# When your “mind’s eye” is blank: Understanding aphantasia, with Joel Pearson, PhD

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/speaking-of-psychology-169410/when-your-mind-s-eye-is-blank-understanding-aphantasia-with-joel-pearson-phd
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/speaking-of-psychology-169410/when-your-mind-s-eye-is-blank-understanding-aphantasia-with-joel-pearson-phd.md
Podcast: [Speaking of Psychology](https://stenobird.com/podcast/speaking-of-psychology-169410)
Published: 2026-01-28T08:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/AMERICANPSYCHOLOGICALASSOCIATION8114768348.mp3?updated=1768847029
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/AMERICANPSYCHOLOGICALASSOCIATION8114768348.mp3?updated=1768847029
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology-169410/episodes/when-your-mind-s-eye-is-blank-understanding-aphantasia-with-joel-pearson-phd
Duration seconds: 2411

## Resource

People with aphantasia can’t visualize images in their mind’s eye. Ask them to picture an apple and they see a blank screen. Aphantasia researcher Joel Pearson, PhD, discusses how scientists are developing new methods to measure aphantasia beyond self-reports; how aphantasia may affect people’s memory and emotions; the link between aphantasia and creativity; the opposite condition of hyperphantasia, or extraordinarily vivid mental imagery; and what these differences in our internal mental experiences can teach us about consciousness and neurodiversity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology-169410/episodes/when-your-mind-s-eye-is-blank-understanding-aphantasia-with-joel-pearson-phd/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/speaking-of-psychology-169410/when-your-mind-s-eye-is-blank-understanding-aphantasia-with-joel-pearson-phd.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.