I have aphantasia. I definitely cannot rotate a cube in my mind. I can with great effort and concentration kind of do what you describe, follow where individual edges and vertices would be in space relative to each other, but normally it would just be the idea in my head “there’s a cube and it’s rotating”.
My go to test for aphantasia goes like this:
“Imagine a circle”
“OK”
“What color is it?”
People always answer with color and many times with a more detailed visual description, like texture, material, the surrounding scene, etc. I personally would very stumped by that question because when asked to imagine a circle, I just imagine the concept of a circle. It has no color, no texture, no substance.
when asked to imagine a circle, I just imagine the concept of a circle. It has no color, no texture, no substance.
I mean, I don’t have aphantasia, and if you ask me to imagine a circle, with no other details, I won’t get most of that either right away. If anything I guess I’d tend to “see” it as a black thin outline, i guess because that’s how it appears commonly in math problem figures. But I certainly wouldn’t make up a texture or material for it if it wasn’t mentioned.
Now if you’re talking about a green and red tartan circle that smells like rotten cheese, yeah sure, I can summon that.
The infinite sharpness of its edge, the rigid but smooth change of direction as you move along it. The feeling you get when you see a circle. The concept of rolling.
I have aphantasia. I definitely cannot rotate a cube in my mind. I can with great effort and concentration kind of do what you describe, follow where individual edges and vertices would be in space relative to each other, but normally it would just be the idea in my head “there’s a cube and it’s rotating”.
My go to test for aphantasia goes like this:
People always answer with color and many times with a more detailed visual description, like texture, material, the surrounding scene, etc. I personally would very stumped by that question because when asked to imagine a circle, I just imagine the concept of a circle. It has no color, no texture, no substance.
I mean, I don’t have aphantasia, and if you ask me to imagine a circle, with no other details, I won’t get most of that either right away. If anything I guess I’d tend to “see” it as a black thin outline, i guess because that’s how it appears commonly in math problem figures. But I certainly wouldn’t make up a texture or material for it if it wasn’t mentioned.
Now if you’re talking about a green and red tartan circle that smells like rotten cheese, yeah sure, I can summon that.
Very insightful! No pun intended.
Huh.
Is the association with the word circle? Like, what does the concept of a circle involve?
The infinite sharpness of its edge, the rigid but smooth change of direction as you move along it. The feeling you get when you see a circle. The concept of rolling.
… but primarily just circle-ness.
For me, “imagine a circle” is kind of a meaningless instruction until you follow it up with something