Version 1
: Received: 8 July 2024 / Approved: 8 July 2024 / Online: 9 July 2024 (16:19:25 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 11 September 2024 / Approved: 12 September 2024 / Online: 12 September 2024 (16:01:03 CEST)
How to cite:
Jin, F.; Hsu, S.-M.; Li, Y. A Systematic Review of Aphantasia: Concept, Measurement, Neural Basis, and Theory Development. Preprints2024, 2024070680. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0680.v2
Jin, F.; Hsu, S.-M.; Li, Y. A Systematic Review of Aphantasia: Concept, Measurement, Neural Basis, and Theory Development. Preprints 2024, 2024070680. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0680.v2
Jin, F.; Hsu, S.-M.; Li, Y. A Systematic Review of Aphantasia: Concept, Measurement, Neural Basis, and Theory Development. Preprints2024, 2024070680. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0680.v2
APA Style
Jin, F., Hsu, S. M., & Li, Y. (2024). A Systematic Review of Aphantasia: Concept, Measurement, Neural Basis, and Theory Development. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0680.v2
Chicago/Turabian Style
Jin, F., Shen-Mou Hsu and Yu Li. 2024 "A Systematic Review of Aphantasia: Concept, Measurement, Neural Basis, and Theory Development" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0680.v2
Abstract
People with aphantasia exhibit the inability to voluntarily generate or form mental imagery in their minds. Since the term “aphantasia” was proposed by Zeman et al. in 2015 to describe this, it has gained increasing attention from psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and clinicians. Previous studies have mainly focused on definition, prevalence, and measurement, its impacts on individuals’ cognitive and emotional processing, and theoretical frameworks synthesizing existing findings, which have contributed greatly to our understanding of aphantasia. However, there are still some debates regarding the conclusions derived from existing research and the theories that were constructed from various sources of evidence. Building upon existing endeavors, the current systematic review emphasizes that future research is much needed to refine definition and diagnosis of aphantasia, strengthen empirical investigations at behavioral and neural levels, and more importantly, develop or update theories. These multiple lines of efforts could lead to a deeper understanding of aphantasia and further guide researchers in future research directions.
Keywords
aphantasia; visual imagery; mental imagery; vividness; cognitive functioning; mental health
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
