The prevalence of aphantasia (imagery weakness) in the general population.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional survey (by design analogy, not clinical CEBM)
PubMed 34872033 · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103243
What was done
Researchers assessed the prevalence of aphantasia across two distinct samples using the self-report Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). Experiment 1 screened an undergraduate student cohort (n = 502). Experiment 2 screened an online cohort recruited through a crowdsourcing marketplace (n = 502).
What was found
Aphantasia was identified in 4.2% of the undergraduate student cohort and 3.6% of the online crowdsourced sample. Combining both cohorts (total n = 1,004), the overall prevalence was 3.9%, with no gender bias reported.
Why it matters
This study provides a standardized baseline estimate of aphantasia prevalence (approximately 3.9%) in non-clinical cohorts, reducing self-selection recruitment biases present in earlier exploratory studies.
Limits
Assessment relied entirely on subjective self-report via the VVIQ rather than objective cognitive or neurophysiological testing. The sampled populations (university undergraduates and online crowdsourcing workers) may not be fully representative of the general population. Confidence intervals and specific diagnostic cutoff score values were not provided in the abstract.
Cited by
- contradicts The entire human population is spread evenly along the visual imagery spectrum from aphantasia to hyperphantasia.