| I'm neither of the earlier posters but can relate since I have both aphantasia and SDAM (severely deficient autobiographical memory). In the current literature these are thought of as distinct things that often co-occur. > Is losing autobiographical memory immediate, or could you remember a few seconds of what you see? It's hard to describe this precisely. The visual memory is not lost; it is never formed in the first place. For example, immediately after talking to a person I wouldn't be able to tell the colour of their eyes unless I specifically noted and remembered it as a fact (articulated in my head using language). > Can you think in other languages? Yes, I speak multiple languages and do think and dream[1] in most of them. I love learning languages and have been told on many occasions that I'm pretty good at it. It's hard to say to what exent it's due to intrinsic motivation (to me, learning a language is like solving a good puzzle, and I love puzzles) and to what extent it's about aptitude (e.g. the ability to spot patterns, both within a language and across languages). [1] Based on the literature, it seems that some people with aphantasia have visual dreams and some do not. I do, and very occasionally have fleeing visual imagery when I'm sort-of awake but am either falling asleep or waking up. > Can you learn patterns like chess moves? Yes, easily. My brain is very good at spotting and remembering patterns (it just can't visualise them, in the sense that I'm guessing you mean when you talk about chess). > What is your oldest memory? I remember a handful of disjoint bits from my childhood, though as facts rather than as images. > Can you suppose future events, like an accident about to happen? Yeah, sure. In fact, I have a natural tendency to calculate everything a few steps ahead, probably more than is healthy. At the same time, I have had more than my fair share of personal accidents, but that probably has mostly to do with the fact that I do lots of sports and really like to push my physical boundaries. > Do you have olfactory memory? Not really. I can't even describe tastes or smells, except when they strongly remind me of something specific, e.g. some other thing that has a very distinctive smell. I can't even imagine what remembering tastes or smells would be like. After all, it took me more than 40 years to figure out that, when people spoke of visualising stuff, it wasn't just some figure of speech. :) > Do you like any kind of puzzles? LOVE puzzles. All sorts. Bring 'em on! :) > Can you follow or find thing with a map? Yes, easily. I use topo maps in the mountains all the time, have done a bit of orienteering etc. Correlating the two things that are in front of me -- the map and the terrain -- doesn't seem to require me to visualise anything. If you're curious to learn more about SDAM, here are some links that I found interesting. The first author's account reasonates a great deal with my experience (though some aspects do differ a fair bit). https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/90427/1/Watkins_%28A%29phantasia%2... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002839321... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiFaw5RrKNQ |