Similar eye movements in aphantasia and visualizers during mental map exploration

During visual mental imagery, our eyes tend to reproduce patterns of movement similar to those observed in visual perception, even in the absence of external stimuli. However, imagery vividness varies along a spectrum, with congenital aphantasia at the lower extreme, where individuals report a reduced or absent ability to visualize voluntarily. Nevertheless, they can typically state from memory that Bordeaux is to the left of Paris on a map of France while denying having conjured any mental image. What cognitive mechanisms underlie this dissociation? Some theories suggest aphantasia stems from impaired image generation, while others propose it reflects a lack of metacognitive awareness of visual mental imagery. This study examines oculomotor patterns in aphantasia and visualizers during a mental exploration task involving an imagined map of France. We tested four competing hypotheses: H1: reduced eye movements in aphantasia are due to absent mental images; H2: increased exploratory eye movements in aphantasia as a sensorimotor compensatory strategy; H3: typical eye movements in aphantasia are associated with impaired metacognitive access, or H4: heterogeneous eye movement patterns in aphantasia. Results revealed that aphantasic individuals tended to look toward imagined targets just as visualizers do, consistent with H3. This suggests that congenital aphantasia is not the absence of visual mental images but may instead reflect reduced metacognitive access to imagery or a reliance on effective non-visual strategies capable of producing performance patterns similar to those of visualizers.