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What is the link between mental imagery and sensory sensitivity? Insights from aphantasia
Version 2 2023-06-12, 09:58
Version 1 2023-06-10, 00:37
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 09:58 authored by Carla DanceCarla Dance, Jamie WardJamie Ward, Julia SimnerJulia SimnerPeople with aphantasia have impoverished visual imagery so struggle to form mental pictures in the mind's eye. By testing people with and without aphantasia, we investigate the relationship between sensory imagery and sensory sensitivity (i.e., hyper- or hypo-reactivity to incoming signals through the sense organs). In Experiment 1 we first show that people with aphantasia report impaired imagery across multiple domains (e.g., olfactory, gustatory etc.) rather than simply vision. Importantly, we also show that imagery is related to sensory sensitivity: aphantasics reported not only lower imagery, but also lower sensory sensitivity. In Experiment 2, we showed a similar relationship between imagery and sensitivity in the general population. Finally, in Experiment 3 we found behavioural corroboration in a Pattern Glare Task, in which aphantasics experienced less visual discomfort and fewer visual distortions typically associated with sensory sensitivity. Our results suggest for the very first time that sensory imagery and sensory sensitivity are related, and that aphantasics are characterised by both lower imagery, and lower sensitivity. Our results also suggest that aphantasia (absence of visual imagery) may be more accurately defined as a subtype of a broader imagery deficit we name dysikonesia, in which weak or absent imagery occurs across multiple senses.
Funding
Misophonia in Children: Impact, Co-morbidities, and Roadmaps to Treatment; G2858; REAM FOUNDATION
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
PerceptionISSN
0301-0066Publisher
SAGE PublicationsExternal DOI
Issue
9Volume
50Page range
757-782Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2021-08-12First Open Access (FOA) Date
2021-08-12First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2021-08-12Usage metrics
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