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Desoxyn
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Default Jan 11, 2020 at 02:39 AM
  #1
Idk if hyperphantasia is common but I seem to have a form of extreme hyperphantasia. Some people have aphantasia and can't imagine anything at all. I feel like I have a lot of talent that I was way too depressed to ever take advantage of.

"Hyperphantasia Checklist

Consider this something of a checklist or guide of sensory completeness and simulation in imagination. I think it might be a good idea to have people ask questions about exactly how detailed and accurate their imaginings are.

Visual - Picture an apple on a plate.

What color is the apple?
What variety is the apple? (Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Macintosh...)
Which direction is the light coming from?
Is there a specular reflection - ie, a shiny spot, as if light is being accurately reflected by the skin of the apple?
Are there imperfections in the surface? Roughness, subtle variations in the color of the apple?
Is there reflected illumination from the plate onto the apple?
Can you easily zoom in on the apple, rotate it, etc? How faithful to an actual 3-D physical object is this in your mind's eye?

Audio - Imagine a song, one with vocals and instruments. Pick one you're familiar with.
Does it have all the instruments?
Are the vocals changing pitch, tone, etc?
Are the vocals actual words, or just sort of gibberish fitting the role? (Try singing along to whatever is going through your head out loud if you're not sure)
How sharp are the drums?
Can you change the tempo?
Can you make the singer sound like they huffed helium?
Can you swap out instruments? Swap out lyrics wholesale?
Can you change the key or mode of the song?

Touch/Proprioception - Imagine your hand and an object, any object, in front of you.
Can you mentally reach out and touch it?
Does the object feel like it should? Hard/soft, hot/cold, smooth/rough, etc...
Could you feel your own imagined hand and arm? Were you aware of the physical movements in the same way that you know where your physical arm/hand/fingers are without looking?
How heavy is the object you imagined? The right weight?
Can you change that weight?
Close your eyes (mentally or physically, whatever works) and concentrate on that imagined hand. Start with the thumb. Tap it to your palm. Do the same with your index finger, then your middle, ring, little finger. Any problems?
Can you keep going? In other words, can you continue to 'tap fingers' with fingers you don't have - imagine that you had extra fingers - despite not having a real-life analogue to compare to?
Can you go a step further, and imagine the feel of wholly alien things (bird wings, say) that will require entirely fictitious input?

Smell - Imagine a flower, preferably one with a strong smell
Can you smell it at all?
Does it smell strong enough, or just a faint whiff?
Is the smell accurate - a rose smelling like a rose?
Can you make it smell like something else - fresh cookies, say?
Multiple smells at once? Rose, cookies, old stinky socks?

Taste - Seems to be pretty rare, but... imagine a few foods.

Can you taste them?
If you imagine something salty - like a pickle or potato chips - and add imaginary salt to it, does it taste saltier?
Can you distinctly tell apart the taste of distinct items, like, say, two flavors of chips, or two kinds of candy bar, or two different wines?
Kind of the acid test: if you imagine a few foods and what they would taste like together, can you go in your kitchen, get those foods, eat them together, and have them taste the same? That is, are your imagined tastes demonstrably the same as the real thing to a degree that it would be useful cooking?"

I also seem to have a mild form of synesthesia.

"Synesthesia is a condition in which one sense (for example, hearing) is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight. Another form of synesthesia joins objects such as letters, shapes, numbers or people's names with a sensory perception such as smell, color or flavor."

Like if I look at my water bottle right now, I see the number "5", which is female (I can tell whether a number feels male or female to me) and it reminds me of science. I look at my wallet and it reminds me of the number "4" (Male) or "8" (Female) and it reminds me of firewood or a forest with the mix of a CIA agent (Which makes me think of number 1 - neutral or 7 - male) for example even though it's black with someone surfing on it. I could go on and on about the objects I see in my room or even imagine some in my peripheral vision and describe synesthesia related to that as well. Music can be colourful but in general reminds me of colourful machines or metal waves but can be like colourful flowers or a range of objects and images.

Interesting stuff that I never realized before. I'm wondering if anyone else with schizophrenia/psychosis has this or is it evidence that I'm more autistic? I can read emotions in faces extremely well so idk.

I've never had real visual hallucinations (Only extreme hypnopompic and hypnagogic ones before sleeping or after waking up where I would have conversations with people that weren't there) but I've had visuals on weed and psilocybin that manifested as strong imaginations that I could literally see very clearly as if they were real.

I've had many auditory hallucinations though. Some inside my head like hearing a bell in my head but in the form of words, from behind doors calling my name or people talking and whispering near my head or people having conversations beside me when no one is there.
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Desoxyn
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Default Jan 11, 2020 at 02:45 AM
  #2
Also, if I lay down and close my eyes and it's completely dark, it takes a few minutes but I'm able to watch a psychedelic movie of random visuals and control them by thinking about the certain visual (But it has to keep going in a random form which is the next "thought" after what the previous visual reminds me of - Or I could use my train of thought to think about an object and then see it).

Nicotine increases this effect dramatically. The first time I chewed nicotine gum was when I stole it from a coworker when I was 17. I saw the most psychedelic visual of my life. It was a penguin dancing and juggling objects and then it disappeared. I chewed 3 pieces of nicotine gum at that time and felt really sick for an hour and then I was fine.
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Default Jan 11, 2020 at 06:20 AM
  #3
I can do visual and taste to completion on this.....

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Default Jan 11, 2020 at 03:57 PM
  #4
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sometimes psychotic View Post
I can do visual and taste to completion on this.....
Yeah it's pretty cool!

I think about, when people are talking, they're imagining things to look at or else they wouldn't be able to talk or tell a story.. But idk..
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