This condition is known as aphantasia, and it’s supposedly extremely uncommon, yet I’ve encountered a lot of creatives who have this condition. A lot of people don’t realize they have it because they think that picturing things in your mind is a kind of metaphor—not that people can literally see images in their mind’s eye. I did an informal poll of creatives on Twitter a while back and got responses mostly at either end of the spectrum—i.e., “can’t see anything in my mind’s eye” to “I can see vivid images as clear and high-fidelity as reality.” Below is a basic test to determine where you fall on the aphantasia spectrum. I’m a 1, alas—though maybe it makes me a better editor, since all I have is the words to evoke the idea of imagery and no actual imagery.

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