Anauralia: The Silent Mind and Its Association With Aphantasia

Overview

Journal Front Psychol

Date 2021 Nov 1

PMID 34721222

Citations 8

Authors

Rish P Hinwar

Anthony J Lambert

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Auditory and visual imagery were studied in a sample of 128 participants, including 34 self-reported aphantasics. Auditory imagery (Bucknell Auditory Imagery Scale-Vividness, BAIS-V) and visual imagery (Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-Modified, VVIQ-M) were strongly associated, Spearman's = 0.83: Most self-reported aphantasics also reported weak or entirely absent auditory imagery; and participants lacking auditory imagery tended to be aphantasic. Similarly, vivid visual imagery tended to co-occur with vivid auditory imagery. Nevertheless, the aphantasic group included one individual with typical auditory imagery; and the group lacking auditory imagery ( = 29) included one individual with typical visual imagery. Hence, weak visual and auditory imagery can dissociate, albeit with low apparent incidence. Auditory representations and auditory imagery are thought to play a key role in a wide range of psychological domains, including working memory and memory rehearsal, prospective cognition, thinking, reading, planning, problem-solving, self-regulation, and music. Therefore, self-reports describing an absence of auditory imagery raise a host of important questions concerning the role of phenomenal auditory imagery in these domains. Because there is currently no English word denoting an absence of auditory imagery, we propose a new term, , for referring to this, and offer suggestions for further research.

Citing Articles

A Systematic Review of Aphantasia: Concept, Measurement, Neural Basis, and Theory Development.

Jin F, Hsu S, Li Y Vision (Basel). 2024; 8(3).

PMID: 39330760 PMC: 11437436. DOI: 10.3390/vision8030056.

The contribution of auditory imagery and visual rhythm perception to sensorimotor synchronization with external and imagined rhythm.

Whitton S, Sreenan B, Jiang F J Exp Psychol Gen. 2024; 153(7):1861-1872.

PMID: 38695803 PMC: 11250674. DOI: 10.1037/xge0001601.

No clear evidence of a difference between individuals who self-report an absence of auditory imagery and typical imagers on auditory imagery tasks.

Pounder Z, Eardley A, Loveday C, Evans S PLoS One. 2024; 19(4):e0300219.

PMID: 38568916 PMC: 10990234. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300219.

Predicting the subjective intensity of imagined experiences from electrophysiological measures of oscillatory brain activity.

Arnold D, Saurels B, Anderson N, Andresen I, Schwarzkopf D Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):836.

PMID: 38191506 PMC: 10774351. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50760-7.

Diversity of aphantasia revealed by multiple assessments of visual imagery, multisensory imagery, and cognitive style.

Takahashi J, Saito G, Omura K, Yasunaga D, Sugimura S, Sakamoto S Front Psychol. 2023; 14:1174873.

PMID: 37546458 PMC: 10403065. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1174873.

References

Brunye T, Ditman T, Mahoney C, Walters E, Taylor H . You heard it here first: readers mentally simulate described sounds. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2010; 135(2):209-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.06.008. View

Stone M, Dismukes K, Remington R . Prospective memory in dynamic environments: effects of load, delay, and phonological rehearsal. Memory. 2001; 9(3):165-76. DOI: 10.1080/09658210143000100. View

Watkins N . (A)phantasia and severely deficient autobiographical memory: Scientific and personal perspectives. Cortex. 2017; 105:41-52. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.10.010. View

Aleman A, Nieuwenstein M, Bocker K, de Haan E . Music training and mental imagery ability. Neuropsychologia. 2000; 38(12):1664-8. DOI: 10.1016/s0028-3932(00)00079-8. View

Zeman A, Della Sala S, Torrens L, Gountouna V, McGonigle D, Logie R . Loss of imagery phenomenology with intact visuo-spatial task performance: a case of 'blind imagination'. Neuropsychologia. 2009; 48(1):145-55. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.08.024. View

Zeman A, Dewar M, Della Sala S . Reflections on aphantasia. Cortex. 2015; 74:336-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.08.015. View

Pearson J . The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2019; 20(10):624-634. DOI: 10.1038/s41583-019-0202-9. View

Zeman A, Milton F, Della Sala S, Dewar M, Frayling T, Gaddum J . Phantasia-The psychological significance of lifelong visual imagery vividness extremes. Cortex. 2020; 130:426-440. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.003. View

Baddeley A, Andrade J . Working memory and the vividness of imagery. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2000; 129(1):126-45. DOI: 10.1037//0096-3445.129.1.126. View

10.

Kurby C, Magliano J, Rapp D . Those voices in your head: activation of auditory images during reading. Cognition. 2009; 112(3):457-61. PMC: 2739653. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.05.007. View

11.

Dawes A, Keogh R, Andrillon T, Pearson J . A cognitive profile of multi-sensory imagery, memory and dreaming in aphantasia. Sci Rep. 2020; 10(1):10022. PMC: 7308278. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65705-7. View

12.

Hubbard T . Auditory imagery: empirical findings. Psychol Bull. 2010; 136(2):302-29. DOI: 10.1037/a0018436. View

13.

Alderson-Day B, Fernyhough C . Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology. Psychol Bull. 2015; 141(5):931-65. PMC: 4538954. DOI: 10.1037/bul0000021. View

14.

Keogh R, Pearson J . The blind mind: No sensory visual imagery in aphantasia. Cortex. 2017; 105:53-60. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.10.012. View

15.

Ganel T, Goodale M . Still holding after all these years: An action-perception dissociation in patient DF. Neuropsychologia. 2017; 128:249-254. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.09.016. View

16.

Yoo S, Lee C, Choi B . Human brain mapping of auditory imagery: event-related functional MRI study. Neuroreport. 2001; 12(14):3045-9. DOI: 10.1097/00001756-200110080-00013. View

17.

Kleider-Offutt H, Grant A, Turner J . Common cortical areas involved in both auditory and visual imageries for novel stimuli. Exp Brain Res. 2019; 237(5):1279-1287. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05492-4. View

18.

McNorgan C . A meta-analytic review of multisensory imagery identifies the neural correlates of modality-specific and modality-general imagery. Front Hum Neurosci. 2012; 6:285. PMC: 3474291. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00285. View

19.

Lima C, Lavan N, Evans S, Agnew Z, Halpern A, Shanmugalingam P . Feel the Noise: Relating Individual Differences in Auditory Imagery to the Structure and Function of Sensorimotor Systems. Cereb Cortex. 2015; 25(11):4638-50. PMC: 4816805. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv134. View

20.

Zeman A, Dewar M, Della Sala S . Lives without imagery - Congenital aphantasia. Cortex. 2015; 73:378-80. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019. View