People who are unable to generate any mental imaging are less able of recalling key event from their life history , new research has bring out . After skim the brains of volunteers withaphantasia – a condition characterized by a deficiency of a " mind ’s eye " – the subject area source establish that this impaired autobiographical memory is underscored by abnormal connectivity between the genus Hippocampus and the visual cerebral mantle .

It ’s thought that around one in 50 people may have some degree of aphantasia , meaning they struggle to formimages in their imaginativeness . While the phenomenon is still poorly understand , it ’s likely to be liaise in some way by the hippocampus , which play a cardinal role in generatingmental images .

Interestingly , the hippocampus is also one of the brain ’s major computer storage hub . This led the cogitation author to wonder whether an unfitness to imagine place , people , or events from the past times might also leave in poorer autobiographic retentiveness among aphantasics .

To inquire , the researchers recruited 14 people with aphantasia and 16 non - aphantasic controls and asked them to recall events from five different period of their life history : early puerility , adolescence , former adulthood , mediate eld , and the past twelvemonth . " We found that people with aphantasia have more trouble hark back memory , ” explained study author Merlin Monzel in astatement . “ Not only do they cover fewer details , but their narratives are less vivid and their assurance in their own retention is diminished . ”

“ This indicate that our power to call back our personal biography is nearly link up to our resourcefulness , " he allege .

Intriguingly , aphantasic participants often explained that they sleep with how a particular place “ feel ” , but could not repair that blank space in front of their mind ’s middle . For instance , one individual identify the experience by tell   “ I can put my consciousness in my kitchen at home and feel all around but there is no optical image attached to this feeling . ”

During the next phase of the study , the researchers used functional magnetized resonance imaging ( fMRI ) to watch over the mind action of participants as they attempt to return life story issue . " This show that the hippocampus , which wreak an important function in recalling vivid , elaborate autobiographical memory board , is less set off in the great unwashed with aphantasia , " said study co - author Pitshaporn Leelaarporn .

More specifically , she explain that " the connectivity between the hippocampus and the visual cortex correlate with the resourcefulness in multitude without aphantasia , whereas there was no correlation in those pretend . " In other give-and-take , reduced connectivity between these two learning ability regions may be responsible for for the lack of mental imaging in aphantasics , and may also add to a decreased ability to retrieve life events .

“ Our results indicate that optic mental imagery is essential for particular - rich , lifelike [ autobiographical storage ] , and that this type of cognitive role is sustain by the functional connection between the hippocampus and the ocular - perceptual lens cortex , ” conclude the study authors .

Based on this reflection , they speculate that offering preparation in optic vision may help people stick out from Alzheimer ’s and other retention - related disorder to improve their longsighted - condition reminiscence . Whether or not this truly is the case is something that next studies will need to assess .

The study is published in the journaleLife .