Just curious, doesn't it happen to everyone for certain abstractions? When we study maths, our teachers encourage us to "see" examples or geometric representations or simply some abstract representations in our mind. Some people couldn't do so at high-school level, some people couldn't do so at college level. Those who can no matter what have a high chance of becoming an accomplished mathematician or scientists, but even for them they can't "see" mental images for every concepts no matter how hard they try.
Similarly, someone couldn't see mental images for the things they wanted to draw, and they were miserable in their arts class. I certainly felt so.
As a coder who was reasonably good at math, I’ve always done mental work by tracking the motion of objects in my head. Can’t see them. But, I know where I put them and how I want to shuffle them around. Imaginary proprioception, I guess. Works better for data structures and algorithms than for math.
Similarly, someone couldn't see mental images for the things they wanted to draw, and they were miserable in their arts class. I certainly felt so.