03/23/2026
Can you picture a rocket ship crash landing on a planet, and an alien approaching the spacecraft? If you see nothing when trying to picture this in your mind’s eye you might have antaphasia—the inability to generate mental images according to Alex Rosenthal who gave a Ted Talk on this topic. As I listened to his talk I thought “oh, I think I have the opposite of this”.
This exercise prompted me to take an online test called the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire developed by researchers. It gave me a score of 71 which means I am categorized as having hyperphantasia. On one end of the spectrum is Aphantasia, then Hypophantasia, then Phantasia and Hyperphantasia. Apparently there are also brain imaging techniques like a functional MRI or PET scans that are “used to observe brain activity and connectivity associated with vivid mental imagery, providing further insight into the neural basis of hyperfantasia”.
While I don’t always trust self-reported online tests, I think is probably safe to say I lean on the higher side of phantasia or the lower side of hyperphantasia based on the scale and questions.
This is quite fascinating to me as I hadn’t realized that we are all so different in what we see with our mind’s eye. It made me think about how powerful photography might be—especially family photography for those who have antaphantasia as imagery often prompts emotion.
This has sparked so many thoughts for me about how move through and process the world. I’m curious what it brings up for you? Can you picture your spouse or child’s face in your mind’s eye? If so how clear is that picture? Does an image in your mind’s eye bring up emotion? How about a photograph? Regardless of how you land on the spectrum how do you think photographs impact your feelings of connection to your family members or spark memories of your time with them?
If you’d like to take the test let me know and I’ll send you a link. I’d love to know where you land on the spectrum.
This is also your reminder that spring is officially here and April and May are coming fast. Let’s make some imagery that either does or doesn’t live in your head rent free and make it tangible!
