Picture this: Ontario man studied for lack of a 'mind's eye'
It was a seemingly mundane moment when Tom Ebeyer learned he had aphantasia -- the lack of a "mind's eye". Ebeyer, a 25-year-old from Waterloo, Ont. was talking to his partner. The couple had just met with a friend they hadn't seen for several months. His partner mentioned that the friend was wearing the same thing she had worn the last time they met. Ebeyer was shocked. How could his partner conjure up the year-old memory in such detail?
"She said, 'Oh, ya know, I have a picture of her so clearly in my mind' and that is what brought this whole conversation to life for me," Ebeyer tells As It Happens host Carol Off.
"That sort of began a discovery process for me because I had no pictures in my mind of anything. In fact, I didn't know that other people had the ability to pictures things so that began this awakening and a questioning of the fundamental way that people are interacting in the world." Ebeyer is unable to create any sensory experience in his mind. He relies on facts and dialogue to recall events.
Ebeyer is now a subject of Adam Zeman's research. Zeman is a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology at the University of Exeter Medical School who coined the term aphantasia earlier this year.
"We call it aphantasia. This is after Aristotle, for whom phantasia was the ability that enabled you to summon images to the mind's eye, so aphantasia is the lack of such an ability -- the lack of a mind's eye," Zeman explains.
Ebeyer contacted Zeman after reading a study Zeman published on an older patient who developed aphantasia, likely because of complications following a stroke. Zeman's most recent research, in which he coins the term aphantasia, has prompted even more people to share similar stories.
"I have in my inbox, getting on 4,000 emails... and there is one estimate in the very limited research that has been done on this topic, which suggests that about two per cent of the population may lack imagery," Zeman explains.
Zeman thinks the condition varies with each individual. With Ebeyer the disconnect extends beyond the visual, to all sensory experience, whereas with others it is strictly visual.
Ebeyer describes reading a book of fiction as an example: "There is no imagination of the story. It's simply the words, the language, so I can follow along quite well with an understanding of what is happening in the story but there's no imagination. There's no visual representation of that story going on in my mind."
It is hard for Ebeyer to assess the overall impact of aphantasia in his life. But he admits that without a mind's eye, it is difficult to develop emotional ties in his memory or plan for the future.
"I would theorize that it would be a very nice experience to be able to reminisce on the face of a loved one or of a past relative," he explains.
Zeman is still trying to figure out what causes aphantasia. Most of his research is based on patients who developed the condition later in life.
"There seems to be a kind of failure, if you like, to drive the visual system top down and my guess would be that in folk like Tom, there is some minor anomaly in the communication system in the brain."
But Zeman stresses,"It certainly doesn't prevent people from leading rich and fulfilling lives...I don't know that it's a medical condition, I wouldn't regard it as a disability. I think it's a variation in experience."
To hear our full feature length interview with Ebeyer and Zeman please click on the Listen button above.