Multisensory Aphantasia
Definition
Multisensory aphantasia refers to the absence of imagery in multiple or all sensory modalities, not just the visual domain. Affected individuals also cannot imagine sounds, smells, or touch sensations.
Detailed Explanation
While classical aphantasia describes the absence of visual imagery, multisensory aphantasia extends to other senses. Affected individuals cannot imagine inner sounds (auditory aphantasia), smells (olfactory aphantasia), tastes (gustatory aphantasia), or touch sensations (tactile aphantasia). Research with the PSIQ questionnaire shows that many people with visual aphantasia are also limited in other modalities, while others are only visually affected. The complete absence of all inner sense imaginations is rare. These differences suggest different subtypes of aphantasia and have implications for understanding how the brain generates imagery in different sensory channels.
Keywords
Related Terms
Aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create mental images. People with aphantasia cannot visualize faces, places, or objects in their mind's eye, although they can recognize and describe them. The term was coined by neurologist Adam Zeman in 2015.
Learn moreThe PSIQ is a questionnaire that measures imagery ability across all five sensory modalities: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile. It is more comprehensive than the purely visual VVIQ.
Learn moreMental images are internal visual representations that arise without external stimuli. They enable seeing objects, scenes, or people before the "mind's eye," such as when remembering, dreaming, or planning.
Learn moreDo you have Aphantasia?
Take our VST-16 test and find out where you fall on the visualization spectrum.
To the VST-16 Test