Vividness of Visual Imagery questionnaire (a fast free test)

Vividness Of Visual Imagery Questionnaire * Aphantasia Network

I learned something about my imagination: it is far more vivid when I picture people or social events than just nature. I would have Hyperphantasia on the portion of the test that does not deal with images of nature.


These are my results: Your VVIQ Result: Phantasic

You have a vivid visual imagination, known as phantasia. This indicates an average to above-average ability to visualize mental images. When you picture something in your mind, you can "see it" with a reasonable level of clarity and detail.
VVIQ is only one indicator and is not intended to be a conclusive diagnostic of your internal experience.
What is Phantasia?
Phantasia is the ability to picture things in your mind. The word comes from ancient times when thinkers like Aristotle talked about how our minds can create mental pictures. People with phantasia can “see” things in their thoughts, like picturing a beach or remembering a friend’s face. It’s not as vivid as seeing with our eyes, but it has a very distinct visual quality which is why it is often referred to as ‘seeing with the mind’s eye.’ For phantasics, their mind is like a vintage or classic film, showing both memories from the past and images of the future.

What does this mean?
Your visual imagination is a powerful cognitive tool. It allows you to:

Vividly recall memories
Plan and visualize future scenarios
Enhance problem-solving by mentally manipulating objects
Boost creativity in various fields
However, everyone’s experience is unique. Your visual imagination is just one facet of your cognitive toolkit.

Explore Your Mind's Eye
Curious about the extent of your visual abilities? Here are some questions to ponder:

Can you easily change colors or shapes of imagined objects?
How detailed are the faces you visualize?
Can you “walk through” an imagined house with ease?
The Visual Imagination Spectrum
Your phantasic abilities place you in the middle of the visual imagination spectrum:

Aphantasia <-> Hypophantasia <-> Phantasia <-> Hyperphantasia

Each point on this spectrum represents a unique way of experiencing the world. By understanding our differences, we gain insights into human cognition and creativity.

I got hyperphantasia, but probably just because I got excited thinking about the notch at the end. I choose the grocery store for the middle one and they don’t put stuff on display in a window so made that shyt up and wasn’t going off of memory for that part and clicked stuff more in the middle.

Phantasia for me. I also picked grocery store so couldn’t answer the window question. I do have vivid recollection of people too though.

Phantasia.

Jeff.

I got hyperfantastic. That doesn't really surprise me. When I read books, I visualize everything I read very clearly and have since I first learned to read which I remember thinking was the coolest thing ever!

I too got hyperfantastic I thought for sure that grocery store window would do me in. My grocery shop has no windows.

Ours does, but only for putting huge signs in that say “GROUND BEEF $2 MARKET BASKET MORE FOR YOUR DOLLAR”

I got interested in this after listening to a podcast about aphantasia. Some creative people have it, but more often, aphantasia folk tend to congregate in sciences where rationality is a prized quality. We have too small of a sample here, but I wonder... Bipolar correlates with creativity, as does hyperohantasia, and maybe that is why we have people here who score high on the spectrum.

The biologist who talked on the podcast also said that hallucinations that are part of psychotic disorders and Parkinson's might be described as hyper hyper hyperohantasia.

I listened to a podcast on aphantasia too (maybe the same one? Mine was on Stuff You Should Know). They said a lot of graphic designers have aphantasia which might actually be an asset because you can just draw stuff and work it out instead of going on the preconceived notion of what you visualize in your head.

Mine was in Russian, by the young biologist Alexander Panchin, but he cited English sources and also talked about the many ways aphantasia can be surprisingly useful. He got interested in the topic because one of his ex GFs told him she had aphantasia and she is a neuroscientist who likes sci fi. He wondered how she enjoys sci fi without imagining, but she enjoys the more abstract aspect of interesting ideas.

Ultimately he likened aphantasia to not having a video card installed in your brain.

I will listen to Stuff you should know, too

I wonder about my H though; he's very scientific but also quite visual: he has great recall of faces and is quite artistic; yet on the other hand he has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry studying nanotechnology and now teaches industrial engineering at a university and sometimes he'll just be sitting still staring off, and I'll ask, "What are you thinking about?" and he's like oh, I'm trying to come up with the right equation for this algorithm" or "I'm just visualizing how adding a turbine mixer to the nanoparticles my company makes (he's part founder of a nanotech company overseas) and the reactions of all the chemical compoments (based on their chemical properties). And he is quite good at drawing and painting and designing through CAD programs devices to be 3D printed.

So he's got both scientific and visual sides that are each quite strong.

Maybe your H is like Mendeleev who visualized the periodic table of elements. Except to him it came in his dream.

Or Ramanujan who had practically no formal math education and came up with all these wild identities and equations and claimed they came to him in his sleep!

Wow! I need to read up on math equations that came in a dream. I did not know.

I didn’t take the test. But I can’t visualize anything. I am artistic but have to draw everything out on paper, no inner image to work from. For a long time I thought it was just something wrong with me then several years ago I found out other people have it too. I mix up people because I don’t remember faces either.

Phantasic but I figured I would be. My imagination and memory can usually keep me entertained. I think the attention-deficit might fuel the ability...or vice versa. It's a zoo in there most times but details are always pretty clear.

Aphantasia. Took the test. My child has it also although their degree is in art. So I am thinking it might be genetic.

I scored with hyperhantasia. No surprise. I am an artist so seeing things is what I do.

The only one was a bit lower for me is imagining a store because I rarely shop in person and if I do I just run in the hurry. So I had to think of a store from ages back

I imagine that you would be able to imagine the graphic user interface of whatever company you use to shop online - the layout, colors, buttons.

I scored Hyperphantasia, and I am an engineer who applies scientific methods, but I also consider myself creative and artistic, and I draw upon intuition to solve problems.

Good visualization is helpful when I start to design something. I see the piece clearly in my mind's eye. Then I try to hand sketch it as it would appear from different perspectives. And finally I create a CAD model.

During the quiz, I didn't just visualize things. I used multiple senses. For the lake example, I smelled the muddy wet seaweed. For the friend example, the sound of her voice.

I get the most vivid imagery during lucid dreams; it's even better than life. The images I saw during the test were just as good as real life.

Might you also have Synesthesia?

No I don't think I have Synesthesia, but I find that certain sensations alter my mood.

Thanks for asking, though!

I have a little bit of Synesthesia, but I had more when I was a child.

How interesting that sensations alter your mood!

I think most people's mood can be influenced by color, sound, smells. Lavender oil can be soothing, for example.

I get a mood lift from turning on the lights in the kitchen. My grandmother did, too - she would turn on the light in the kitchen and say "it is more cheerful with the light!"