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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
09:13

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Published on: April 22, 2015

Autism and Aphantasia.

Derek H Arnold1, Loren Bouyer1, Blake W Saurels1

  • 1School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Australia.

Consciousness and Cognition
|June 23, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Aphantasia, the inability to form mental images, shows weak links to autism, especially for visual imagination. However, autistic individuals may experience reduced smell and taste imagery, potentially linked to non-verbal communication differences.

Keywords:
AphantasiaAutismImagined sensations

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Aphantasia is defined as the inability to voluntarily imagine sensory experiences.
  • It is increasingly understood as a multisensory condition, affecting imagination across various senses.
  • Previous research suggested a strong link between Aphantasia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between multisensory Aphantasia and autism.
  • To re-evaluate the strength of the Aphantasia-autism link, considering how autism is measured.
  • To explore specific sensory modalities and non-verbal communication in this context.

Main Methods:

  • Recruited 327 participants with a formal autism diagnosis.
  • Compared imagined sensory experiences in the autistic group with a control group.
  • Utilized questionnaires assessing visual, olfactory, gustatory, and other imagined sensations.

Main Results:

  • Autistic participants generally reported less vivid imagined experiences.
  • Visual Aphantasia was not more common in the autistic group.
  • A higher proportion of autistic individuals reported inability to imagine smell and taste sensations.

Conclusions:

  • The association between autism and multisensory Aphantasia appears weak, particularly for visual imagery.
  • Difficulties in non-verbal communication, such as face processing, may be a shared characteristic.
  • This shared characteristic could explain the observed weak association between multisensory Aphantasia and autism.