Query: ever wonder what blind men dream of?
Coz now I do. I was watching this program on Discovery about the superhuman within us that comes out when we push ourselves to our limits, and they were focusing on sight this time. One interesting aspect they discussed was the fact that we do learn to see by experience. We may have the faculty for sight, or receiving visual sensory data from the get-go, but the act of seeing, of processing that visual input into something that makes sense, is something that we cobble together during the first few years of our life. It's not just turning on a switch like with a videocam. The scientists stated that we build up our visual memory, and through experience we categorize them, put them into their proper place, so that we can give meaning to what we see.
They drove home this point when they featured a blind man in his 40s who lost his eyesight at 3 years old, then underwent radical surgery to give him back sight. It was quite apparent that even though he could receive visual sensory stimuli, he had a hard time comprehending it. He still walks around with a walking stick even though he could see, because he still hasn't learned to process the distance, depth, etc. he was perceiving and incorporate that with his own movement. He's learning though.
Then the show segued into the realm of dreams, since it is largely a visual experience. The worlds created when we undergo REM sleep are largely conjured up from our visual storehouse. I liken dreams to the brain's system maintenance, sort of like the sensory byproduct of defragging or going deep into the background processes. Now my question is, what do blind men dream of when they go into REM sleep? Or rather, how do they dream? Now I'd hazard a guess that if you lost your sight late in life, you'd dream the same way the rest of the world does, primarily visual. But say, you lost your sight when you were young, or you were born without sight at all, what would you dream of? How would you dream? Do you dream at all? Is the world that is conjured up one of sounds, and smells, and textures? I imagine that it would be a truly unique and surreal experience.
Any insights?
They drove home this point when they featured a blind man in his 40s who lost his eyesight at 3 years old, then underwent radical surgery to give him back sight. It was quite apparent that even though he could receive visual sensory stimuli, he had a hard time comprehending it. He still walks around with a walking stick even though he could see, because he still hasn't learned to process the distance, depth, etc. he was perceiving and incorporate that with his own movement. He's learning though.
Then the show segued into the realm of dreams, since it is largely a visual experience. The worlds created when we undergo REM sleep are largely conjured up from our visual storehouse. I liken dreams to the brain's system maintenance, sort of like the sensory byproduct of defragging or going deep into the background processes. Now my question is, what do blind men dream of when they go into REM sleep? Or rather, how do they dream? Now I'd hazard a guess that if you lost your sight late in life, you'd dream the same way the rest of the world does, primarily visual. But say, you lost your sight when you were young, or you were born without sight at all, what would you dream of? How would you dream? Do you dream at all? Is the world that is conjured up one of sounds, and smells, and textures? I imagine that it would be a truly unique and surreal experience.
Any insights?