雅思阅读 104: The People with No Mind Eye

Adapted from 'Many people dont see mental images. The reason offers clues to consciousness', Scientific American, February 2026.

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Reading Passage

Think about your breakfast this morning. Can you imagine the pattern on your coffee mug? Most of us can call up such pictures in our minds. But for an estimated 4 percent of people, this mental imagery is weak or absent. When asked to imagine something familiar, they have a concept of what it is, but their minds eye is dark or even blank.

This condition is called aphantasia. Systems neuroscientist Mac Shine of the University of Sydney realized his mental experience differed this way in 2013. When I close my eyes, there is absolutely nothing there, he told colleagues. They had no idea what he meant.

Although scientists have known for more than a century that mental imagery varies, the topic surged a decade ago when an influential paper coined the term aphantasia. It is now an invaluable condition for studying how the mind works, much like synesthesia and face blindness.

Neurologist Adam Zeman of the University of Edinburgh began studying aphantasia in 2003 after meeting a man who, following a heart procedure, complained that his minds eye had vanished. Scans showed his visual cortex responded normally when he looked at images but not when he tried to imagine them. Zeman introduced the term aphantasia in 2015. Since then, some 20,000 people have contacted him with their stories.

Aphantasia varies: some people lack imagination in other senses too, such as a minds ear. Some report dreaming in pictures; others do not. It seems to have a genetic component: the likelihood increases tenfold if a sibling has it. It may also be more common in scientific and technical professions than in the arts.

Researchers expected to see differences in the visual cortex of people with aphantasia. But studies show that when they attempt to imagine something, they activate the visual cortex similarly to controls. Perhaps the brain area forms visual representations, but the conscious mind cannot access them.

In one experiment, researchers scanned people with and without aphantasia while they heard sounds such as barking. Hearing a bark generated activity representing a dog in both groups. But people with aphantasia reported seeing nothing. This suggests sensory representations can remain unconscious and are not enough to trigger imagery.

Questions 1-5

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

1. What percentage of people have weak or absent mental imagery? A. About 4% B. About 14% C. About 40% D. About 1%
2. What is aphantasia? A. Color blindness B. Absence of mental imagery C. Face blindness D. Hearing loss
3. When did Adam Zeman first begin studying aphantasia? A. In 2015 B. In 2003 C. In 2013 D. In 1890
4. How many people have contacted Zeman since 2015? A. About 200 B. About 2,000 C. About 20,000 D. About 200,000
5. When people with aphantasia hear a dog bark, what happens? A. Nothing in the visual cortex B. Visual cortex activity representing a dog occurs, but they see nothing C. They immediately draw the dog D. They forget the sound

Questions 6-10

Do the following statements agree with the information? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.

6. People with aphantasia always lack all sensory imagination.
7. Aphantasia may have a genetic component.
8. People with aphantasia perform badly on all memory tests.
9. The visual cortex of people with aphantasia activates when they look at images.
10. Aphantasia is more common in artists.

Questions 11-13

Complete the summary. Choose ONE WORD ONLY.

People with aphantasia can have 11 representations in the visual cortex, but the conscious mind cannot 12 them. The condition may be 10 times more likely if a 13 is also affected.

Answers

1. A 2. B 3. B 4. C 5. B
2. FALSE 7. TRUE 8. FALSE 9. TRUE 10. FALSE
3. visual 12. access 13. sibling

Key Vocabulary

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