There are many ways to describe hypothetical situations, but they all center around the sense of sight:
Are there others that don't involve sight? It feels incorrect to say that a blind person "envisions something," so I'm looking for words that are sense-neutral.
It also feels inappropriate to "picture how this food tastes." Are there words for imagining a hypothetical smell, touch, taste, or sound?
think
"Think how this food would taste"
Here are some other non-specific words that might be useful. I started the trail by searching for synonyms of imagine and then selecting non-visual ones.
conceptualise conceptual (adj.) "pertaining to mental conception," 1820 (there is an isolated use from 1662), from Medieval Latin conceptualis, from Latin conceptus "a collecting, gathering, conceiving," past participle of concipere "to take in" (see conceive).
figure (v.) late 14c., "to represent" (in painting or sculpture), "make a likeness," also "to have a certain shape or appearance," from Old French figurer, from Latin figurare "to form, shape" (from PIE root *dheigh- "to form, build").
consider (v.) late 14c., "to fix the mind upon for careful examination, meditate upon,"
conceive
Meaning "take into the mind, form a correct notion of" is from mid-14c., that of "form as a general notion in the mind" is from late 14c., figurative senses also found in the Old French and Latin words. Related: Conceived; conceiving.
guess (v.) c. 1300, gessen "to infer from observation, perceive, find out; form an opinion, judge, decide, discern;
A few more: anticipate, conjecture, speculate, surmise, suspect, entertain, ponder.
Notes
All the above derivations are from etymonline.com - I gave them to show that the words did not specifically originate from ideas of "sight".
I may return to this list if any more occur to me.
I suggest conjure . Here is how M-W defines the word—
to bring to mind
words that conjure pleasant images—often used with up
conjure up memories
You ask for words that are specific to senses other than vision. Here's the start of a list of possibilities. Note that most are prepositional verbs. If you remove the verb and the preposition, you can replace any of them with "imagine".
"Chew over how this food will taste"
"Kick around the notion of becoming a professional footballer"
"Ruminate on the idea of taking cookery lessons"
"Weigh up how it would feel to be skinnier"
"Wrestle with the idea of giving up smoking"
"Congratulations on your new job. Take a moment to forecast your progress during the coming year."
You can also use
Envisage
Definitions in Oxford Languages:
The Rome Treaty envisaged free movement across frontiers.
He knew what he liked but had difficulty envisaging it.
If you look at its etymology, you will find that it has nothing to do with sight, but with the French visage that means face, countenance.
Edit: I just realised that I hadn't read the question carefully and did not realise you were looking for a word which can go with smell, touch, taste, or sound. In this particular context, one can say:
I can anticipate or predict or judge how this food tastes.
To say that I know how the food tastes, before tasting it. Check the link for more synonyms, among which many have nothing to do with sight.
How about simply, Think about? For example: Think about being near the lake; being in the woods; being in your kitchen. Or tell me about? Describe?
I would imagine the person responding might describe sounds, smells, etc.
I believe 'consider' to be the most useful example. It implies the use of whatever information or evidence is available in order to reach a conclusion and is sense non-specific.
