"Visual working memory performance in aphantasia" by Christianne Jacobs, Dietrich S. Schwarzkopf, and Juha Silvanto

Summary

This research paper investigates the cognitive implications of aphantasia, the inability to form mental images. The study focuses on a single individual with congenital aphantasia, comparing their visual working memory performance to a control group. Key findings reveal surprisingly intact performance on tasks involving mental imagery, though with reduced metacognitive awareness. However, the aphantasic individual showed significantly impaired performance on high-precision visual working memory trials, suggesting a functional role for mental imagery in this specific cognitive domain. The study also explores the relationship between visual working memory and mental imagery, proposing that while imagery may not be essential for all working memory tasks, it plays a crucial role in high-precision tasks and metacognitive accuracy.