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Cited by 195Memory Processes and InfluencesVisual perception and processing mechanismsSpatial Cognition and Navigation

Quantifying aphantasia through drawing: Those without visual imagery show deficits in object but not spatial memory

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Bainbridge, Wilma A., Pounder, Zoë, Eardley, Alison F., Baker, Chris I.·2021·Cortex
DOI 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.11.014PMC PMC7856239

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Abstract

Congenital aphantasia is a recently characterized variation of experience defined by the inability to form voluntary visual imagery, in individuals who are otherwise high performing. Because of this specific deficit to visual imagery, individuals with aphantasia serve as an ideal group for probing the nature of representations in visual memory, particularly the interplay of object, spatial, and symbolic information. Here, we conducted a large-scale online study of aphantasia and revealed a dissociation in object and spatial content in their memory representations. Sixty-one individuals with aphantasia and matched controls with typical imagery studied real-world scene images, and were asked to draw them from memory, and then later copy them during a matched perceptual condition. Drawings were objectively quantified by 2,795 online scorers for object and spatial details. Aphantasic participants recalled significantly fewer objects than controls, with less color in their drawings, and an increased reliance on verbal scaffolding. However, aphantasic participants showed high spatial accuracy equivalent to controls, and made significantly fewer memory errors. These differences between groups only manifested during recall, with no differences between groups during the matched perceptual condition. This object-specific memory impairment in individuals with aphantasia provides evidence for separate systems in memory that support object versus spatial information. The study also provides an important experimental validation for the existence of aphantasia as a variation in human imagery experience.

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  • On standard experimental measures of memory, people with aphantasia perform normally or show at most mild to moderate impairment.

    “On a range of standard experimental measures of memory (short- and long-term, verbal and visual), people with aphantasia perform normally or show, at most, mild to moderate impairment”

    From Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes (2024) · cites this paper as [51]

    The Results report normal performance on the study’s visual-recognition and spatial-memory measures, while the Discussion reports a selective object-memory impairment that does not eliminate object recall. These findings support part of the claim, but the paper’s drawing and recognition tasks do not establish performance across the stated range of short- and long-term, verbal and visual memory measures, or grade the impairment as mild to moderate (page numbers unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Spatial accuracy is preserved when people with aphantasia reproduce drawings.

    “The finding that spatial accuracy is preserved when people with aphantasia reproduce drawings is consistent with these results [51”

    From Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes (2024) · cites this paper as [51]

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Bainbridge WA, Hall EH, & Baker CI (2019). Highly diagnostic and detailed content of visual memory revealed during free recall of real-world scenes. Nature Communications 10, 5. PMC6315028 30602785
  2. Farah MJ, & Hammond KM (1988). Visual and spatial mental imagery: Dissociable systems of representations. Cognitive Psychology 20, 439– 462. 3191667

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Authors
Bainbridge, W. A., Pounder, Z., Eardley, A. F., & Baker, C. I.
Affiliations
  • University of Chicago (US)
  • University of Westminster (GB)
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
Corresponding author
Bainbridge, Wilma A.
ORCID
Venue
Cortex
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-02
Volume
135
Pages
159-172
ISSN
0010-9452 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.cortex.2020.11.014
PMC
PMC7856239
OpenAlex
W3110992931
Cited by
195
References
71
Citations by year
2026: 49 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 3
FWCI
9.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Cortex (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
Keywords
aphantasia, visual imagery, visual memory, object memory, spatial memory, drawing from memory, memory representation, verbal scaffolding, color recall, memory errors
MeSH terms
Humans, Imagination, Perceptual Disorders, Mental Recall, Visual Perception, Imagery, Psychotherapy, Spatial Memory

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