The Epoch Times BY LILY KELLY
Australian researchers have made a breakthrough in a rare mental condition, aphantasia, that makes people unable to visualize images.
Previously thought to be difficult to diagnose, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have discovered a method for proving and diagnosing the rare mental condition via a personâs eyesâ responsiveness to light.
Those who do not have aphantasia can visualize a bright and dark object, which evokes a visible pupillary reflex of contraction or dilation as it would if they walked out into the sun or into a dark room. Professor Joel Pearson the senior author of the paper publishing the results of the study said in a UNSW media release that this reflex exists in the human eye to optimize the amount of light hitting the retina.
However, people with aphantasia can not visualize bright or dark objects so their pupils do not change.
