When I close my eyes all I see is the back of my eyelids.

One of my exes had this, and I was absolutely incredulous at her telling me she could not mentally picture things whatsoever. She was just as incredulous as to how I described the manner in which I thought and read, as I didn't hear a narrator in my head when reading and thought in concepts - where her stream of thought was entirely in words, and she heard the words internally as she read.

Brains are weird.

My Stepmom has this. It was always hard for me to imagine since I am a regular day-dreaming machine.

I love you all.. discussions like this are the main reason I come to this website

I heard about this a while ago, and for me it's kind of terrifying. I am a visual/spacial learner where most people (%90) are auditory/sequential. This means I can't learn by rote or memorization (although muscle memory is still a thing) but visual information is retained more easily and if I am deliberate about it, I can retain all kinds of stuff if there is a visual element or if it is possible to associate it with visual contexts (think of the memory palace sort of methods from Cicero). I can't imagine functioning without the ability to visualize information, or 'simulate' plans and ideas in my head. Ah, the strange varieties of human cognition.

I didn't realize (until very recently) that not everyone is "equal" in this ability. It's something I always took for granted, and what I rely on to make a living. Now it makes more sense that some people can't picture something you're trying to describe unless you show them actual visuals.

Years ago, I was prescribed a type of SNRI antidepressant which blocked this ability. I felt "blind". Needless to say, I stopped taking it after about a week.

Echoing a comment from above; this was a great discussion from the very intelligent people here at poetv. This is why I still come here. Thank you guys.

I can only barely, barely visualize things in my "mind's eye" -- for ages I thought when other people talked about it they were being poetic or something.

If I imagine a cat, I'm much more likely to think of the WORD "cat", or just a vague fuzzy (in both senses) sense of cattitude. It's never been a problem for me, but perhaps not coincidentally I'm a shitty visual artist.

you could tag this better