I think most people with some degeree of aphantasia used to think like you - that no one can really visualise things.
But then I started asking around and people REALLY described visualisation as a vivid clear picture of things in their heads, almost like they are there. Like literally projecting the image on their brain as you're saying.
I now think I do have some degree of aphantasia. I can describe as having low RAM, so I cannot paint the entire scene. I am able to briefly visualise some details and aspects of a scene (usually as flashes, and I cannot sustain them), but never the entire scene. If you ask me to visualise a beach, I can have visual "flashy" perceptions of the sand or the waves, but it's extremely hard for me to put everything together in a visual manner. It's much easer for me to imagine the feelings, sounds, and smells of a scene.
But then I started asking around and people REALLY described visualisation as a vivid clear picture of things in their heads, almost like they are there. Like literally projecting the image on their brain as you're saying.
I now think I do have some degree of aphantasia. I can describe as having low RAM, so I cannot paint the entire scene. I am able to briefly visualise some details and aspects of a scene (usually as flashes, and I cannot sustain them), but never the entire scene. If you ask me to visualise a beach, I can have visual "flashy" perceptions of the sand or the waves, but it's extremely hard for me to put everything together in a visual manner. It's much easer for me to imagine the feelings, sounds, and smells of a scene.