Is a blind mind's eye also a deaf mind's ear?
People who lack visual mental imagery are highly likely to also lack auditory mental imagery, a state termed anauralia.
Source
Anauralia: The Silent Mind and Its Association With Aphantasia
What they did
Potential participants were recruited through multiple avenues, resulting in a total sample size of 128 individuals who completed the survey. The participants completed questionnaires to assess their sensory imagery, evaluating both visual and auditory domains.
What they found
The correlation between visual and auditory imagery was strong, with a Spearman's rho value of 0.832. Out of 34 participants classified as having aphantasia, 82% also experienced anauralia, while 97% of the 29 participants with anauralia were also classified as having aphantasia.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Because the researchers recruited heavily from online aphantasia support communities, the results may not generalize to the wider public. Additionally, the study relies entirely on self-report surveys, which cannot objectively measure mental experiences. The correlational design also cannot establish whether lacking visual imagery causes a lack of auditory imagery, or if both are caused by a separate factor.
Key terms
- Aphantasia
- The complete or near-complete inability to experience voluntary visual mental imagery.
- Anauralia
- A newly coined term referring to the complete or near-complete absence of auditory mental imagery, including the lack of an inner voice.
- Hyperphantasia
- The state of having exceptionally vivid and lifelike voluntary visual mental imagery.
- Hyperauralia
- The state of having exceptionally vivid and lifelike voluntary auditory mental imagery.
- Supramodal
- Cognitive or neural mechanisms that operate across and integrate multiple different sensory modalities rather than being restricted to a single one.
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Quiz yourself
What is the term proposed by the authors to describe the complete absence of auditory imagery?
Common questions
Can someone have aphantasia but still hear an inner monologue?
Yes, though it is extremely rare. In this study, a single aphantasic individual reported average auditory imagery while the rest experienced very weak or absent auditory imagery.
How did the researchers measure the participants' imagery?
Participants completed self-report questionnaires where they rated the vividness of imagined visual scenes and sounds on rating scales.
Why did the researchers create the new term 'anauralia'?
The researchers introduced 'anauralia' because there was previously no specific English word to describe a complete absence of auditory imagery or a 'silent mind' separate from visual imagery.
Could people just be clicking the lowest rating automatically on the questionnaires?
The researchers noted that because the auditory imagery questions were presented first, before participants became fatigued or fell into a pattern, it is unlikely that the low scores were merely due to automatic, repetitive clicking.
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