A Case Study for Aphantasia and Ayahuasca Combined with their ability to improve vision, this effect may mean that psychedelics could help people with aphantasia visualize images in their minds.įurthermore, research has shown that LSD increases brain activity in the primary visual cortex, illustrating a potential to reverse some damage to the brain area relating to aphantasia. In some cases, psychedelics have even cured people’s color blindness.Ī common effect of psychedelics is vivid open and closed-eye hallucinations. Psychedelics can increase the clarity of people’s visual field, known as visual acuity, and increase the brightness of different colors. Psychedelic drugs that act on 5-HT2A receptors, such as LSD and psilocybin, can increase people’s visual imagery. Could Psychedelics Be a Cure for Aphantasia? Psychedelics Help Improve Vision For example, there are cases where aphantasia is onset following a depressive or psychotic episode (source listed below), indicating that there may be a link between aphantasia and mental health. Some scientists have speculated that aphantasia could also have a psychological and physical cause, as it has been commonly associated with depressive, anxious, and dissociative psychological conditions. Still, they are unable to bring their internally-generated visual images to consciousness. One theory of aphantasia, based on animal experiments, is that some aphantasics may have no problems in forming visual imagery. These brain areas are involved in visual processing and may play a role in forming closed-eye visual imagery and aphantasia. Specific brain injuries in the aphantasic patient included damage to the left fusiform gyrus and right lingual gyrus. One study investigated which brain regions were damaged in a man who gained aphantasia following a stroke and compared the results to patients who had similar strokes but no aphantasia. Specific brain areas are involved in visual processing and may play a role in forming closed-eye visual imagery and aphantasia. Reduced activity in these brain areas could occur because of a brain injury or neurological condition. However, scientists think it’s likely people with aphantasia have altered or reduced activity in brain areas involved in visual imagery and visual memory. What Causes Aphantasia? Decreased Brain Activity His visual imagery before sleeping improved, but there was no improvement in his day-to-day visual imagery. One published case study (source listed below) described how a 31-year-old man with aphantasia had vision therapy sessions for 18 weeks, including remembering images on cards and describing objects and outdoor scenes. There are currently no known treatments for aphantasia. Furthermore, some people with aphantasia can still have visual imagery in dreams, whereas others don’t. For example, some patients may have a decreased ability to create visual images, whereas others are completely unable. Symptoms of aphantasia vary from person to person. Very little is understood about aphantasia, but research suggests it could affect anywhere from 0.7% to 6.7% of the population. For example, writings by the famous scientist Francis Galton from the 1800s describe a small group of men unable to create mental images of their breakfast table. He initially described this phenomenon as having a “blind imagination.”Īlthough aphantasia has only recently come to scientific interest, it’s a condition that has likely affected people throughout history. The word aphantasia was coined in 2015 by scientific researcher Adam Zenman, and it comes from two Greek words, “a” meaning “without,” and “phantasia” meaning “to imagine.” Zenman created the word after he received letters from several people describing how they were incapable of summoning pictures in their mind’s eye. However, for somebody with aphantasia, this would be extremely difficult or impossible. Most people can visualize an image in their heads of a familiar object or face if asked. We’ve investigated some of the evidence and theories behind why psychedelics could treat aphantasia below.
The condition can make things like remembering the past or imagining future scenarios quite challenging.Ĭurrently, there is no cure for aphantasia, but some suggest that psychedelic drugs might help.
However, this wouldn’t be the case if you had aphantasia.Īlso known as “blind imagination,” aphantasia is a condition where people are unable to visualize images in their minds. If somebody asked you to remember the face of a loved one or picture your favorite food at the breakfast table, you’d likely be able to create these images with your eyes closed with no problem.