Aphantasia

Aphantasia (/ˌeɪfænˈteɪʒə/ AY-fan-TAY-zhə, /ˌæfænˈteɪʒə/ AF-an-TAY-zhə) is the inability to create mental imagery.

Not to be confused with aphasia, the inability to formulate language.

The phenomenon was first described by Francis Galton in 1880, but has remained relatively unstudied. Interest in the phenomenon renewed after the publication of a study in 2015 conducted by a team led by Professor Adam Zeman of the University of Exeter. Zeman's team coined the term aphantasia, derived from the ancient Greek word phantasia (φαντασία), which means "appearance/image", and the prefix a- (ἀ-), which means "without". People with aphantasia are called aphantasics, or less commonly aphants or aphantasiacs.

Aphantasia can be considered the opposite of hyperphantasia, the condition of having extremely vivid mental imagery.

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