Main Links Between Aphantasia And Memory

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Main Links Between Aphantasia And Memory

Many people don't find much connection between aphantasia and memory. Of course, these are two different phenomena, but practice shows that the lack of imagination can negatively affect the state of memory. Let's figure out what this is connected with and how you can solve this problem.

What Is Aphantasia?

Today, many people have never heard the term aphantasia, which is not surprising because it appeared only a few years ago. Previously, scientists did not even know that there are people who have no imagination.

So, aphantasia is the inability of a person to imagine pictures with their eyes closed. It is not a disease or a consequence of some brain disorder. From a medical point of view, they are healthy.

According to some reports, approximately 2% of the entire population of our planet have such an unusual feature, and most of them do not even realize that they are somehow different from the rest. Aphantasia can be either congenital or acquired due to some solid psychological shock.

You can easily find out if you are in the 2% if you do the aphantasia test:

• Close your eyes;

• Calm down, normalize breathing, and make sure that nothing distracts you;

• Imagine a red triangle or any other geometric shape.

If, while performing the aphantasia test, you could imagine a geometric figure, then there are no problems. If you can't see anything, try choosing another item and try again. If the second attempt also fails, congratulations, you have such an unusual feature. Remember that this is not a reason to run to the doctor and take all possible tests. It means that you are not like everyone else, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Another exciting fact is that aphantasia dreams are much brighter and more colorful than ordinary people's. In addition, scientists conducted a study that showed that the part of the brain that is responsible for fantasy could work more actively during sleep and not during wakefulness.

How Does This Affect Memory?

Let's look for a connection between Aphantasia and memory. Few people think that a person has several types of memory: some remember information well if they read it, and someone if they hear it. People with eidetic memory can easily replay data (images or documents) in their minds within a few seconds. It is a short-term memory that is entirely inaccessible for people with aphantasia.

The vast majority of memory improvement programs aim to improve further:

• Imagination;

• Concentration;

• Attention;

• Logic and much more.

The better people have developed the above qualities, the better their memory. So, if one of these aspects falls out, all the others should work better.

Many believe that aphantasia dreams are the key to this phenomenon. However, there is still a lot of work ahead because scientists have just begun to study the connection between aphantasia and memory.

How To Cure It?

If you have diagnosed this phenomenon in yourself, you may be interested in the principles of aphantasia cure.

Most experts agree that this phenomenon does not need treatment. Since this is not a disease and does not indicate other health problems, you do not require medicines. Unfortunately, there are currently no well thought out mechanisms to help people get rid of aphantasia.

In addition, scientists have not yet been able to register a single case in which a person could recover fully. The only thing that scientists have been able to identify is that with prolonged training, a person can learn to imagine some image before falling asleep.

It is challenging to achieve such a result. At the moment, the aphantasia cure consists of trying various exercises to improve eidetic memory and imagination, walking more in beautiful places, reading fiction, and trying to imagine what you read in your creation. The best time for such training is the evening before bedtime. You can lie in bed with your eyes closed and think about some pleasant things for yourself and try to imagine them. Do not expect the effect to appear after a few days, but gradually you will notice that life will become a little brighter.