Phantasia-The psychological significance of lifelong visual imagery vividness extremes.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional survey of self-selected cohorts by design analogy
PubMed 32446532 · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.003
What was done
Questionnaire data were collected from 2,000 self-identified individuals with absent visual imagery (aphantasia) and 200 individuals with extremely vivid imagery (hyperphantasia) who contacted the researchers.
What was found
No numerical effect sizes, test statistics, or p-values are reported in the abstract. Aphantasia was associated with scientific and mathematical occupations, while hyperphantasia was associated with creative professions. Participants with aphantasia reported elevated rates of difficulty with face recognition and autobiographical memory; hyperphantasia participants reported elevated rates of synaesthesia. Around half of individuals with aphantasia reported an absence of wakeful imagery across all sense modalities, while a majority reported visual dreaming. Aphantasia was reported to cluster in families more often than expected by chance.
Why it matters
This study outlines the psychological and behavioral phenotypes associated with extremes of visual imagery vividness, linking them to differences in career choices, multisensory processing, and memory.
Limits
The abstract provides no exact numbers, percentages, or statistical significance metrics for the reported associations. The sample relies entirely on self-selected individuals who reached out after earlier publications, introducing substantial selection and self-report biases. No objective behavioral or neurological measures were used.
Cited by
- context Ed Catmull surveyed staff at Pixar and found that most of the top directors and animators have aphantasia.