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This is a thought experiment "Ball on a Table" for detecting whether someone has Aphantasia. What do you see when you perform this experiment? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by zlatiah@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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This is more of me trying to understand how people imagine things, as I almost certainly have Aphantasia and didn't realize until recently... If this is against community rules, please do let me know.

The original thought experiment was from the Aphantasia subreddit. Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Aphantasia/comments/g1e6bl/ball_on_a_table_visualization_experiment_2/

Thought experiment begins below.

Try this: Visualise (picture, imagine, whatever you want to call it) a ball on a table. Now imagine someone walks up to the table, and gives the ball a push. What happens to the ball?

Once you're done with the above, click to review the test questions:

What color was the ball?
What gender was the person that pushed the ball?
What did they look like?
What size is the ball? Like a marble, or a baseball, or a basketball, or something else?
What about the table, what shape was it? What is it made of?

And now the important question: Did you already know, or did you have to choose a color/gender/size, etc. after being asked these questions?

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[-] Kayday@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

What color was the ball?
Grey, I suppose? It wasn't important until this question so it was kind of colorless, even though I could picture it.
What gender was the person that pushed the ball?
Androgynous.
What did they look like?
Nondescript.
What size is the ball? Like a marble, or a baseball, or a basketball, or something else?
A bit larger than a softball.
What about the table, what shape was it? What is it made of?
It was a rectangular table. It shifted from being smooth and grey to a lightly finished maple, then back again.
Important question:
I didn't really think about these details until asked.

this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024

259 points (98.5% liked)

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