Can you see a red star?

[circa1978]

My friend posted this on Facebook and it blew my mind so now I'm curious:
 
Close your eyes and imagine a red star, like the kind a teacher puts on a star chart.










OK, what did you see? (ETA: or "see"? As in, what did it literally look like to you with your eyes closed during this exercise?) 


 

[circa1978]

FWIW, I am 1. So is DH and our DS. Until tonight I didn't know other people literally see something when they imagine it with their eyes closed. I can tell you anything about something I visualize - I'm actually pretty good at remembering things like color and details of a room or clothes or whatever. But I just know it. I don't literally "see" it.

[mcmel]

I feel like I’m missing something. Only #6 is a red star.

[circa1978]

Apr 24, 2019 19:55:41 GMT -5 mcmel said:

I feel like I’m missing something. Only #6 is a red star.

LOL - no. In your mind. What does it look like to you when you close your eyes?

[maudefindlay]

I don't get it.

[mcmel]

Apr 24, 2019 19:56:25 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Apr 24, 2019 19:55:41 GMT -5 mcmel said:

I feel like I’m missing something. Only #6 is a red star.

LOL - no. In your mind. What does it look like to you when you close your eyes?

Oh. People see things? I mean, in my mind’s eye I’m imagining it, but if you told me to imagine a banana no I wouldn’t literally see a yellow banana. I would just be seeing the back of my eyelids imagining a banana.

[circa1978]

The idea is that the chart is supposed to be what you see in your mind's eye, I guess. Like, in your own head. If someone says imagine a star do you literally SEE it. And to what degree?

[circa1978]

Apr 24, 2019 19:58:32 GMT -5 mcmel said:

Apr 24, 2019 19:56:25 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

LOL - no. In your mind. What does it look like to you when you close your eyes?

Oh. People see things? I mean, in my mind’s eye I’m imagining it, but if you told me to imagine a banana no I wouldn’t literally see a yellow banana. I would just be seeing the back of my eyelids imagining a banana.

That was my exact response. And my need for the poll.

People on her page were all describing actually SEEING things. As in, in their heads they "saw" 6. And I was like....um. 

[alleinesein]

Apr 24, 2019 19:56:36 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

I don't get it.

When you close your eyes, can you actually visualize a red star?  Apparently there are people who do not visualize anything and people who can visualize everything and essentially have a movie running through their mind when they read or imagine stuff.

[sonrisa]

I visualized a white background (which presented more like a gray), the star looked a darker, more maroon red than the example but my mind knew it was supposed to represent a bright red.

ETA: yes, I saw something when I first read the question - something about the wording (like "what do you see?") triggered an actual visualization. But that isn't always true when I imagine something. It's more intermittent than constant or movie like. I've only had a movie-like image once when meditating. 

[circa1978]

Apr 24, 2019 20:01:11 GMT -5 mofongo said:

I think this is trying to be too deep. Ha. I mean I *imagined* a red start, therefore I picked 6, I didn’t actually *see* a red star. I mean, who can do that?

EXACTLY. But people on her thread and a reddit thread I found with the same image claim to actually see things. As in, multiple people in the thread claimed 6 and that it is like a movie in their head. ETA: This is the Reddit link: www.reddit.com/r/Aphantasia/comments/aioyga/simple_aphantasia_test/

She also posted this link: 

[shamrockshake]

I also don’t get it. My red star was shiny, the stickers I remember were always shiny metallicy

[circa1978]

Guys, don't focus on your specific star or if it was shiny. Do you SEE it? In your head? Shiny or not. LOLOL. I cannot do that. I'm trying to decide if there are people who really can.

[HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan]

[shamrockshake]

Apr 24, 2019 20:05:12 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Guys, don't focus on your specific star or if it was shiny. Do you SEE it? In your head? Shiny or not. LOLOL. I cannot do that. I'm trying to decide if there are people who really can.

I’m trying and I guess I can’t. I never really thought about it before but no, I can imagine it but not actually see anything, it’s just black

[Leeham Rimes]

I just tried, I saw star 2, but not exactly. Remember how you'd draw a star as a kid, with all the lines criss-crossing, I saw that, very lightly.

[Leeham Rimes]

Apr 24, 2019 20:05:12 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Guys, don't focus on your specific star or if it was shiny. Do you SEE it? In your head? Shiny or not. LOLOL. I cannot do that. I'm trying to decide if there are people who really can.

BUT MY STAR HAD A HAPPY FACE ON IT! AND SMELLED LIKE STRAWBERRIES.

[waverly]

I thought I could the first time. The second time I saw more of a slightly reddish blurry thing. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow.

[VillainV]

What I saw didn't really look like any of those. It was kind of browny-coppery-swirly all over, with a vague slightly reddish-brownish-copperish-swirly blob in the middle that was kind of the shape of a start, sort of. No distinct star shape, no bright red, just....swirly. Like if you were to superimpose #6 over #1, make the whole thing brown, the swirl the whole damn thing so the edges weren't distinct. Sorta.

When I imagine things, my eyes don't actually see them in detail. My brain can imagine it clearly, but my eyes don't see it.

[sonrisa]

Apr 24, 2019 20:14:11 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Apr 24, 2019 20:05:12 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Guys, don't focus on your specific star or if it was shiny. Do you SEE it? In your head? Shiny or not. LOLOL. I cannot do that. I'm trying to decide if there are people who really can.

I feel like we would have heard about this by now. I vote they’re all full of shit. Tell them I said so!!

Of course you've heard of it - if you do it too much and too distinctly, it's called hallucinating. lol.

[ECB]

I’m still confused.

[joy]

If you tell me to imagine a red star, then yes - I see a red star in my mind. If you tell me to think of my grandma, then I see her face plain as day. If you say I should imagine a beach and waves, then I see that, too. When I read a book, yes I see the events happening in my head.

I can’t tell if I’m normal or abnormal. Someone dissect this thread and lemme know.

[joy]

Apr 24, 2019 20:24:51 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Apr 24, 2019 20:22:59 GMT -5 joy said:

If you tell me to imagine a red star, then yes - I see a red star in my mind. If you tell me to think of my grandma, then I see her face plain as day. If you say I should imagine a beach and waves, then I see that, too. When I read a book, yes I see the events happening in my head.

I can’t tell if I’m normal or abnormal. Someone dissect this thread and lemme know.

In your mind is key, you’re not actually conjuring up these images behind your eyelids. I think.

I need that Winona Ryder gif of her superimposed by fancy math equations.

[agnes]

I’m still confused. I can visualize anything like the bright red star and my thoughts are often similar to movies, but I don’t SEE anything when I close my eyes. I see the inside of my eyelids.

[sapphireblue]

Well, I basically saw the same as you, 1. But there was a hazy very faint blob of red in the middle, or maybe just a reddish black.

But it is interesting because I am actually a very visual thinker and I picture things in my head with my eyes open. Like if I am doing math in my head I am seeing it in my mind's eye visually as I work out the problem in my head. But like you I certainly didn't actually see a star.

[circa1978]

If it helps, I'm confused and I created the thread.

[krystee]

I imagine an old school paper with a red star sticker, and I can picture that memory, but I am not literally seeing it. This is very confusing to discuss, because if I can picture it, I’m seeing it, but I’m not SEEING it.

[Captain Serious]

I think the people who say they "see" it are saying the same thing as joy. When you asked the question, I also thought I "saw" #6, but I didn't ACTUALLY SEE it. I just imagined it, and ascribed the word "see" to what I imagined.

[HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan]

This is semantic hell.

[circa1978]

Apr 24, 2019 20:37:04 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan said:

This is semantic hell.

Would you like to go back to talking about inane Mormon bloggers? Because I WILL.