What do you see in your head when you listen to music?

[Inexorable Username]

Are there any things that influence what you will see, aside from the song itself? Does your mood impact your visions? Your current life goals? Are you in your visions, and if so, where are you? What happens with your visions throughout the duration of the song? Do you always have the same vision for the same song? Do your visions influence how you organize songs in a playlist?

Feel free to share as much or as little information as possible! If you’re willing, I’d also like to hear a little about your personality, what type you are, and what your musical taste is.

 

[Forensic1999]

Melancholy, Indie, a lot of Electronic and Instrumental.
Every song has a different train of thought pattern that follows it.
Music takes me away from the mundane of reality.
I get to choose a character and be that character as the song plays out.

 

[Inexorable Username]

Melancholy, Indie, a lot of Electronic and Instrumental.
Every song has a different train of thought pattern that follows it.
Music takes me away from the mundane of reality.
I get to choose a character and be that character as the song plays out.

Intriguing. What does the character do within the song? Is there a moving plot line to the song? Or is it a single scene that the character is acting in?

 

[Forensic1999]

Predominately a set scene. The character, aka my persona has a role to play out. It will be practiced many times over before the acting is perfected. But the song will send me into a certain experience that sets the tone of the play. The character is usually trying to portray something that cannot accurately be show in reality.
It gives my existence some validity.

 

[Inexorable Username]

Predominately a set scene. The character, aka my persona has a role to play out. It will be practiced many times over before the acting is perfected. But the song will send me into a certain experience that sets the tone of the play. The character is usually trying to portray something that cannot accurately be show in reality.
It gives my existence some validity.

Hmm...Can you give an example? Or is that getting too personal? I know it's a very personal question for people!

 

[moody]

Very strong, specific feelings and states of being. A scene, what the piece resembles geografically, sometimes an unwritten narrative going of based on the moods in the piece. Colors too.

 

[peoplesuck]

Certain songs take me back to certain times in my life, the more important the event the better I remember it. listening to the same song for hours lends itself to your brain connecting the song to the experience. I can relive a few intense times in my life from those songs. My memory is crazy so the music just makes it more detailed. songs are linked to certain events. my personality is eccentric, sort of manic adhd or extremely calm and considerate. my type is inxp I guess.
This song reminds me of being very depressed but the emotion is no longer present in the memory, not sure what that means.

Spoiler: song

/SPOILER]

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

if I start getting all sentimental and make up all kinds of silly narratives in my head based on the music, I stop that immediately. I only want to hear and feel the music, without narratives. Narratives destroy the mood. But in terms of imagery, I usually see images from times when I listened to the particular music in the past. In fact if a song is strongly connected to certain memories, I avoid listening to that song on a regular basis in order not to overwrite the memories associated with the song.

 

[Black Rose]

I don't see any images in my head ever. I have aphantasia. The condition of a nonfunctioning mind's eye. I never even considered you can see images to match the music one was listening to. That's a new concept to me. Very strange.

 

[washti]

Music is just background noise to imagine that I'm someone else somewhere else with ppl who doesn't exist. It can go for hours. Same two or three songs for hours. Though they must match with current mood. I find it difficult to change it with songs. Rarely it happens though it feels forced and I don't like it at all.

 

[Inexorable Username]

Certain songs take me back to certain times in my life, the more important the event the better I remember it. listening to the same song for hours lends itself to your brain connecting the song to the experience. I can relive a few intense times in my life from those songs. My memory is crazy so the music just makes it more detailed. songs are linked to certain events. my personality is eccentric, sort of manic adhd or extremely calm and considerate. my type is inxp I guess.
This song reminds me of being very depressed but the emotion is no longer present in the memory, not sure what that means.

Spoiler: song

/SPOILER]

Neat! I knew someone like this but he never explained it as well as you did. Listening to the same song for hours is something no one has said before, but it looks like a lot of people on this thread are saying the same thing for songs that are related to memories

 

[Inexorable Username]

Music is just background noise to imagine that I'm someone else somewhere else with ppl who doesn't exist. It can go for hours. Same two or three songs for hours. Though they must match with current mood. I find it difficult to change it with songs. Rarely it happens though it feels forced and I don't like it at all.

Do you have specific places you imagine being? Or specific characters you envision yourself as?

 

[Inexorable Username]

I don't see any images in my head ever. I have aphantasia. The condition of a nonfunctioning mind's eye. I never even considered you can see images to match the music one was listening to. That's a new concept to me. Very strange.

That is fascinating! I’ve never met anyone with aphantasia! I read about it once though...I think in Musicophilia by Oliver Saxs. One of my favorite books. Highly recommended.
Do you dream? I have so many questions for you. How do you do with rude interrogations about your abnormality? I can desist.

 

[Inexorable Username]

if I start getting all sentimental and make up all kinds of silly narratives in my head based on the music, I stop that immediately. I only want to hear and feel the music, without narratives. Narratives destroy the mood. But in terms of imagery, I usually see images from times when I listened to the particular music in the past. In fact if a song is strongly connected to certain memories, I avoid listening to that song on a regular basis in order not to overwrite the memories associated with the song.

This is interesting. Can you describe the narratives that you may see which you try to avoid? I think you’re the first person who has said that they see both narratives and memories.

 

[Black Rose]

Do you dream? I have so many questions for you. How do you do with rude interrogations about your abnormality?

I like questions.
Yes, I dream but not vividly. Those are rare.

When I close my eyes all I see is blackness.
There may be sight in my subconscious. I picture things subconsciously.

 

[Inexorable Username]

Do you dream? I have so many questions for you. How do you do with rude interrogations about your abnormality?

I like questions.
Yes, I dream but not vividly. Those are rare.

When I close my eyes all I see is blackness.
There may be sight in my subconscious. I picture things subconsciously.

Do you know if you’re able to hallucinate?
Is there anything different about your external vision?
What about recognizing faces? Is that a hard thing for you to do?

 

[Black Rose]

Do you know if you’re able to hallucinate?

I have been hospitalized twice for hallucinations.

Is there anything different about your external vision?

not at all

What about recognizing faces? Is that a hard thing for you to do?

face recognition is ok

I don't like drawing though.
I never found it to be fun mostly because I suck at it.

having aphantasia places you somewhere on the autism spectrum (I noticed others say)

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

if I start getting all sentimental and make up all kinds of silly narratives in my head based on the music, I stop that immediately. I only want to hear and feel the music, without narratives. Narratives destroy the mood. But in terms of imagery, I usually see images from times when I listened to the particular music in the past. In fact if a song is strongly connected to certain memories, I avoid listening to that song on a regular basis in order not to overwrite the memories associated with the song.

This is interesting. Can you describe the narratives that you may see which you try to avoid? I think you’re the first person who has said that they see both narratives and memories.

well the good thing about memories is that they are just memories, records of the past. Sentimental narratives is whole different beast, it's trying to conjure up some romanticized version of reality.

 

[Inexorable Username]

Do you know if you’re able to hallucinate?

I have been hospitalized twice for hallucinations.

Is there anything different about your external vision?

not at all

What about recognizing faces? Is that a hard thing for you to do?

face recognition is ok

I don't like drawing though.
I never found it to be fun mostly because I suck at it.

having aphantasia places you somewhere on the autism spectrum (I noticed others say)

Autism, or Asperger’s do you think?
Have you done many self-tests/experiments?

I wonder if the absence of mental imagery would have caused your brain to rewire itself in such a way as to give you unique talents that the rest of us don’t typically have.

I’ve noticed this trend in people with Aspergers in-particular. Those with Aspergers seem to have a better memory for isolated facts than the average person. So, remembering dates in history, for instance. They also seem to have a better capacity for analytical thinking, but it creative thinking.

Particularly when you sleep, there is so much brain activity....If your brain is working to retrieve and analyze memories, but you do not have mental imagery, how might that manifest neurologically? Or does it matter that you don’t typically see your dreams? Are dreams just an unnecessary side affect?

I’ve always been inclined to think that the emotions we feel in dreams are caused by the imagery we see in dreams....this is really making me think though. See. I would think that the hippocampus retrieves memory fragments, which are viewed in the minds eye and associated with emotion from the amygdala, roughly speaking, and the anterior cingulate I suppose would generally determine which fragments of memory are the most essential to fixate in based on responses from the amygdala...
but what if you didn’t see dreams? How might the amygdala respond with emotional cues?
This is just all conjecture on my part as to how dreams work. Maybe I’m dead wrong. In a waking state, we do not need to see anything at all in our minds eye for this kind of brain circuitry to work just fine to give us emotional reactions to stimuli....So perhaps the visual aspects of dreams themselves aren’t actually a critical aspect of the process? Perhaps they’re a pointless side affect.

Perhaps it could even be that seeing visuals from this neural activity is a biological disadvantage. It may cause more stress - nightmares or night terrors or even mental confusion...Hmm...
This is a whole can of worms worth investigating.

I’m really curious to know if you’ve ever explored any topics like this yourself? Have you looked for forums where other people have the same condition?
Have you ever compared your senses to other people’s senses? Like, sense of touch for instance?

I bet there is something special about the way you operate. Discovering it could be really enlightening.

How common is this disorder? Have you ever thought of participating in scientific studies?

I’m sorry. Hopefully you’re not feeling like I’m treating you like a lab rat. I might go see if I can find that book Musicophilia and see if that’s where I read the term...I know I’ve read about it somewhere...

 

[Inexorable Username]

if I start getting all sentimental and make up all kinds of silly narratives in my head based on the music, I stop that immediately. I only want to hear and feel the music, without narratives. Narratives destroy the mood. But in terms of imagery, I usually see images from times when I listened to the particular music in the past. In fact if a song is strongly connected to certain memories, I avoid listening to that song on a regular basis in order not to overwrite the memories associated with the song.

This is interesting. Can you describe the narratives that you may see which you try to avoid? I think you’re the first person who has said that they see both narratives and memories.

well the good thing about memories is that they are just memories, records of the past. Sentimental narratives is whole different beast, it's trying to conjure up some romanticized version of reality.

It’s interesting to me why you would feel threatened by that. Which do you think is more off-putting to you: sensing the feelings themselves, or seeing possibilities and not knowing whether or not they could happen (or else, knowing that they could never happen)?

When you make goals for your future, what would you say inspires you to achieve them? How far ahead are the goals that you make?

 

[Black Rose]

I bet there is something special about the way you operate. Discovering it could be really enlightening.

Another thing about me is I cannot repeat music in my head either. Any music I listen to I cannot replay it in my mind.

I tried to research it in 2016 but nothing came up in google. It's like nobody knows anything about it much.

The mechanism for images in the mind is a feedback process. The frontal lobes send signals to the vision centers and envoke colors shapes motions, whatever can be seen. In aphantasia the signal from the front brain may not be strong enough to reach the back of the brain but during sleep, the eyes become dormant with the light entering them and the signal can get through to the back brain from the front brain allowing dreaming.

How common is this disorder? Have you ever thought of participating in scientific studies?

I would like to be in a study.

aphantasia is on a spectrum like autism so rather than only 5 percent of the population (as with autism being at 5% of the population) it is more like 15% sever no images at all.

 

[Inexorable Username]

I bet there is something special about the way you operate. Discovering it could be really enlightening.

Another thing about me is I cannot repeat music in my head either. Any music I listen to I cannot replay it in my mind.

I tried to research it in 2016 but nothing came up in google. It's like nobody knows anything about it much.

The mechanism for images in the mind is a feedback process. The frontal lobes send signals to the vision centers and envoke colors shapes motions, whatever can be seen. In aphantasia the signal from the front brain may not be strong enough to reach the back of the brain but during sleep, the eyes become dormant with the light entering them and the signal can get through to the back brain from the front brain allowing dreaming.

How common is this disorder? Have you ever thought of participating in scientific studies?

I would like to be in a study.

aphantasia is on a spectrum like autism so rather than only 5 percent of the population (as with autism being at 5% of the population) it is more like 15% sever no images at all.

This is all really cool stuff! I'll have to put it on my list of "interesting things too research". If I find anything, I'll let you know! Thanks so much for sharing a bit of your world with me!

 

[Kormak]

O.o what? I see nothing in my head.
I general tho I do not enjoy music that is slow and chill much the same as I can't actually relax and take it easy. If I stop engaging with things outside of myself I quickly devolve into an emotionaless lazy state that over time leads to depression. I crave stimulation virtually all the time. Very often a social setting gets really boring and my energy depleets, so I need to leave and seek intelectual engagement. Being bored is torture.

I think this makes me an extrovert. I can't get overtimulated to the point where I need to retreat... so I tend to listen to engaging music and no there are no visions in my head. Probably Ne dom.

Example (If I would be there in the middle of the crowd it would be even better)

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

It’s interesting to me why you would feel threatened by that. Which do you think is more off-putting to you: sensing the feelings themselves, or seeing possibilities and not knowing whether or not they could happen (or else, knowing that they could never happen)?

When you make goals for your future, what would you say inspires you to achieve them? How far ahead are the goals that you make?

I guess I don't trust the temporary exuberance one gets from music to be conducive to reaching goals. It's similar to when I get all kinds of wild and inspired ideas when I drink alcohol and then the next day realize how foolish they were. Reaching and creating goals is all about slow, sustained progress and careful deliberation. It's a quiet process.

But I do use music to get into a focused state when I sit down and work on problems. But that's obviously on much shorter timescales like hours.

 

[Inexorable Username]

It’s interesting to me why you would feel threatened by that. Which do you think is more off-putting to you: sensing the feelings themselves, or seeing possibilities and not knowing whether or not they could happen (or else, knowing that they could never happen)?

When you make goals for your future, what would you say inspires you to achieve them? How far ahead are the goals that you make?

I guess I don't trust the temporary exuberance one gets from music to be conducive to reaching goals. It's similar to when I get all kinds of wild and inspired ideas when I drink alcohol and then the next day realize how foolish they were. Reaching and creating goals is all about slow, sustained progress and careful deliberation. It's a quiet process.

But I do use music to get into a focused state when I sit down and work on problems. But that's obviously on much shorter timescales like hours.

Hmm. Interesting.

 

[Inexorable Username]

O.o what? I see nothing in my head.
I general tho I do not enjoy music that is slow and chill much the same as I can't actually relax and take it easy. If I stop engaging with things outside of myself I quickly devolve into an emotionaless lazy state that over time leads to depression. I crave stimulation virtually all the time. Very often a social setting gets really boring and my energy depleets, so I need to leave and seek intelectual engagement. Being bored is torture.

I think this makes me an extrovert. I can't get overtimulated to the point where I need to retreat... so I tend to listen to engaging music and no there are no visions in my head. Probably Ne dom.

Example (If I would be there in the middle of the crowd it would be even better)

Do you ever see anything in your head? Do you dream, for instance?

 

[Kormak]

Do you ever see anything in your head? Do you dream, for instance?

^^ ofc I dream.
Also when I read or listen to audio books or write.
In the case of music nope.
I don't hear colors either. I don't have synesthesia like Billie Eilish (she sees music in terms of color and mood)

Tbh I never really disconnect from reality, I have a very chaotic and highly active mind, but the stuff I think about is always related to something external. My memory of sensory information is terrible tbh, because I abstract stuff, see the world in terms of patterns, and think in terms of how things are interconnected, so when I recall events I don't really remember sensory information and its always disconnected from me, so memories don't evoke emotions for example or nostalgia. I'm terrible at rote learning as well, always was. As a novelty junkie I absolutely don't have the patience for repetition or going through information I have already processed unless there is a chance for new information to be found. Music for me is a kind of mood regulation and stimulation to keep my mind busy.

 

[Inexorable Username]

Do you ever see anything in your head? Do you dream, for instance?

^^ ofc I dream.
Also when I read or listen to audio books or write.
In the case of music nope.
I don't hear colors either. I don't have synesthesia like Billie Eilish (she sees music in terms of color and mood)

Tbh I never really disconnect from reality, I have a very chaotic and highly active mind, but the stuff I think about is always related to something external. My memory of sensory information is terrible tbh, because I abstract stuff, see the world in terms of patterns, and think in terms of how things are interconnected, so when I recall events I don't really remember sensory information and its always disconnected from me, so memories don't evoke emotions for example or nostalgia. I'm terrible at rote learning as well, always was. As a novelty junkie I absolutely don't have the patience for repetition or going through information I have already processed unless there is a chance for new information to be found. Music for me is a kind of mood regulation and stimulation to keep my mind busy.

Geez....That would drive me up the wall. How on earth do you manage?!

 

[Kormak]

Geez....That would drive me up the wall. How on earth do you manage?!

I don't get it. Why would it drive you up the wall?
<.< ok, now I'm curious. Whats your brain like?

 

[Inexorable Username]

Geez....That would drive me up the wall. How on earth do you manage?!

I don't get it. Why would it drive you up the wall?

Disconnecting from reality is where I go in my mind to take a break from the world. Engaging in mental fantasy helps me hone my emotional instincts and my moral values, and it gives me important clues as to what I want out of my life.

Most of the time I spend, professionally or otherwise, I spend on my own, enjoying the company of my thoughts, engaging in activities that are really just one-person things, like reading research papers. Occasionally I might even play a game, but I'm not much of a gamer so I don't usually finish them and they're usually more thought provoking than stimulating. One of my favorite things to do is design strategies for marketing and make infographics or diagrams. My whiteboard is my addiction.

Music brings out an entirely different side of myself - the one I usually forfeit in the interests of being analytical.

To me, the kind of existence you're describing...well frankly, it's horrifying! I can't imagine living like that. I'm glad you shared though, because it's really eye-opening for me to hear an extrovert describe things from their point of view. It makes me appreciate more that my tendencies aren't so much personal preference, at least at this point, they're more aspects of who I am intrinsically. I guess I've just never heard an extrovert open up before. I've asked them questions. I just never get any answers. I assumed that they were being cautious. Now I'm thinking that maybe they'd just never considered such things before.

Wow...you're so...fascinating, to be frank. Your traits make for such an interesting human. I'd love to message you and interrogate you some time - if you don't mind!

 

[Kormak]

Wow...you're so...fascinating, to be frank. Your traits make for such an interesting human. I'd love to message you and interrogate you some time - if you don't mind!

O.o ok, sure. No problem. I thought I was absolutely normal.

 

[Polaris]

Are there any things that influence what you will see, aside from the song itself? Does your mood impact your visions? Your current life goals? Are you in your visions, and if so, where are you? What happens with your visions throughout the duration of the song? Do you always have the same vision for the same song? Do your visions influence how you organize songs in a playlist?

Feel free to share as much or as little information as possible! If you’re willing, I’d also like to hear a little about your personality, what type you are, and what your musical taste is.

I usually don't have any mental images because listening for me cancels out mental imagery as I tend to be fully immersed in the listening process.

I find the question interesting because it has made me think about why it may be that I get quite irritated/aggravated when I'm interrupted in something. Because I get so engrossed in whatever is taking up my focus, being interrupted kinda feels like I'm being violently torn out of a state that is quite meditative, as if I'm being torn out of a good dream. I cannot just jump out of this state like other people seem to do so easily.

However, if the music doesn't grab my attention my mind will very quickly be off somewhere else.

There may be certain musical pieces that remind me of things but then it's more a case of feelings and maybe mental images of particular places associated with the time when I first took notice of the music. However it doesn't mean anything to me other than that of a past memory. There may be particular people that I will remember as well, but I don't ascribe any deeper meaning to it, even if the memory is unpleasant or whatever.

But yeah, I'm sure mood will affect what I "see" in that case, just like mood will affect anything one experiences, but all the same I'm aware of that and can usually detach my own bias unless I'm really tired and run down, in which case I'm more prone to being reactive.

I don't often make playlists, but if I do (I'm not great at being organised), it's usually organised by music category. Imagery is irrelevant. I don't lump things generally into large categories though, it's more a case of sub-categories that I select rather than letting some irritatingly inaccurate algorithm generate it for me. I guess I organise music first by category; then sub-category; then by state of mind, or "mood"; uplifting, meditative, neutral, dreamy, focused, melancholy, sombre, pissed off, etc.

I don't know if this is "normal" or not but I tend to avoid depressive music unless I'm feeling reasonably happy. But at the same time I cannot listen to happy music if I feel depressed - it has to be something neutral, like contemporary jazz

Cray cray tangent: I get weird and pretty strong "feelings" about places. There are places I definitely avoid (for irrational reasons I cannot understand or explain), and there are places where I have a great sense of peace. And it's not a matter of urban vs. nature or whatever - it seems rather random as there are places in nature as much as urban that I may feel some sort of inexplicably strange repulsion towards. And there are both urban and natural (as in nature) landscapes that I'm strongly drawn towards. I used to express these sensations/feelings through photography, but haven't taken any photos for years now.

Edit: wow, that was a really boring reply. I'm sorry

 

[Inexorable Username]

Wow...you're so...fascinating, to be frank. Your traits make for such an interesting human. I'd love to message you and interrogate you some time - if you don't mind!

O.o ok, sure. No problem. I thought I was absolutely normal.

Well...I know that I’m absolutely not. So the chances that you are, they’re probably that much higher right? However, normal people don’t like to be interrogated about the way their brains work, I found out. It makes for awkward conversation in public I guess?
I’m not very interested in things such as sports, so I try to move conversations in a more productive direction. You know, into territory where I can actually learn something.
And since the general public is sadly lacking in, say, astrophysicists, I find the best way to use public conversations advantageously is to capitalize on the opportunity to learn how others think, feel, and see the world.
But, like I said. It’s been bought to my attention that maybe this makes strangers uncomfortable. So you’re the first opportunity I’ve had to understand the extroverted mindset. I never thought I would find you on an online forum.

Edit: Sorry. Not you, specifically. Obviously. I haven’t been scouring the web for you like “I know he’s out there somewhere”. I promise I’m not creepy like that.

 

[Kormak]

Well...I know that I’m absolutely not. So the chances that you are, they’re probably that much higher right? However, normal people don’t like to be interrogated about the way their brains work, I found out. It makes for awkward conversation in public I guess?
I’m not very interested in things such as sports, so I try to move conversations in a more productive direction. You know, into territory where I can actually learn something.
And since the general public is sadly lacking in, say, astrophysicists, I find the best way to use public conversations advantageously is to capitalize on the opportunity to learn how others think, feel, and see the world.
But, like I said. It’s been bought to my attention that maybe this makes strangers uncomfortable. So you’re the first opportunity I’ve had to understand the extroverted mindset. I never thought I would find you on an online forum.

Edit: Sorry. Not you, specifically. Obviously. I haven’t been scouring the web for you like “I know he’s out there somewhere”. I promise I’m not creepy like that.

Hmm, well it doesen't bother me, however you should be aware that I'm not stereotypically extroverted in the social sense. Permission granted for interrogation XD.

This guy with the bad craniofacial bone structure <.< damn, his maxilla needs to be fixed, so baggy eyes, well imo he gets ENTPs: