Phantasia, Aphantasia and the Spectrum Subtypes of Imagination

Guo-Hui XIE

doi:10.64663/aet.26

Authors

Guo-Hui XIE Merlion Paediatric Therapy Clinic, SIngapore https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3645-2602

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.64663/aet.26

Keywords:

Aphantasia, Imagination, Mental imagery, Phantasia, Spectrum subtypes

Abstract

Imagination remains one of the few uncharted complex terrains of the human mind. The original word for imagination comes from the Greek word phantasia. When the prefix a- (which means ‘without’) is added to the Greek word, the term aphantasia comes into existence. In fact, aphantasia was first coined by one of the world’s few foremost experts on imagery extremes, Adam Zeman, who is currently a professor of cognitive and behavioral neurology at the University of Exeter, UK. Aphantasia is described as a handicapping condition in which an individual is unable to visualize. The opposite of aphantasia is hyperphantasia (known as image-free thinking), which is the condition of having extremely vivid mental imagery. Between them, there is a spectrum of imagination-related types or subtypes.

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