What are /r/Aphantasia's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Internet has you non-gender-specific internet sibling!
https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/

Reload until you get who you want, save the image, describe the character from the image.

Neural Networks save the day!

Despite what some may claim, Memory Palaces/The Loci System works great for people with Aphantasia. Mnemonics are good for many things, The Major System is also really useful.

As /u/ResidentPurple pointed out Anki is fantastic for learning/remembering stuff, and as it's cross-platform you can use it where it suits you rather than being tied to one specific machine.

As others have said, I don't think your study problems are connected to your Aphantasia. You might want to check out Anki https://ankiweb.net/about and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ichi2.anki I swear by it.

I only really learned to draw as an adult and the main trick is using reference images. A lot of them.
A reference photo for the pose of each person, a few more for the clothes, a few more for the background objects... It's so much easier to combine multiple references into one image when drawing than to draw something out of nothing when you have aphantasia.
But yea, drawing will probably require a lot more work than for someone without aphantasia. Does it matter? Not really, everyone only sees the end result anyway.
EDIT: If you're curious, here are some of the drawings I've made, each one from at least three references. But many of them are highly NSFW.
EDIT2: And one big reason I finally did learn to draw was a book by Betty Edwards - The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The book got me started and using references then did the rest.

>iodine

maybe this? https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Mercola-Iodine-90-Capsules/dp/B07BGG3LMK/ref=sr\_1\_12?crid=2846ZRZRU7EUT&keywords=iodine+supplement&qid=1665542212&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjE2IiwicXNhIjoiNC42MiIsInFzcCI6IjQuNjIifQ%3D%3D&s=hpc&sprefix=iodine%...

> Also, what's the Journey app you mentioned?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.journey.app&hl=en_US&gl=US

I like it and still use it, though not consistently. It's also got a Windows interface to the same db iirc, and most likely an Apple one too.

It's still directed by his thoughts, unlike a true hallucination. That's what makes it voluntary. It doesn't matter if you put the thought there first, he then thought of his grandparents and Voilà! an image! For people who think in pictures, this is inevitable.

A great source for this is Temple Grandin, who thinks almost entirely in pictures. There are her own books, a documentary about her, even a kid's book

I think you're right about the story telling. My ex is a hyperphant, and is the same, so much detail, so much of his own laughter at what's happening in his mind. The flip side is ptsd. He did 5 tours and twenty years. He can't turn off many images, though he would like to, it's like trying to turn off memories.

Thanks for sharing! Yes interesting.

If I was in your shoes, I'd be consuming DHA oil and/or other "brain" oils, omegas, salmon, flax etc.

May or may not help, certainly can't hurt - generally accepted good for health anyway.

Source: doctor reccomended DHA after head injury (bicycle...)

Genestra Brands - Super DHA Liquid - Supports Brain Health and Cognitive Function* - 150 ml Liquid - Natural Orange Flavour https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MXVFOQG/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_QKWCGADQAGKV05E0WGM7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Hey, don't know if this'll be of interest to you, but was just listening to this therapy podcast and about 30-40 minutes in they're talking a lot about meditation leading to that ability to step out of yourself and observe yourself as part of the whole. Apparently the guest has a website with some mindfulness practices to help. Remembered your comment here and thought I'd share!

https://castbox.fm/vb/449063692 Psychologists off the Clock podcast, ep 228: heart medicine with Radhule Weininger

I use memory palaces/loci system, major system, chaining, all the standard memory techniques. You really don't need to visualise anything to use them, you need to conceptualise. I also use SRS for revision, ANKI is my favourite as it works on pretty much every platform and you can jump between them as you revise.

Memory palaces, Major system, chaining, there are loads of memory techniques we can use. And as /u/ResidentPurple said Anki is fantastic for revision, I've been using it for years (possibly decades now).

> The whole mind palace thing sounds like nonsence to me, as an apahantisia person.

This is the problem, so many people here just assume they can't do it due to Aphantasia, I'm zero on the visualisation scale and use the technique a LOT (as do several others here) and I assure you not only does it work, it works great.

> Spaced repetition

Yea, I'll second this I use Anki myself, it's free and available for most platforms so you can easily jump your revision from device to device.

This is a pretty interesting podcast on this topic, very short but, but Jae, the main host also has no internal monologue, but can "see" images

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xMjkyZjI2OC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw&episode=MWRmYWM5YTUtYzIxZC00MWEwLThjMmYtYWYwMDhmNDczOGE5

I was born with it but I’m learning to make it more vivid. When I focus on the thing i project everything else sorta goes out of focus. This discord can help you learn https://discord.com/invite/hrgQquS

The auras are caused by cortical spreading depression when it happens to the visual cortex. The rainbow colored lines people often see seem to be related to the orientation map in the visual cortex.

Overall auras are hallucinations, they obstruct your visual field. I experienced one some months ago. It didn't seem to affect my visualizations though (I dont have aphantasia)

I can't visualize anything, but I sort of do something like the editor vim. I imagine a bunch of "registers", just numbers that are important for the problem I am doing, and somehow manage to hold on to them while I am doing another part of the problem. Sometimes it goes haywire, and I forget a number or whether or not I have added or done something else to it and I have to start over. Somehow I do this all without visualizing the numbers. It's like when you read a word, and you know what word you have just read, but you can't see it in your head anymore.

Anyway, it works well enough where I can do the SAT without a calculator.

I can't do my job properly if I don't carry my planner/diary around with me, and have notes about everything that is going on.

I also use workflowy and print out my updated list every couple of days to keep inside the planner, and to scribble new tasks on.

Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters https://www.amazon.com/dp/0824835921/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_N5DVM7PBB0YHG0V8PTW7

It's a book. I don't know about the other system you mentioned.

Same. It can be distressing. Since I discovered aphantasia I've started keeping a photo journal with an app called Journey Journey (Play store link).

I mostly use it for otherwise boring stuff, like a nice tree I walked past, or a POV shot from where I waited for a train on the platform. This gives me a visual memory of the day to day life which otherwise disappears almost instantly. You could definitely do something similar, but more focused on interactions with loved ones.

If you're finding it difficult to remember emotions and empathy I would read up on alexithymia, it might resonate with you.

If I'm just making a quick note for myself, it's really scruffy, but both cursive and block are very neat if I'm writing something for somebody else to read. When I was young, my parents got me to write and rewrite stuff over and over following examples in books like THIS.

I think the primary reason people don't have good handwriting now is because we are all so used to typing stuff out on computers and mobile devices, so without using the skill it's unlikely to improve.

I self-published a novel, and I've gotten a few good reviews on it. I'm not great at the whole self-promotion/marketing thing, though.

But if you want to check it out, it's kind of a fantasy with some sci-fi elements scattered throughout: The Vesper's Mark