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Hyperphantasia
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Hyperphantasia
Hyperphantasia is the condition of having extremely vivid mental imagery. It is the opposite condition to aphantasia, where mental visual imagery is not present. The experience of hyperphantasia is more common than aphantasia and has been described as being "as vivid as real seeing". Hyperphantasia constitutes all five senses within vivid mental imagery, although literature on the subject is dominated by "visual" mental imagery research, with a lack of research on the other four senses.
Research into hyperphantasia is most commonly completed by self-report questionnaires, such as the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), developed by David Marks in 1973, which evaluates the vividness of an individual's mental imagery out of a score of 80. Individuals scoring from 75 to 80 are deemed hyperphantasics and are estimated to constitute around 2.5% of the population.
There is no reliably specific mental imagery cortical network; the formation of mental imagery involves many regions of the brain, as mental imagery shares many common brain regions with other cognitive functions. Neurological evidence has shown that in the creation of imagery, neural activity spans prefrontal, parietal, temporal and visual areas. Within the neuroscience of imagery, it is often split into three primary aspects: the triggering of imagery, its generation/manipulation, and the underlying vividness of the imagery.
The mechanism underlying the vividness of imagery which may explain conditions like hyperphantasia is controversial amongst the literature. The current findings of the mechanism of hyperphantasia are related to two regions of the brain: the early visual cortex and the frontal cortex.
Recent research has shown the relationship between the size (surface area) of the early visual cortex (V1-V3), specifically V1 and to a lesser degree V2 (but not V3), negatively predicts imagery strength within individuals. This relationship is evidenced across both clinical and non-clinical populations [see § Co-morbidity below].
In contrast, there is a positive relationship between the surface area of the frontal cortex and visual imagery strength. This aligns with the reciprocal relationship between the size of primary visual cortices and frontal cortices, with a smaller V1 correlating to a larger frontal cortex. Within the general principle of human cortical organization, there is an anatomical trade-off between primary sensory cortices such as the primary visual cortex and frontal areas. Several lines of evidence suggest that the respective sizes of these areas within individuals predict their vividness of imagery. Additionally, genetics play a part in determining the surface area of V1, suggesting that genetics may indirectly contribute to hyperphantasia.
Beyond the size of these regions, there is evidence that lower resting activity and excitability levels within the primary visual cortex predicts stronger mental imagery and vice versa. This has been confirmed by artificially lowering the excitability of the visual cortex, which subsequently led to increased imagery strength. The relationship between the frontal lobe and the visual cortex form an 'imagery network' where the ratio in size and excitability of these two areas relate to imagery strength amongst individuals.
Neuroimaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have additionally demonstrated that hyperphantasics have significantly stronger connectivity between their prefrontal cortices (Brodmann's areas 9, 10, 11 in particular) and their visual cortex in comparison to aphantasics.
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Hyperphantasia
Hyperphantasia is the condition of having extremely vivid mental imagery. It is the opposite condition to aphantasia, where mental visual imagery is not present. The experience of hyperphantasia is more common than aphantasia and has been described as being "as vivid as real seeing". Hyperphantasia constitutes all five senses within vivid mental imagery, although literature on the subject is dominated by "visual" mental imagery research, with a lack of research on the other four senses.
Research into hyperphantasia is most commonly completed by self-report questionnaires, such as the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), developed by David Marks in 1973, which evaluates the vividness of an individual's mental imagery out of a score of 80. Individuals scoring from 75 to 80 are deemed hyperphantasics and are estimated to constitute around 2.5% of the population.
There is no reliably specific mental imagery cortical network; the formation of mental imagery involves many regions of the brain, as mental imagery shares many common brain regions with other cognitive functions. Neurological evidence has shown that in the creation of imagery, neural activity spans prefrontal, parietal, temporal and visual areas. Within the neuroscience of imagery, it is often split into three primary aspects: the triggering of imagery, its generation/manipulation, and the underlying vividness of the imagery.
The mechanism underlying the vividness of imagery which may explain conditions like hyperphantasia is controversial amongst the literature. The current findings of the mechanism of hyperphantasia are related to two regions of the brain: the early visual cortex and the frontal cortex.
Recent research has shown the relationship between the size (surface area) of the early visual cortex (V1-V3), specifically V1 and to a lesser degree V2 (but not V3), negatively predicts imagery strength within individuals. This relationship is evidenced across both clinical and non-clinical populations [see § Co-morbidity below].
In contrast, there is a positive relationship between the surface area of the frontal cortex and visual imagery strength. This aligns with the reciprocal relationship between the size of primary visual cortices and frontal cortices, with a smaller V1 correlating to a larger frontal cortex. Within the general principle of human cortical organization, there is an anatomical trade-off between primary sensory cortices such as the primary visual cortex and frontal areas. Several lines of evidence suggest that the respective sizes of these areas within individuals predict their vividness of imagery. Additionally, genetics play a part in determining the surface area of V1, suggesting that genetics may indirectly contribute to hyperphantasia.
Beyond the size of these regions, there is evidence that lower resting activity and excitability levels within the primary visual cortex predicts stronger mental imagery and vice versa. This has been confirmed by artificially lowering the excitability of the visual cortex, which subsequently led to increased imagery strength. The relationship between the frontal lobe and the visual cortex form an 'imagery network' where the ratio in size and excitability of these two areas relate to imagery strength amongst individuals.
Neuroimaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have additionally demonstrated that hyperphantasics have significantly stronger connectivity between their prefrontal cortices (Brodmann's areas 9, 10, 11 in particular) and their visual cortex in comparison to aphantasics.