I'm 5 too and I worked out it was different than most people what I was around 6yo when some kid in kindergarten asked me what my mum looked like and I said I didn't know but all the other kids knew what their mum's looked like.

40 odd years later and i still can't picture my mother, wife, kids, friends or work colleagues in my head, I couldn't give you a detailed description but I've trained myself to memorise features but it's more like memorising how to spell a word than an image

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had a girl describe how she remebers things as like the memory playing on a screen in her mind and i realised then that people didnt say they 'see it in their mind' figuratively

[–] megasin1 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not even playing on a screen. I can close my eyes and visualise apples in a pack at the super market. I can imagine myself tearing the pack open, I can see the apple in level 1 detail of the OP. I can inspect it, it's green with yellowish spotsand imperfections, a black and brown stem, it has a waxy smoothness and I can visualise myself lifting my arm and taking a bite. The next part I lose vision, I can imagine feeling it on my front teeth before taking a bite. Its not a physical feeling, but like a memory of the feeling. And I can imagine taking that bite and then moving the piece to my right cheek to chew. On the first bite with my molars it cuts through the apple flesh but not the skin. Further chewing is required. Now I kindve lose imagination of the texture but the taste I can imagine that sweet acidic taste of apples. And that's about it figuratively speaking

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wish I could experience this superpower.

[–] Infernal_pizza 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Do you still recognise people even if you can’t picture them without seeing them? I’m assuming you definitely know your parents lol, but if you were to see the same cashier multiple times or something would you realise or do you just forget what they looked like?

[–] Selmafudd 10 points 1 year ago

Yeah the cashier thing, I don't think I recognise seeing the same person a few times but like the coffee shop down the road I recognise them there.

One funny encounter I had was a few years ago I had just started a new job and on the second day the boss had keys I needed the following day, we both happened to live near each other and he said to met him at a local shop's carpark and exchange the keys, he beat me there so I had to look for him and realised I hadn't memorise any of his features, so I'm there walking around the carpark just looking in cars for a person sitting in a car and saw a guy but he didn't make any movement so thought it wasn't him so kept walking then he gets out and calls out to me. I could tell he thought it was weird I had stared at him for a few seconds and then walked away...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

For me anyway, not the person you asked but lemmy needs comments to feed it.

But for me, i don't visually picture someone's face off I'm remembering it, but i do remember what someone looks like. So when I meet someone I recognise, it just clicks. I could describe someone i know from memory but maybe not with a ton of detail.

I remember what things look like, could remember details of a painting etc etc, it's just when i think of things, theres no visual acompaniment.

Idk its hard to explain now that I'm trying to put it in words