Aphantasia Discovery

The Keyboard Query

• On July 17, 2017, I shared my origin story regarding discovering my Aphantasia.
• When I was 18, I worked with an accomplished technical writer who was also a superb keyboardist. Since I dabbled in keyboards too, I asked him: "When you are playing a piece from memory, are you remembering the hand positions, or do you prefer to somehow remember the sounds?"
• His reply stunned me: "I can do either of those, but I prefer just seeing the notes on the printed staff in my mind, and playing those."

Visual vs. Auditory Memory

• Realizing that "visualizing" was not a metaphor but a literal ability for most people made my jaw drop. I spent the next few years asking friends about their ability to visualize, finding out that I was the exception.
• I have no visual recall or visual imagination. If I don't put a scene into words, I cannot remember it.
• This has caused personal and professional difficulties. I often fail to recognize friends (who think I am snubbing them) or potential clients at conferences until they say enough to trigger my auditory memory.
• In contrast, I have excellent auditory and kinesthetic recall. I can imagine voices (like Morgan Freeman reading text) and mimic singers at Karaoke (like Kermit the Frog or Garth Brooks) because I can hear them precisely in my head.