this post was submitted on 27 May 2025

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Can you rotate an apple in your head? (by Shen) (cdn.imgchest.com)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

93 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.eco.br/post/13513868

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

I have a friend at work who openly confessed to not being able to mentally create images when discussing why he wasn't into reading books.

I was like "Wow, I can't really imagine your reality for myself, that sounds strange."

he said, "Now you're getting it, as I can't imagine it, either."

Video games and film though? 1000X more entertaining for him via his testimony. He can't conjure those images so seeing someone else's interpretation is often thrilling.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I can't really do that either and I read books.

I also do have an inner monologue which might be a part of it.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Wait are there people without inner monologue?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't think I have an inner monologue. Also I have full Aphantasia. I can't visually imagine an apple let alone rotate it in my mind.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Do you have dreams?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I do! I visualize when I dream. But I can't do it on command. This is how I realized I probably have aphantasia. I can never consciously visualize. I can think and conceptualize, but not 'see'.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I have the exact same experience, from lack of inner monologue to aphantasia. Funnily enough, when I'm on the verge of falling asleep, I can sometimes conjure images, but that's the only way I'm able to

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

yess when I read that this is a common experience for aphants, I became pretty certain I'm an aphant too. crazy how people can do that on command

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I also have aphantasia. I only learnt about it a year or so ago. It was eye opening when I realised. People used to say "picture this or that" and I thought it was a figure of speech! Turns out there are people who can picture shit.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

it's absolutely wild! I still struggle to imagine how other people can picture things.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Yes, it's quite wild but I guess I can't really say that as someone without the ability to imagine things.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Yeah! I don't think I do in the sense some people do, in the sense that some people describe having a narrator or something like that. If I am to think in words or sentences it takes a little more effort and happens when I'm thinking about talking to someone or putting things into words, whereas my passive thinking is generally wordless, and more conceptual/spacial/tactile.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago

On the other hand, I also can't create images in my head and prefer reading.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I often find myself getting distracted from whatever I'm watching because my brain takes over and starts making up alternative scenarios.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 week ago (18 children)

A friend of mine has that condition where she can't visualize things. I wonder how she would like this comic. My guess is she'd crack a joke about it being a good thing she can't do this.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I developed aphantasia. I used to be able to visualize things and now cannot... EXCEPT for in the first 20-30 minutes after waking up. It is quite disturbing since I only recently realized this, but can't actually tell when the last time I was able to picture or conjure things in my mind visually.

What's crazy is that I have no problem conceptualizing the apple. I am highly capable of imagining it. Not only that, I am a DM for a D&D game that's been going on for nearly a decade - so it has no bearing my creativity. Also, I am an artist and can draw and paint both realistic images as well as stylized or abstract things without problem.

I wish I could see images again. I do like being able to do so after waking up. Perhaps that's how I can exercise the skill and try to extend it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I can't really imagine the combinations you described.

If someone described a sunset or other vivid cliché, that would spark what in your inner eye?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

I have something similar. I have to push, extremely hard, mentally. Even then the resultant visualization is weak and fuzzy.

In my mind, the concept and the image are decoupled. I have the concept of an apple. A viewed apple can be matched to it for comparisons. That concept includes all variants. Red, green, yellow, small, large, bpy or smooth. It also doesn't have a view direction built in.

It's a bit like how you can still recognise a cat, when seen from below. You might never have seen it like that, but your model of "catness" includes it. You can mentally render it and compare. My brain just drops the rendering stage as useless fluff.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sorta sounds like your job / routine is making you stressed and unable to focus

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (20 children)

I've got aphantasia and honestly the comic kinda reminds me of how I feel 'left out' but I also spent most of my life trying to draw and only found out about the term a few years ago making me realize I spent so much time following a dead end. that's just a me thing tho

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 week ago (9 children)

apples are uniquely hard to rotate in your head because apples are bland and uninteresting and nobody's favorite fruit. try rotating a cow instead. it's free and the cops can't stop you

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

What the fuck did apples do to you to deserve such a scathing review. Are you a doctor?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

You lied to me! I started rotating cows but the cops still arrested me for tax evasion

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

'90s Internet rotating cow GIF now playing in my head.

Me: Hmmmm.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

A talking apple? How novel.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why do I feel annoyed by this picture?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

I am also annoyed by the POTUS.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago

My first attempt at rotating an apple in my head after reading this had the apple moving in 4 steps to do a full circle. Now the apple is spinning at a high speed after some more thinking.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This comic always freaks me out

Something about those characters is so uncanny

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I can only rotate the apple in my head vertically

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I incidentally visualize a 3D object in my head complete with blender's UI. For some reason that helps

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Now render it with cycles.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Sorry, my brain just crashed

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Have you tried downloading more RAM?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Now I have a fever

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Now do a shiny apple, on a mirror.

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