Mind Unseen: Invisible Landscapes of Perception and Thought
We all live in different realities, not just externally but also internally.
Posted July 30, 2025 | Reviewed by Davia Sills
Each day, we pass by countless people on the streets, in airports, or at train stations. Brief encounters with lives we know nothing about. These moments remind me just how vast the human experience is.
And yet, in our own minds, it often feels like we are at the center of the universe. Our thoughts, emotions, and memories fill our awareness so completely that the rest of the world can fade into the background. This might seem self-centered, but it is simply how our minds work. But it raises a fascinating question: How different might someone else’s inner world be from our own?
As psychologists, we try to study and understand these inner experiences—what I like to call the mind unseen. This blog will be a space to explore these hidden worlds: how people think, feel, imagine, and perceive differently from one another.
Mystery of Mental Imagery
Mental imagery is the ability to create sensory experiences in the absence of external input. You might “see” an apple in your mind’s eye, even though there is no apple in front of you. Or perhaps you can replay the sound of a song, feel the texture of velvet, or imagine the scent of cut grass. This internal simulation, sometimes called “thinking in pictures” or other sensory modes, is more than just imagination ; it is a key part of how we remember, reason, and plan.
I first encountered this concept through philosophy , but research at places like the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience (CSPE) is making it a rich field of scientific inquiry. Some people, like myself, experience hyperphantasia—an extremely vivid mental imagery. I can daydream for hours or mentally re-watch a favorite movie in incredible detail. My dreams are just as rich, though that is a topic with less scientific grounding (for now!).
Thinking Without Pictures
On the other end of the spectrum is aphantasia, the inability to form mental images. When I first learned about aphantasia, I was stunned. I could not imagine living without my intricate inner world. But through my research and conversations with individuals with aphantasia, I have come to appreciate its uniqueness. For example, aphantasic individuals might read a novel and follow the plot just fine but without forming mental images of the scenes or characters. They understand the words, but there is no visual representation in their mind.
One of the main criticisms of measures used to investigate aphantasia, such as interviews and self-report questionnaires, is subjectivity. Keogh and Pearson (2018) demonstrated an alternative way to measure this condition—a binocular rivalry task. In this task, participants are shown two different images to each eye at the same time—for example, a red horizontal stripe to the left eye and a green vertical stripe to the right eye. Instead of merging these two images, the brain alternates between them. The outcome is the participant seeing one image dominate, then the other, flipping back and forth every few seconds.
Keogh and Pearson (2018) used this paradigm to understand if aphantasiacs really lack visual imagery or if they just think they do. Participants were asked to imagine an image (for example, a red horizontal line) before the binocular rivalry task. If participants were able to visualize this image, they would be more likely to see it first, as the brain has been primed by this mental image.
Aphantasiacs did not show any sensory priming . Even when they tried to imagine the red or green stripe, this did not influence which image they saw during the binocular rivalry task. This was a clear demonstration that visual mental imagery is truly absent in aphantasia.
Although aphantasia (and other similar conditions) is often difficult to understand, it is a real, measurable difference in how people experience their inner world. Aphantasia is a genuine neurological variation and not just a psychological block or lack of effort.
The Invisible Differences
We all live in different realities—not just in the world around us, but also in the world within us. Every mind is unique. Some are filled with vivid imagery, others with non-visual thoughts. Aphantasia is just one example of how embracing cognitive diversity can help us appreciate that there is no single way to be human.
Pearson J., Naselaris T., Holmes E.A., Kosslyn S.M. (2015) Mental Imagery: Functional Mechanisms and Clinical Applications. Trends in Cognitive Science.
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Sarune Savickaite, Ph.D., is a passionate educator and researcher specializing in neurodiversity, XR technologies, and innovative learning design.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.