Technolandy

Day 172 (of 2024/25) Are these neurologies common? Or rare…?

Been doing some thinking about thinking and two neuro tendencies have come up… cuz the brain is wonderful making us think they all work the same for so long, when the reality is the more we study it, the less it lets us know…

Aphantasia. Not being able to form pictures in your mind. Did not think this was common at all as I used to say ‘books are great as they help create images in your mind while you read’ – no wonder there are some who hate reading… maybe we don’t need to teach everybody the full reading process experience… and of course the opposite with too vivid of imagery – hyperphantasia

Internalized Echolalia/Echolagia.  Inner monologues and music… maybe it’s my tinnitus (in itself a struggle with the always-present buzzing sound), but thought this was common… https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSUqNna7/

Synesthesia. If someone says they can hear colours or see music… they might not be doing an experiment – this is when senses overlap information – so suddenly you can ‘taste a shape/colour’.

There are a lot of unique things that the brain does – from colour blindness to dyslexia (if a font is all uppercase, does that help? That’s something I am testing on/with my daughter!)

Can everyone recall particular smells??

Do you re-experience emotions with/instead of memories??

Can you taste something as you add/alter ingredients without putting it in your mouth?

Can you recall sounds??

Some brain explorations via Slev.life

Visual — Picture an apple on a plate.

1. What color is the apple?
2. What variety is the apple? (Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Macintosh…)
3. Which direction is the light coming from?
4. Is there a specular reflection — i.e., a shiny spot, as if light is being accurately reflected by the skin of the apple?
5. Are there imperfections in the surface? Roughness, subtle variations in the color of the apple?
6. Is there reflected illumination from the plate onto the apple?
7. Can you easily zoom in on the apple, rotate it, etc.? How faithful to an actual 3D physical object is this in your mind’s eye?

Audio — Imagine a song, one with vocals and instruments. Pick one you’re familiar with.

1. Does it have all the instruments?
2. Are the vocals changing pitch, tone, etc.?
3. Are the vocals actual words, or just sort of gibberish fitting the role? (Try singing along to whatever is going through your head out loud if you’re not sure.)
4. How sharp are the drums?
5. Can you change the tempo?
6. Can you make the singer sound like they huffed helium?
7. Can you swap out instruments? Swap out lyrics wholesale?
8. Can you change the key or mode of the song?

Touch & Proprioception — Imagine your hand and an object, any object, in front of you.

1. Can you mentally reach out and touch it?
2. Does the object feel like it should? Hard/soft, hot/cold, smooth/rough, etc.
3. Could you feel your own imagined hand and arm? Were you aware of the physical movements in the same way that you know where your physical arm/hand/fingers are without looking?
4. How heavy is the object you imagined? The right weight?
5. Can you change that weight?
6. Close your eyes (mentally or physically, whatever works) and concentrate on that imagined hand. Start with the thumb. Tap it to your palm. Do the same with your index finger, then your middle, ring, little finger. Any problems?
7. Can you keep going? In other words, can you continue to “tap fingers” with fingers you don’t have — imagine that you had extra fingers — despite not having a real-life analog to compare to?
8. Can you go a step further, and imagine the feel of wholly alien things (bird wings, say) that will require entirely fictitious input?

Smell — Imagine a flower, preferably one with a strong smell.

1. Can you smell it at all?
2. Does it smell strong enough, or just a faint whiff?
3. Is the smell accurate — a rose smelling like a rose?
4. Can you make it smell like something else — fresh cookies, say?
5. Multiple smells at once? Rose, cookies, old stinky socks?

Taste — Seems to be pretty rare, but… imagine a few foods.

1. Can you taste them?
2. If you imagine something salty — like a pickle or potato chips — and add imaginary salt to it, does it taste saltier?
3. Can you distinctly tell apart the taste of distinct items, like, say, two flavors of chips, or two kinds of candy bar, or two different wines?
4. Kind of the acid test: if you imagine a few foods and what they would taste like together, can you go in your kitchen, get those foods, eat them together, and have them taste the same? That is, are your imagined tastes demonstrably the same as the real thing to a degree that it would be useful when cooking?