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Not spooked by Halloween ghost stories? You may have aphantasia:
So why are some people more easily spooked by stories than others? We ran an experiment to find out.
[...] One reason some people are more easily spooked could relate to how well they can visualize the scary scene in their mind.
When some people listen to a story they automatically conjure up the scene in their mind's eye, while others have to focus really hard to create any sort of mental image.
A small proportion cannot visualize images at all. No matter how hard they try, they do not see anything in their mind. This inability to visualize is known as aphantasia.
Although we have known people vary in their ability to visualize for many years, the term aphantasia was not coined until 2015.
We don't yet know exactly how many people have aphantasia. But estimates vary at 1–4% of the population.
[...] If the ability to visualize images and scenes in the mind plays a role in how we react to spooky stories, what does that mean for people with aphantasia? How do they react when reading scary stories?
We ran a study to find out. We had people sit in the dark and read a number of short stories—not ghost stories, but ones with frightening, hypothetical scenarios.
[...] For most people who could conjure up images in their mind, their skin conductance increased when they read these stories. But people with aphantasia didn't show a significant increase in their skin conductance levels when reading the same scenarios.
There was no difference between the two groups when viewing scary pictures. This suggests aphantasic people's lack of a reaction to these stories wasn't due to a general dampening of emotional responses.
Instead, we concluded the lack of a change in skin conductance in these people with aphantasia is specific to being unable to visualize these fear-inducing stories.
[...] One study shows both the frontal and visual regions of the brain are linked to visualizing images. And in people with aphantasia, the connection between these two areas is weaker.
Another study found the pattern of activity in visual regions of the brain is correlated with the vividness of the mental images.
Journal References:
1.) Marcus Wicken, Rebecca Keogh, Joel Pearson. The critical role of mental imagery in human emotion: insights from fear-based imagery and aphantasia, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2021.0267)
2.) George I. Christopoulos, Marilyn A. Uy, Wei Jie Yap. The Body and the Brain: Measuring Skin Conductance Responses to Understand the Emotional Experience: [open], Organizational Research Methods (DOI: 10.1177/1094428116681073)
(Score: 1) by SnorkleZ on Monday November 01 2021, @08:14PM
Good point. The instructions I was initially given must have been on how to visualise memories, explicitly excluding creative visualisation. Uncontrolled visualisation would be hallucinations. It is common for students to have their visualisation float around or start walking and talking - students are reminded that THEY are in charge. I learned way back in Psychology 101 that the human brain, under sensory isolation, will invent hallucinations just to give it something to do. The example given was someone who suddenly saw pink ducklings start walking across the wall and up the ceiling.