I thought 'mind's eye' was just a metaphor. When my eyes are open, I see only what's around me. When I close them I see nothing. Ever You can save this article by registering for free here. Or ...

“In the midrange, you experience the mind’s eye — knowing something is not real, but sounds can trigger some images in your mind. And then you have aphantasia,” Muckli says.

Tom Ebeyer has aphantasia, the inability to visualize images in the mind. And for the first two decades of his life, he had no idea his brain was different in any way.

The study suggests that in people with the condition – which involves having no “mind’s eye”, or an inability to conjure up mental images – the brain’s visual cortex is still active ...