I have the incredible “mental combo” of Total Aphantasia accompanied by Anauralia.
Because of this, I am unable to visualize images or hear sounds in my mind.
So far, all the memory techniques I’ve come across are based or focused entirely on visual images.
I am incapable of doing that. However, I would like to know if there is any way I can use techniques like the Memory Palace, or any other memory technique suited for people with zero or low capacity for mental visualization (I am open to adapting them).
Aphantasia: The inability to voluntarily visualize images in one’s mind.
Anauralia: The inability to hear internal sounds/voices in one’s mind.
Even though I don’t see or hear anything internally, I perceive concepts through spatial, tactile, and kinesthetic awareness (for example, I feel the intention/movement in my throat to represent sounds, and I know where things are located in space, even without seeing them).
Are there any experts, people in similar conditions, or curious minds willing to help me out?
I would like to know:
* Is it possible to create a functional Memory Palace, memory technique, or adaptation tailored for me?
* Has anyone here with Aphantasia managed to create a functional method?
Any tips, ideas, adaptations, or reading recommendations will be greatly appreciated!
People who cannot hallucinate at will often have excellent spatial thinking, as you mention you have. So you can still associate ideas with places. Test it now: try to place a few ideas a couple streets over and see if it makes them easier to remember.
I have a friend with this condition who uses a system that focuses on describing what he wants to remember, including every possible detail about the information; this allows him to create perfect drawings from memory based on those descriptions. For example, when drawing a Pokémon ball, he would describe a circle, a central division resembling a belt, and a circular button in the middle of that division, then specify the colors and their placement. He focuses on describing exactly what he wants to recall.
Hi! The main point is to make meaningful connection between objects and between the object and the location. If connection is a physical interaction or transformation you can think how some properties of objects change. You can think about it even without visualising.
Examples:
Location is a TV. TV show your object.
Location is a human. The human tell you something crazy about the object.
Location is a newspaper. The main topic of the newspaper is your object.
Object is a lazer. The lazer burns your location.
Hope it helps you to understand what Mark Boyanowski wanted to say.
Hi Vxzir0, yes. You can skip images and sounds and work with the concepts themselves, which it sounds like you already perceive.
The technique I teach links concepts directly, one line at a time. You hold an item as the concept itself, not a picture of it, and say a short sentence that connects it to the next one. Each line adds one property or one link, and you notice the concept change as it takes it on. For a list, that gives you a chain. For something complicated, like an algorithm or a lecture, it becomes a short story of concepts.
The psychologist Russell Hurlburt calls this kind of thought, with no images and no words, unsymbolized thinking. I call it thoughtfeel, a sense for concepts. I run thoughtfeel, a site with a one-question test and a 14-minute lesson that teaches a Bloom filter this way. It’s linked on my profile.
