Since I had discovered I have this condition (about 9 years ago), I spent a lot of time interrogating many people about how _they_ 'see' things, and it is definitely a spectrum, though I'm very close to one end of it.
For example, a simple "Close your eyes and imagine a cat. [pause] What color is it? What's it doing?" question results in:
Most people: Orange. A bit scruffy. It's playing with a ball of yarn beneath a chair. I can clearly see it jumping around.
Fewer, but still common: It's orange. It's just suspended in nothingness in a fixed position.
Me: What do you mean color? You didn't tell me I need to give it a color!
Imagining something just summons the concept of that thing to your mind. You can attach properties to the cat and you can analyze it, but unless a given property has been attached in particular, it's simply null.
On the other hand, the people at the far end of the visual spectrum draw a complete blank when you say "Imagine an un-cat leaping over the chair".
For example, a simple "Close your eyes and imagine a cat. [pause] What color is it? What's it doing?" question results in:
Most people: Orange. A bit scruffy. It's playing with a ball of yarn beneath a chair. I can clearly see it jumping around.
Fewer, but still common: It's orange. It's just suspended in nothingness in a fixed position.
Me: What do you mean color? You didn't tell me I need to give it a color!
Imagining something just summons the concept of that thing to your mind. You can attach properties to the cat and you can analyze it, but unless a given property has been attached in particular, it's simply null.
On the other hand, the people at the far end of the visual spectrum draw a complete blank when you say "Imagine an un-cat leaping over the chair".