Aphantasia & Hyperphantasia: Neural Signatures of Visual Imagery Vividness Extremes

Article: Brain connections mean some people lack visual imagery
Source: University of Exeter Medicine (U.K.)
Published: June 9, 2021

Areas more strongly activated in the hyperphantasic
and control groups than the aphantasic group
(images show subtractive visualization conditions)

Some individuals can conjure up extremely vivid visual imagery in their mind's eye, while others lack this ability entirely. Researchers in the U.K. conducted a study, the first systematic neuropsychological and brain imaging study of people with aphantasia and hypephantasia, to examine the neurological basis of these phenomena. The team conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on 24 people with aphantasia, 25 with hyperphantasia, and a control group of 20 people with mid-range imagery vividness. The scans showed that individuals with hyperphantasia have stronger connections between their visual cortex, which becomes active in both real vision and visual imagery, and the prefrontal cortex, involved notably in decision-making. These stronger connections were more apparent in resting state fMRI, that is, while the participants were relaxed (and possibly mind-wandering). In an active state fMRI paradigm, "there was greater anterior parietal activation among hyperphantasic and control than aphantasic participants when comparing visualization of famous faces and places with perception." For memory-related tasks, the authors report, "Despite equivalent performance on standard memory tests, marked group differences were measured in autobiographical memory and imagination, participants with hyperphantasia outperforming controls who outperformed participants with aphantasia." And finally, in personality tests based on the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, they saw more introversion in the aphantasia group and more extroversion in the hyperphantasia group. The researchers highlight that these neural signatures among extremes of visual imagery vividness "validate and illuminate this significant but neglected dimension of individual difference."

My rating of this study: ⭐⭐

Milton F, Fulford J, Dance C, et al. "Behavioral and Neural Signatures of Visual Imagery Vividness Extremes: Aphantasia versus Hyperphantasia." Cerebral Cortex Communications.  2(2):tgab035. 5 May 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/texcom/tgab035