Zeman Adam, Milton Fraser, Della Sala Sergio, Dewar Michaela, Frayling Timothy, Gaddum James, Hattersley Andrew, Heuerman-Williamson Brittany, Jones Kealan, MacKisack Matthew, Winlove Crawford
University of Exeter Medical School, College House, Exeter, EX1 2LU, United Kingdom.
Discipline of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, United Kingdom.
Cortex. 2020 Sep;130:426-440. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.003. Epub 2020 May 4.
Visual imagery typically enables us to see absent items in the mind's eye. It plays a role in memory, day-dreaming and creativity. Since coining the terms aphantasia and hyperphantasia to describe the absence and abundance of visual imagery, we have been contacted by many thousands of people with extreme imagery abilities. Questionnaire data from 2000 participants with aphantasia and 200 with hyperphantasia indicate that aphantasia is associated with scientific and mathematical occupations, whereas hyperphantasia is associated with 'creative' professions. Participants with aphantasia report an elevated rate of difficulty with face recognition and autobiographical memory, whereas participants with hyperphantasia report an elevated rate of synaesthesia. Around half those with aphantasia describe an absence of wakeful imagery in all sense modalities, while a majority dream visually. Aphantasia appears to run within families more often than would be expected by chance. Aphantasia and hyperphantasia appear to be widespread but neglected features of human experience with informative psychological associations.
视觉意象通常使我们能够在脑海中“看到”不存在的事物。它在记忆、白日梦和创造力中发挥作用。自从创造了“无想象能力”和“超想象能力”这两个术语来描述视觉意象的缺失和丰富之后，我们收到了成千上万具有极端意象能力的人的来信。来自2000名无想象能力者和200名超想象能力者的问卷调查数据表明，无想象能力与科学和数学职业相关，而超想象能力与“创造性”职业相关。无想象能力的参与者报告称，人脸识别和自传体记忆方面的困难发生率较高，而超想象能力的参与者报告称，通感的发生率较高。大约一半的无想象能力者表示在所有感觉模态中都没有清醒时的意象，而大多数人在梦中有视觉意象。无想象能力似乎比偶然预期的更常在家族中出现。无想象能力和超想象能力似乎是人类体验中广泛存在但被忽视的特征，具有丰富的心理关联。
