You don't need a picture to have a memory

Think back to your last birthday. For many people, a scene appears: the room, the faces, the cake. For people with aphantasia, there may be no picture at all. But that doesn't mean nothing is there. They still know where they were, who was with them, what was said, and how it felt.

It's a point worth saying plainly, because it's often got wrong: aphantasics do have memory. Saying they don't is unhelpful and inaccurate.

A different kind of remembering

Aphantasic memory isn't visual in the way it is for many other people. Many people with aphantasia say their memories feel less detailed or less like reliving a scene. That difference is real, and we don't want to play it down.

But being unable to call up a mental image of an event doesn't mean the feelings, the knowledge and the context of that event have gone. They're held in a different way.

Aphantasia may overlap with SDAM (Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory) for some people, where recollecting your own past feels especially sparse. The two are not the same thing, and researchers are still clarifying how they relate.

What the research says

A new paper in Philosophical Psychology by Krempel and Sorrentino Marques asks a simple question: does episodic memory require mental imagery? Episodic memory is the kind that lets you remember specific events from your own life.

Their answer is no. The authors argue that:

• Remembering doesn't require pictures. Episodic memory shouldn't be defined as "re-experiencing" an event through sensory images.
• What counts is the content. A memory is episodic when it holds specific, personal, contextual detail that the person understands as part of their own past.
• The format can vary. That content might come as pictures, words, or a sense of space and fact. The format doesn't make it any less a memory.

They also reject the idea that aphantasics only "know facts" about their past, the way you might know the date of a historical event. Aphantasic memories are tied to a particular moment, and that makes them genuine memories of events.

It's a philosophy paper rather than a new experiment, and it doesn't claim aphantasic memories are just as vivid or emotionally intense as anyone else's. What it does is give careful backing to something many of us already know from experience.

Why this matters: grief and support

This isn't just an academic point. When people with aphantasia look for help with things that involve memory, they can meet support built entirely around seeing in the mind's eye. That includes grief support.

"Close your eyes and picture them in the room with you."

For many people, that can be a comforting exercise. For an aphantasic person who is grieving, it can feel alienating, or even suggest they're doing grief "wrong". Guided visualisation, imagery-based exercises and "picture the memory" prompts all assume something that around 1–4% of people can't do.

That support isn't just ineffective for them. It can be inconsiderate, even when the people offering it mean well.

What can help instead

If you're a therapist, counsellor, teacher or anyone in a support role:

1. Ask, don't assume. A simple "Do you picture things in your mind?" can change the whole conversation.
2. Offer non-visual routes. Talking through stories, writing letters, objects, music, places and shared facts can all carry the same meaning.
3. Take their memories seriously. A memory without pictures is still a memory, and it can carry deep feeling.

If you have aphantasia and support hasn't worked for you, it isn't because your memories or your grief are any less real.

You can read more about our work, and how to help, on the Get involved page.

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Reference: Krempel, R. & Sorrentino Marques, B. (2026). "Does episodic memory require mental imagery? The case of aphantasia." Philosophical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2026.2743814

The Aphantasia Foundation is working towards recognition, better professional understanding, and stronger support for people across the aphantasia spectrum.