I'm currently reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James and if you're familiar with the book you know there are *lots* of smell descriptions. This has got me wondering, does anyone smell, hear, feel, or taste when reading?
I have aphantasia and when explaining what it's like to my husband I compared it to reading about smells. Your brain registers the information but you don't actually smell it. But maybe some people do? I didn't know people actually saw movies in their head until I saw people talking about it here.
Are there people who, when reading description of physical sensation actually feel it? I've heard of people saying their mouth watered when reading scenes with food and assumed they were being figurative but maybe not? I know some people "hear" dialog but is it in different voices or your own?
I understand that when people say they see or feel hear something when reading, they're not hallucinating but does your body react the same way as if you have? Does your mouth actually water? Do bad smell description makes you want to gag? Do descriptions of abrasive sounds make you physically cringe?
Thank you for your input!
by Anxious-Fun8829
4 Comments
When a book is really good I can literally smell and taste scenes — reading about a bakery in a novel once made me get up and start baking at midnight.
Only if I focus on it. I never “hear” or “smell” things, unless I stop and actually think about it. I do “see” things all the time, though.
I think part of it is reading speed. I read much much faster than normal conversation, and if I were to “hear” it, it would just be gibberish.
Your comparison to smell is actually a really good way to explain aphantasia. For me, I “hear” tone and rhythm more than I see anything visually like the cadence of dialogue carries the scene instead of imagery.
Yeah, sometimes I imagine scenes, sometimes just words. Depends on the book.