points by D-Machine 5 hours ago

Almost certainly there is also a "latent" representation that isn't just based on sensory imagery (i.e. some kinds of logical relations).

But it is also not likely that an absence of sensory imagery is without impact, i.e. that only the latent representations matter. You can see this in studies where aphantasics can't be subconsciously primed by images as easily [1], have skin conductance responses to visual stimuli less to imagery compared to normal people [2], and miss more visual details when attempting to redraw complex images from memory [3]. I.e. the visualizations are likely important in some cases, with the latent (non-visual) representations alone being deficient in some very particular cases, at least.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29175093/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33715433/

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33383478/