Metacognition in Aphantasia: Taking the "conscious" view seriously.
Neuropsychologia January 30, 2026 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109331 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Aphantasia Confidence Consciousness Metacognition Visual imagery |
| Key points | Argues that aphantasics' task-relevant visual imagery is conscious, supported by evidence of good metacognition in the few studies that have investigated their confidence in first-order task performance. |
Abstract
Whereas aphantasics report lacking voluntary conscious visual imagery, empirical findings indicate that they employ visual strategies to complete tasks. The discrepancy has led some researchers to propose that aphantasics rely on unconscious visual imagery. This paper instead motivates and defends a "conscious" view. Consciousness research uses both visibility and confidence measures. Participants in aphantasia studies are recruited based on their scores on the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), which closely resembles a visibility measure. To assess whether aphantasics' task-relevant visual imagery is truly unconscious, we should also investigate their confidence in their first-order task performance. The few studies that have explored this suggest that they exhibit good metacognition. These findings therefore support the conscious interpretation.