alt Hacker NewsI wonder if author is one of the lucky aphantasics who doesn’t have SDAM [1].
I tried the exercise they described… and nothing happened.
I can’t even remember major life events that everybody is supposed to. Best I can do is recall there’s a photograph of the event, and using my recollection of the existence of the photograph, I can pull up a few facts I’ve intentionally made note of.
And now cue the other commenters telling me my experience isn’t real, or I’m misunderstanding how other people can recall stuff like getting married and or the birth of their kids when I can’t.
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00109...
Replies
I’m curious if there is a diagnosis criteria for SDAM.
It likely exists on a spectrum (just like mental imagery).
I have aphantasia and struggle quite strongly with autobiographical memory, but if someone reminds me of an event or I look through old photos, I can remember things.
This is why I love having Immich so much - it lets me feel connected to my past.
I’m one of those lucky ones! It sounds like you’re implying that most aphantasics have SDAM. Is that the case? Do you have any sources?
There are people interested in overcoming aphantasia (or hypophantasia, an extremely weak form of imagination).
Today I have medium-ish hypophantasia, but I remember when I was doing phantasia exercises, in particular "snapshotting" and "memory streaming", at least two times, there was a subtle shift in my perception and all of a sudden I could remember a ton of things, as if I opened a door. It would only last maybe 10-20 minutes (I would practice 30 - 60 minutes per day).
It wouldn't surprise me a bunch of those memories are in the brain but you just don't have access to them in everyday waking consciousness.
So, for me, it feels like a lot of my memories are visually indexed, and if I can't visualize then I can't remember, but once I configure my mind through meditation and these exercises, it is like I can "tune my mind" to mind's eye access (radio/TV analogy here) and with it the memories.
Then once I stopped the exercise (for the day) it would go away in around 10-20 minutes (kind of like how a muscle pump goes away rather quickly after exercising).