Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2022
Abstract
Aphantasia is the inability to create mental imagery which affects approximately 2% of people in the world (Zeman et al., 2015). The vividness of visual imagery questionnaire (VVIQ) was used to sort participants into four groups (aphantasia, low, medium, and high vividness) based on their vividness score with aphantasia participants scoring a 16 (the minimum). I tested the effect of aphantasia on scores of a visual memory recall test. Participants saw two of six possible images and answered five questions per image. Analysis of the results did not show any significant difference between aphantasia and non-aphantasia scores on the recall test however there was a significant difference between the image type (clipart or real-world scenes) and recall score. Future directions should examine the subconscious’ role in mental imagery as a possible explanation as to why there was no significant difference between VVIQ groups on recall score.
Recommended Citation
Bain, Joshua M., "The Effect of Aphantasia on Visual Memory Retention" (2022). Longwood Senior Theses. 14.
https://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/senior_theses/14
Comments
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Eric Laws
Committee Members: Dr. Sarai Blincoe (Longwood University), Dr. Stephanie Buchert (Longwood University), and Dr. Maxwell Hennings (Longwood University).