This is more of me trying to understand how people imagine things, as I almost certainly have Aphantasia and didn’t realize until recently… If this is against community rules, please do let me know.

The original thought experiment was from the Aphantasia subreddit. Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Aphantasia/comments/g1e6bl/ball_on_a_table_visualization_experiment_2/

Thought experiment begins below.

Try this: Visualise (picture, imagine, whatever you want to call it) a ball on a table. Now imagine someone walks up to the table, and gives the ball a push. What happens to the ball?

Once you're done with the above, click to review the test questions:
  • What color was the ball?
  • What gender was the person that pushed the ball?
  • What did they look like?
  • What size is the ball? Like a marble, or a baseball, or a basketball, or something else?
  • What about the table, what shape was it? What is it made of?

And now the important question: Did you already know, or did you have to choose a color/gender/size, etc. after being asked these questions?

  • Lvxferre
    21·
    1 month ago
    My answers
    • It was sandy brown.
    • I didn’t picture a person, but a real cat that I’m worried about. She’s a female.
    • Like that specific furball looks like. She resembles savannah cats from a distance but she’s a pure-bred mutt.
    • Around the size of my palm. Massive, springy.
    • I pictured the ball over the desk table that I’m using now.

    I picked a lot of RL stuff (like the cat, or the table) to “build” the image with; I often do this. I picked all those things before seeing the questions.