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Yes—you can have aphantasia in one sense only. Visual aphantasia with vivid auditory or motor imagery is common. Low imagery across all six senses is much rarer. Only a multisensory assessment reveals which senses are affected and which compensate. Single-sense aphantasia is the more typical pattern.
Last updated: May 20, 2026
Public discussion treats aphantasia as visual-only, but low imagery can affect any sense: vision, sound, smell, taste, touch, or movement. Each sense has its own spectrum from absent to vivid.
Single-sense aphantasia is common. Multisensory aphantasia—low across all dimensions—is much rarer. Most people who identify as aphantasic have low imagery in one or two senses and typical or even vivid imagery in others.
Imagery systems for different senses appear to develop and operate semi-independently. Visual imagery uses occipital and parietal regions; auditory uses temporal regions; motor uses motor cortex and cerebellum. These can vary in individual vividness without affecting each other.
In Imagination Index population data, very few users score below the 10th percentile on all six senses. Most low-visual users have at least one mid-range or high score elsewhere—often auditory or motor.
A visual-only test (like VVIQ alone) cannot tell you about other senses. Discovering a strength in motor or auditory imagery often explains how you've succeeded in life without a mind's eye—or why specific instructions worked when general 'visualization' didn't.
For coaches, therapists, and teachers, knowing whether a client's aphantasia is visual-only vs multisensory dramatically changes which alternatives to offer.
Visual aphantasia is the most discussed and tested. Olfactory imagery is weak for many people but rarely labeled 'aphantasia.' Data suggests visual and olfactory low imagery are both common, for different reasons (visual is a discrete trait; olfactory weakness is partly population-wide difficulty with smell imagery).
Yes—olfactory aphantasia exists. Because smell imagery is weak on average for the population, single-sense olfactory aphantasia is harder to distinguish from typical low vividness. Comparing your olfactory score against population percentiles clarifies it.
No. It's a cognitive variation. Knowing your profile helps you choose strategies that fit—not impose extra effort to develop a sense that may not respond meaningfully to training.
Free core assessment · about 12 minutes · no credit card required. See your six-sense Imagery Profile and optional percentile ranking.
