary apple and imagine the smell. I can feel an object’s texture without touching it.

I can’t imagine not having these things in my head.

I find it gets better with practice to some degree, if I go for a long stretch reading more or less fiction I find it affects my imagination and ability to visualize with more or less detail and memorability. I don't think it'll bridge the gap to 5 necessarily, but it might bump a 4 to a 3 or a 2 to a 1.

I'm a #5 on that scale.

And how in the hell does one navigate life, or enjoy a book, if they’re not a #1?! Reading a book is like watching a movie. I subconsciously assign actor’s faces to characters and watch as the book rolls on.

I won't say I'm not jealous of people who're #1s. However, to directly answer your question, it's not like our heads are empty. You think apple and (apparently) 'see' an apple. I think apple and it's like thinking of how you'd describe an apple. It's red, it's round. It has a stem. It's juicy. It tastes good... but I can't see it. Or anything else. They're just thoughts.

I have a very difficult time with facial recognition, presumably as a result of this. If I'm watching a movie where there's a lot of characters that are shown but not named, I have a difficult time following that. I need to be able to assign names to them to keep them straight in my head, and often-times if a character isn't named but they're important, I'll assign them a name myself just to have something to track them with. I can recognize people I interact with a lot obviously but if you asked me to describe what someone looks like who I'm not currently interacting with, that's very difficult for me to do, beyond very surface-level stuff, like their gender or their build. If I had to describe someone for a police sketch, I'd be useless at that. Remembering facial features is like remembering a list of words; I can't just call up an image of them to describe... if I haven't already committed that description to memory, I can't describe the person.

It's funny, honestly, because I never realized this wasn't how everyone is until I saw the image you linked some years back. I actually called up my mother immediately after and asked her what she could see. The conversation went something like:

"When you think of an apple, can you see the apple?"

"Yes..."

"Yeah, but like... you can actually see it, though?"

"...yes...?"

"Yeah but I mean like... you can see it, as if you're looking at it?"

"...yes, what is this about?"

My brain is like a vector database, it stores the "feelings" of information, not the actual information - if that makes sense?

I can make lightning fast connections in my head when something happens, like when something breaks in production, I see the symptoms and the vectors just connect from effect to the cause.

Can I explain to others why and how I know where the problem is? Nope. ...Or yes, but it'll take a long time for me to follow the feeling-vectors and put them into words I can actually communicate to other people.

For actual people and characters in books I also retain the shape and ...something about them, but I couldn't explain how most people in my life look like to a sketch artist.

When I read a book, I kinda retain the "feeling" of the characters and maybe one or two visual traits. I can read thousands of pages of a character's adventures and I can maybe tell you their general body type and clothing - if they have an "uniform" they tend to wear.

I've read all 5 books (over 5000 pages) of The Stormlight Archive and I couldn't tell you what Kaladin (the main character) looks like. I have no visual recollection of his hair colour, eye colour, skin tone or body type.

It always baffled me when a movie adaptation of a book came out and people were really upset that the characters looked wrong. And I was just "... you remember what the people in books look like??". It turns out they do.

Oh, and DEFINITELY no voice in my head. I’d get myself committed if I had someone talking to me in my brain.