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“I remember things, but I can’t picture them.” What can a case of aphantasia tell us about imagery and memory?

Joanna Ganczarek, Renata Żurawska-Żyła, Aleksandra Rolek

Affiliacja i adres do korespondencji
Psychiatr Psychol Klin 2020, 20 (2), p. 134–141
DOI: 10.15557/PiPK.2020.0018
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Streszczenie

Aphantasia is a relatively new term referring to the experience of lack of visual imagery. Here, we present a literature review on aphantasia in the context of memory as well as a case report of congenital aphantasia in a 24-year old female, A.B., who became aware of her particular condition only recently. The aim of this article is to draw attention to the concept of aphantasia and describe the patient’s experiences as well as her performance in mental imagery, memory, and intelligence tests. We believe that our paper may be useful for both research in psychology and clinical practice. Analysis of aphantasia may allow to assess the importance of mental imagery in other cognitive processes, like working memory or autobiographical memory. Moreover, the phenomenon of aphantasia emphasises the need to consider individual differences in mental imagery and inspires new research. Last but not least, we present a series of psychotherapeutic implications of aphantasia, such as deficits in autobiographical memory or difficulties with imagery-based techniques.

Słowa kluczowe
aphantasia, imagery, memory, individual differences, psychotherapy