What the "Mind’s Eye" Research Reveals About Image Making

What the "Mind’s Eye" Research Reveals About Image Making

Aphantasia, or a lack of vision within the mind, is something which many people believe would prohibit one from becoming an artist–after all, most artists use visual imagination to picture ideas and then draw. This vision allows many artists to draw even without references. However, many people with aphantasia don’t even realize that they have it until later in life, when faced with the fact that most people have a very clear “mind’s eye”. While Aphantasia does pose some disadvantages in artistry and general life, this later realization often allows people with the condition to develop skills which allow them to create without mental image-making, even before receiving any therapy or treatment.

In scientific terms, aphantasia is “the inability to voluntarily visualize images”¹. The average person can visualize an apple in their head–they can make it move, see different colored apples, et cetera. However, someone with aphantasia cannot see the apple at all. Of course, aphantasia is a spectrum, so different people will have different visibilities of the apple–some may be able to see the general shape of it, but nothing else. Some may just see blobs of color, but cannot form the apple. The idea is that someone with aphantasia will have a much harder time seeing this apple in their “mind’s eye”.

Aphantasia was first conceptualized in 1880 by Francis Galton, a British psychologist who specialized in human intelligence studies. His most famous study of aphantasia was the “Breakfast Study”, which asked participants to visualize their breakfast and describe what they saw. Through this, Galton discovered that mental imagery came in a spectrum, with some being able to completely visualize settings, some being able to do so less well, and some not having any mental image at all. This research came as a groundbreaking discovery, and the idea of the mind’s eye was popularized in literature and science. Despite this, research regarding the phenomena did not continue for another century, and the concept was ignored without the technology for proper neuroscience research.

In the early 2010s, neurologist Dr. Adam Zeman received the case of a patient who “could no longer imagine”³ after undergoing surgery. Through this, Zeman coined the term aphantasia and documented this as the first known case of it. However, as the case began to gain media attention, many came forward relating to the lack of a mind’s eye. In 2015, after more research had been done on the condition, Zeman officially coined the term and published a paper which was quickly picked up by the New York Times and other large media outlets⁵.

Although the condition itself was discovered much later, the term “phantasia”, or the idea of mental imagery, was first coined by Aristotle around 340 BC. The word “aphantasia” came from this term, the a- prefix meaning the lack of phantasia. In Aristotle’s writings, he claimed that phantasia was a crucial part of clear thought–that thinking was not possible without image alongside it; “Hence the soul never thinks without a mental image.”² However, the discovery of aphantasia and therefore the stories of those with it disputes Aristotle’s claims. Aphantasia is a condition, though not considered a disability.

A primary reason why aphantasia is such a large topic for conversation in the art community is because many assume that those with the condition would not be able to create art properly due to their lack of mental visualization. Just like Aristotle, many think that without a mind’s eye, the physical eye cannot be fully developed. Yet, on the contrary, many artists with aphantasia exist, and believe their condition to be a helpful, characterizing part of their creative process.

In a way, art serves as another eye for many people with aphantasia, using it as a replacement for the mind’s eye, as opposed to an extension of it. Aphantasia can oftentimes be more inspiring than limiting. For example, Sheri Bakes, an artist who acquired aphantasia after a stroke, says that her aphantasia helped make her art feel less limited and literal, and her recent work feels as if it truly came straight from her brain and her emotions. The act of painting can replace this mental imagery, and it seems to motivate her to express her creativity, as she can no longer do so within her mind⁴.

Mental image-making is something which many artists use as a basis for their work, whether it be using the mind’s eye to translate memories into artwork, or using dreams to inspire compositions. And although this is widely done–a common practice in teaching art especially–acknowledging aphantasic artists who use nontraditional methods to create is important as well. The “visualize first, draw second” method is not compatible for everyone, especially when more cases of aphantasia are discovered daily, leading the condition to be more widely known. However, artists with aphantasia are more than capable of creating unique and powerful artwork, and through even more research, all spaces will be accessible to those with it.