I'm #4 on this chart at any given time when awake. When I'm waking up from a dream its like #2 and actual dreams are generally #3.

Ok imagine a six sided die. Roll it in your mind. What number is on top

Is this new, somehow? I've always recognized that the people around me think differently. I even recognized that there was a spectrum.

I'm definitely a #1, and always recognized that about myself. I'm like to write, and I think that activity demonstrates the spectrum well. Stephen King once said that he doesn't understand why people struggle with writing. He just pictures the story in his head, and writes what he sees. When I read that, I instantly recognized myself. That's how I write.

But I also know that some people write almost like they are putting together a puzzle. They choose certain words that go together well, and they are constructing their narrative brick by brick. I think poetry is often constructed like that, and I think those prose writers have a more poetic sensibility than others, and that sort of writing reflects it. That might explain why I really don't care for that style of writing much, because I am extremely bad at poetry. That construction style just doesn't work for me.

My sister has #5 and I can ask her to make a response if you want OP.

Last we talked about it she said if she tried really hard she can see come colors and shapes but that's about it.

The best conversation about it we ever had went something like this (keep in mind were both autistic and when together dont always communicate like neurotypical people do):

*while driving*
her: "get in that turn lane to the right"
*i do the 👆hand tricks and turn*

her: "when I don't want to do that I always think in my head 'never eat soggy waffles' and remember that east is left and right is west"

me: "that's not even correct,, but like WHY would you do that??"

her: "to remember how to turn"

me: "why wouldn't you just do the hand things?"
me: "like imagine them in your head and-"

her: "MUST BE NICE HUH?"
*we both explode in laughter*

she didn't even mean to make a joke about it, that's just genuinely the way she remembers lefts and rights

also this meme has become a common occurrence whenever the topic is brought up

Also a pretty interesting thing I remembered while writing this is a clip on TV (can't remember what show it was) where they asked a room of people to draw a bicycle then they made it IRL by welding it and told them to ride it a block or two and back. Only 1 of ~15 did it correctly, one girl got it exactly but forgot the peddles. Pretty interesting how they could all imagine a bike but couldn't draw it correctly

And how the hell does one navigate life.

When tying your shoelaces what images or dialogue do you have in your head?

For those who are a 4 or 5 on this diagram: What are your dreams like?

I'm not as puzzled about the concept of aphantasia (or the opposite) as much as the fact that people here, and two I know IRL, always self report as either 1s or 5s, with a handful of exceptions (ATTOW).

Is there a selection bias, where anyone in-between doesn't relate to either extreme enough to comment, or do said extremes conflate the ability to "picture" fine details with the ability to remember them in the first place?

I can't actually see the image with my eyes, I don't believed people actually can but I suppose it can be. I can see flashes of black and white stills in my mind but that's it. My dreams are the same just with weirdly numb feelings. Like when you are in vr and someone touches you, you have the feeling in your mind but don't feel anything physical.

3 or 4

I can "picture" with images but it's not top accuracy. It's mostly imagining a thing existing

@KoboldCoterie you can still be an artist. You'll just have to rely more on references but it's possible. There's one person that made a video about it that I saw some time ago. https://youtu.be/ewsGmhAjjjI

I'm definitely a 4. The shape is there, but even that's work for my brain. I know what a thing looks like, but I can't see it. Also, I think a lot less people are #1 than they think. A #1 is someone who can make photorealistic art from the picture in their brain. I'm guessing that's like 1% of the people if not less.

I never know how to interpret this scale. I can think of objects and describe what I'm thinking about, but I don't see anything in the same way my eyes do. Or rather, I see a black void, and if I try to picture an apple it's like a black object on a black background, but I know it's there.

I also get better at it the longer I do it; if I read a book for a long while, the ideas get sharper in my head and can be in color, but I'm still not "seeing" in the same way my eyes do.