Tangetially associatied: what happens when you 'think' about something? I don't mean consciously deciding to imagine something. I mean something like (perhaps) thinking about an algorithm for a computing problem, or considering how a car engine works.
For me, reality utterly disappears. I have a clear image of whatever it is that blots out what is coming through my eyes. the image doesn't have photographic detail, but it's what the seeing bit of my brain is processing instead of what my eyes are getting.
I have aphantasia. There’s no great mystery here, it’s probably the same way you ‘think’ just without the pictures. I think about abstract algebra and car engines in the same way.
For me, reality utterly disappears. I have a clear image of whatever it is that blots out what is coming through my eyes. the image doesn't have photographic detail, but it's what the seeing bit of my brain is processing instead of what my eyes are getting.