Expanding Perspectives on Visual Mental Imagery in Autism: Aphantasia, Enhanced Abilities, and Future Directions.

The article focuses on visual mental imagery abilities in autism, emphasizing the complexity and variability of these cognitive traits. It highlights research linking aphantasia—the inability to voluntarily generate mental images—with increased autistic traits, while also noting studies that report enhanced visual–spatial skills and mental imagery in some autistic individuals, suggesting heterogeneity in autistic cognition. Genetic analyses exploring connections between synesthesia, schizophrenia, and autism are discussed as promising avenues for understanding shared biological mechanisms. Additionally, the potential for applying insights about visual imagery in autism to develop tailored neurofeedback or brain-computer interface interventions for pediatric motor rehabilitation is proposed as a future research direction.