Is there an objective test for Aphantasia?

Still image fromKaleidoscopes for Binocular RivalryHow well do we know our own inner lives? Self-report measures are a staple of psychiatry, neuroscience, and all branches of psychology (clinical, cognitive, perceptual, personality, social, etc.). Symptom scales, confidence ratings, performance monitoring, metacognitive efficiency (meta-d ' /d '), vividness ratings, preference/likeability judgements, and affect ratings are all examples. Evenmonkeys have an introspective side! 1In thelast post we learned about a condition calledaphantasia, the inability to generate visual images. Although the focus has been on visual imagery, many people with aphantasia cannot form “mental images” of any sensory experience. Earworms, those pesky songs that get stuck in your head, arenot a nuisance for some individuals with aphantasia (but many othersdo get them). Touch, smell, and taste are even less studied— mental imagery of these senses is generally more muted, if it occurs at all (even in the fully phantasic).The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ,Marks 1973)2 is the instrument used to identify people with poor to non-existent visual imagery (i.e., aphantasia). For each item on the VVIQ, the subject is asked to “try to form a visual image, and consider your experience carefully. For any image that you do experience, rate how vivid it is using the five-point scale described below. If you do not have a visual image, rate vividness as ‘1’. Only use ‘5’ for images ...

Source: The Neurocritic - July 20, 2019 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs