Metacognition in Aphantasia: Taking the "conscious" view seriously.
Neuropsychologia January 30, 2026 Lu Teng
People with aphantasia report lacking voluntary conscious visual imagery, yet they often use visual strategies to complete tasks, leading some researchers to propose that their visual imagery is unconscious. This paper argues instead that it is conscious. Consciousness research distinguishes visibility from confidence; the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), used to recruit aphantasics, resembles a visibility measure. To determine whether aphantasics' task-relevant imagery is truly unconscious, their confidence in first-order task performance should also be examined. The few studies that have done so suggest they exhibit good metacognition, supporting the conscious interpretation.