Why Your Partner May Ruin Halloween Storytelling
Research shows why some people aren’t fazed by scary stories
You love scary stories. You read The Exorcist* and by the time you were done, you were in the fetal position on the floor wading in a puddle of fear that haunted you for days. Your partner, on the other hand, read the novel, yawned, and fell right to sleep as if they’d never heard the horrific depiction of little Regan MacNeil’s dance with a demon.
On Halloween, you decide to give yourself and your partner a scare by listening to horror podcasts that make you shiver and shake with fright, while your partner, again, remains completely unfazed.
So why was your partner unvexed by stories that scare you to death?
It may be a matter of taste: After all, some people just don’t like horror and don’t find it remotely scary. However, it may come down to their ability to form images in their mind.
According to a study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, those who have aphantasia, which is a condition that precludes people from forming mental images, are less likely to be affected by the scary stories they hear and read.
During their study, researchers had 46 people — 22 of which had aphantasia and the other 24 did not — sit in a dark room and…
