There is a specific frustration that comes with having aphantasia and trying to use learning tools built for everyone else. Tools that claim to make memorization easier often do so through visual imagery, colorful mnemonics, and mental visualization techniques that are not available to you. You sit with a Quizlet set and the matching game and the Learn mode, and you wonder if you are just bad at studying.
You are not bad at studying. Your brain encodes information differently, and most study tools were designed without considering that difference. Quizlet's core format is actually more accessible for aphantasia than many alternatives because it does not require mental imagery. Flashcards with spaced review work on verbal and semantic memory, which aphantasic learners use effectively.
The question is whether there are tools that go further - that actively leverage the cognitive strategies aphantasic learners do have, rather than just avoiding the ones they do not.
The most useful distinction for aphantasic learners is between internal and external spatial tools. Memory palaces and visualization mnemonics are internal - they require you to construct and navigate imagined spaces. Grid-based learning tools are external - the spatial layout is on the screen, visible and concrete, not constructed in your head.
Spatial memory as a cognitive system works through both channels, but only the external channel is available to most aphantasic learners. A visible grid where items occupy specific positions provides genuine spatial encoding through perception rather than imagination. This is not a workaround. It is a different and equally valid implementation of spatial memory.
Quizlet's strength for aphantasic learners is that it is entirely verbal and semantic. No imagery required, no visualization prompts, just term-definition pairs and context sentences. For straightforward factual learning, this works. The paywall limits long-term use, but the core format is compatible with aphantasic cognitive strategies.
Where a grid-based tool offers something different is for information that has inherent structure: taxonomies, related concepts, paradigms, systems. The grid format lets you encode not just what things are but where they sit in relation to each other, using external spatial information that you can actually see. For aphantasic learners who find that linear lists and isolated flashcards do not capture the structure of what they are learning, visible spatial grids are a meaningful alternative.
Spatial memory is intact in aphantasia. People with aphantasia remember where things are just as well as everyone else (Bainbridge et al., 2021, Cortex).
Non-visual spatial strategies are as effective as visual strategies for memory (Monzel et al., 2024, Cognition).
Spatial memory is more durable over time than object memory (Megla & Bainbridge, 2025, Cognition).
The Method of Loci works because of spatial placement, not visualization (Caplan et al., 2019, QJEP).
College students with aphantasia achieve equal or higher grades using compensatory strategies like spatial anchoring (Taylor & Laming, 2025, Frontiers in Psychology).
Quizlet is a reasonable tool for aphantasic learners because it does not require visualization. For information with structure and relationships, a visible spatial grid adds encoding that flashcards cannot provide. If linear card review has felt like it misses something about how the material connects, spatial tools are worth trying. Gridually's spatial encoding is based on memory research from the University of Chicago, University of Bonn, and Macquarie University.
Yes. People with aphantasia can learn effectively with flashcards - research shows aphantasic students achieve comparable or higher academic results. The key is using techniques that do not require mental imagery. Spatial memory based on external layouts (remembering positions on a screen) works without visualization.
Gridually is the only major flashcard app designed specifically around external spatial memory, which works without mental imagery. Its approach uses position and location as memory anchors on a visible grid, not mental images. Other apps like Anki and Quizlet work too since they are verbal and semantic, but they do not actively leverage spatial encoding.
Yes. Spatial memory and visual imagery are different cognitive systems. You know where your phone is right now without forming a mental picture of it. Gridually uses this position-based memory, not image-based memory. People with aphantasia typically have intact spatial memory.
Research identifies several effective strategies: spatial encoding (placing information at fixed locations), verbal processing, externalization through list-making, and anchoring to familiar references (Taylor & Laming, 2025; Hinwar & Petkov, 2025). Gridually combines spatial encoding with spaced repetition - both proven effective for aphantasic learners.
Traditional memory palaces require visualization, which is difficult or impossible with aphantasia. However, the Method of Loci works primarily because of spatial placement, not visualization (Caplan et al., 2019). Gridually provides an externalized memory palace - a fixed grid where every item has a position - that works without any mental imagery.