Adam Zeman
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| Adam Zeman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 September 1957 |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Known for | coining the term "aphantasia" |
Adam Zbynek James Zeman (born 23 September 1957) is a British neurologist, known for coining the term "aphantasia" for an inability to create mental images.[1][2]
Biography[edit]
Zeman is the son of Czech-born historian Zbyněk Zeman.
He took a first degree in philosophy and psychology then trained in medicine at Oxford, and trained in neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology in Queen Square, London, and Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.[3]
He was a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh from 1996 to 2005, and has been Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at the Peninsula Medical School (now the University of Exeter Medical School) since 2005. He was Chairman of the British Neuropsychiatry Association from 2007 to 2010.[3]
His research interests include neurological disorders of sleep, disorders of visual imagery, and memory disorders associated with epilepsy, including transient epileptic amnesia.[3]
Aphantasia[edit]
Zeman first became aware that some people cannot form mental images when a man (known as "MX") reported that, after minor heart surgery, he had no mental image of people or places when he thought of them.[lower-alpha 1] The case was reported in 2010.[7] After several people (responding to an article on the MX case by Carl Zimmer)[5][6] reported that they had never been able to visualise, Zeman and his team (including Sergio Della Sala) conducted a survey of 21 people with a self-reported lifelong lack of visual imagery, using the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire developed by David Marks.[1] They reported in 2015, finding that despite their inability to form mental images voluntarily, most of the respondents experienced involuntary imagery as "flashes" while awake or in dreams; that they have some difficulty recalling details of their own lives; that many have compensating verbal, mathematical and logical strengths; and that they successfully perform tasks that would normally involve visualisation, such as recalling visual details, by other strategies. The paper introduced the Greek-derived term "aphantasia".[2]
Published works[edit]
Zeman has authored or co-authored books including:
- Zeman, Adam (2002). Consciousness: A User's Guide. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300104979. Search this book on
- Zeman, Adam (2008). A Portrait of the Brain. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300114164. Search this book on
- Zeman, Adam; Jones-Gotman, Marilyn; Kapur, Narinder (2012). Epilepsy and Memory. OUP. ISBN 9780199580286. Search this book on
- Zeman, Adam; Macpherson, Fiona; Onians, John (2018). Extreme Imagination: Inside the Mind's Eye. Eye's Mind, University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health. ISBN 9781527233102. Search this book on
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Clemens, Anna (1 August 2018). "When the Mind's Eye Is Blind". Scientific American. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Zeman, Adam; Dewar, Michaela; Della Sala, Sergio (2015). "Lives without imagery: Congenital aphantasia" (PDF). Cortex. 73: 378–380. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019. PMID 26115582.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Professor Adam Zeman". University of Exeter. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ↑ Lemmin-Woolfrey, Ulrike (10 July 2023). "Why Some People Can't Visualize Images and May Dream in Words". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Zimmer, Carl (8 June 2021). "Many People Have a Vivid 'Mind's Eye,' While Others Have None at All". New York Times. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Griffin, Andrew (25 April 2016). "Aphantasia: Software engineer Blake Ross writes 'mind-blowing' post about being unable to imagine things". Independent. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ↑ Zeman, A.Z.J.; Della Sala, S.; Torrens, L.A.; Gountouna, V.E.; McGonigle, D.J.; Logie, R.H. (2010). "Loss of imagery phenomenology with intact visuo-spatial task performance: A case of 'blind imagination'". Neuropsychologia. 48 (1): 145–155. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.08.024. PMID 19733188.
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