Abstract:
The aim of this research was to establish prevalence estimates for aphantasia, hypophantasia, typical imagery ability, and hyperphantasia in a large multi- national cohort. In Study 1, the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire was completed by 3,049 participants. Results indicated prevalence estimates of 1.2% for aphantasia, 3% for hypophantasia, 89.9% for typical imagery ability, and 5.9% for hyperphantasia. In Study 2, to replicate these findings in a larger sample, the Study 1 data were combined with openly available data from previous prevalence studies to create a total sample of 9,063 participants. Re-analysis of this data confirmed prevalence estimates of 0.9% for aphantasia, 3.3% for hypophantasia, 89.7% for typical imagery ability, and 6.1% for hyperphantasia. These robust and up-to-date estimates provide enhanced clarity to researchers regarding the prevalence of differing visual imagery abilities and provide a platform for future studies exploring the role of visual imagery in various cognitive and behavioral tasks.
KEYWORDS
aphantasia, hypophantasia, hyperphantasia, VVIQ, visual imagery, imagery ability
Citation:
Wright, D.J., Scott, M.W., Kraeutner, S.N., Barhoun, P., Bertollo, M., Campbell, M., Waltzing, B.M., Dahm, S.F., Esselaar, M., Frank, C., Hardwick, R.M., Fuelscher, I., Marshall, B., Hodges, N.J., Hyde, C.and Holmes, P.S. (2024) ‘An international estimate of the prevalence of differing visual imagery abilities’, available: https://doi.org/10.34961/researchrepository-ul.27907950.v1.
© 2024 Wright, Scott, Kraeutner, Barhoun, Bertollo, Campbell, Waltzing, Dahm, Esselaar, Frank, Hardwick, Fuelscher, Marshall, Hodges, Hyde and Holmes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(CC BY).