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The Diversity of Human Imagination: Insights from 126 interviews - Dr Reshanne Reeder
Imagine the face of a familiar person: can you form a mental picture of them? Can you imagine seeing their smile, maybe even “see” them standing next to you? Or perhaps you have no picture in your head at all.
The ability to imagine in pictures is called “visual mental imagery”. Recent research suggests that there are vast individual differences in this ability: some people are unable to form a mental image (called aphantasia), and others have such realistic mental images that it is like actually seeing (called hyperphantasia).
In this talk, Dr Reshanne Reeder from Edge Hill University will present some new insights about these differences based on 126 interviews with individuals across the spectrum of imagery abilities.
The discussion will include the uncanny ability to mentally project images into the real world, why people with hyperphantasia never get bored, and how people with aphantasia can remember highly precise visual details.
Questionnaires and cognitive tests supplement these reports, culminating in the most comprehensive portrait of visual mental imagery differences yet. Come and learn about your own unique abilities and the diverse abilities of others, and have a chance to add your personal experience to the growing narrative of mental imagery differences.
