GoKawiilStudy on aphantasia challenges 'reverse vision' theory of imagination
A review published in Consciousness and Cognition by Derek Arnold, Loren Bouyer, Blake Saurels and Samuel Schwarzkopf argues that mental imagery is not simply visual perception run backward through the primary visual cortex. Drawing on cases of aphantasia—a lifelong inability to form mental images—and patients who retain imagery despite losing visual cortex tissue, the authors contend that imagination arises from cooperation among frontal and other distributed brain regions rather than a single visual 'screen.'
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The dominant model, proposed by Joel Pearson in 2019, has shaped how scientists interpret brain scans and diagnose imagery disorders by focusing on activity in the visual cortex. If imagination instead depends on broader network coordination, it could change how researchers study conditions like aphantasia and hyperphantasia, and how neuroscientists interpret decoding studies that claim to 'read' mental images from brain scans.
- Aphantasia, the inability to visualize, may stem from failed coordination among frontal and other brain regions rather than a single faulty area.
- Patients missing large portions of visual cortex can still form mental images, contradicting the idea that imagination reuses the same circuitry as sight.
- The findings challenge the popular 2019 'reverse vision' model of imagination proposed by Joel Pearson.
Source: dailyneuron.com, 2026-09-14
Published there as: “People who can't picture anything are rewriting the science of imagination”
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