I can conjure up images in my mind, but they’re usually not vivid and can be quite fragile. I’m not sure how normal this is.
For me, reality utterly disappears. I have a clear image of whatever it is that blots out what is coming through my eyes. the image doesn't have photographic detail, but it's what the seeing bit of my brain is processing instead of what my eyes are getting.
I have aphantasia. There’s no great mystery here, it’s probably the same way you ‘think’ just without the pictures. I think about abstract algebra and car engines in the same way.
I'm reminded of this old thread, about kids on road trips imagining some little figure running/driving alongside, leaping over obstacles (I definitely did the same): https://old.reddit.com/r/DoesAnybodyElse/comments/2te8jz/dae...
I'm sure there are more like that which people just haven't thought to mention to one another.
Those same subtle differences in physical structures are responsible for so much of the variation in human personality/intelligence that we experience, and yet we perceive it totally different than physical beauty because we can't physically see it.
A big part of dating is about sussing out whether or not someone has a sexy medulla oblongata, or a girthy corpus callosum.
A funny habit of mine is sometimes I'll go for a walk with my ear buds in (not playing anything) to give myself an 'excuse' to be having a conversation with myself
I believe I have aphantasia, and the idea of being able to visualize things on demand seem so strange to me that it’s hard for me to even imagine (isn’t it distracting?).
When I heard things like “count sheep to fall asleep” or “imagine yourself on a beach” to relax, I had assumed this was a figure of speech, but apparently people are doing this literally!
I’ve spent some time trying to practice visualizing things mentally and sometimes if I relax and try not to think about it I’ll get a glimpse of something (last time I tried I got something like looking at a forest from the sky) but the moment I try and focus it disappears in a snap, so I feel like it’s closer to dreaming than visualizing something mentally.
Related to this, I have plenty of audible conversations in my mind (either with myself or other people) and I’ll often have a song playing in the background of my mind (although music seems to be limited to just remembering things I’ve already heard) apparently some people can’t imagine sounds or voices which also seems equally bizarre to me.