The brain is amazing. Man doesn't know he's not blind.

[Fender]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=98590831

[MKJ]

not all that uncommon as they make it out to be.
its like when you wake up in the middle of the night and you're disoriented. you can sometimes envision your bedroom because of how it is in your memory. (it only adds to the disorientation tho, as your memory is never exactly as real life).
your brain expects to see something and it sends those images around.

now if he was blind since birth, that would be something!

[werldhed]

Pretty cool, but doesn't seem all that surprising. If his eyes are intact, then visual cues are still being sent to the brain.
It's not a far stretch to think of visual signals and mental imaging as being separate processes. It's similar to stroke victims that can recognize words, but their brain can't figure out how to use them correctly.

I also wouldn't be surprised if a psychological problem would give a similar result. i.e. a person can see just fine, but their brain refuses to believe that it can see.

nice film work btw.

[Fender]

@ MKJ
No, I don't think you're fully getting it. It has nothing to do with memory. He can see, but doesn't know it. The some parts of his brain that process the visual information are working, but the part that "renders" it in your head as images is not.
Parts of his brain see the stuff on the floor, unrelated to memory, but he has no conscious knowledge of their existence.

[MKJ]

quite, the brain is fooling him in thinking he cant see, for lack of better description.

wonder if they can trigger it so he can see fully again, or at least consciously use the receptors

[losCHUNK]

thats mad

had no idea you could go blind and still see

i used to know a guy when i was a sprog, im not sure if he was partially sighted or flat out blind but i know he couldnt see more than 1 foot in front of him, yet could still drive a car !, same thing ?

[[xeno]Julios]

i don't know why they're making such a big deal about this - yes it's cool, but it's nothing new. We've known about blindsight for a long time.

[Fender]

^ coming from incredi-amazing poster, that's rich

[Massive Quasars]

Pretty cool, but doesn't seem all that surprising. If his eyes are intact, then visual cues are still being sent to the brain.
It's not a far stretch to think of visual signals and mental imaging as being separate processes. It's similar to stroke victims that can recognize words, but their brain can't figure out how to use them correctly.

I also wouldn't be surprised if a psychological problem would give a similar result. i.e. a person can see just fine, but their brain refuses to believe that it can see.

nice film work btw.

Indeed.

Were I to speculate on the matter, I would first acknowledge the processing burden of higher object and pattern recognition placed upon the visual cortex and associated regions. Simpler object avoidance is a functional task that requires fewer resources, while offering the dual benefit of reduced latency to a flight response (bypassing conscious deliberation).

[Sevensins]

Neuroplasticity

I've been reading a few books on the subject lately. Though I recently put one down to read Ender in Exile.

[[xeno]Julios]

^ coming from incredi-amazing poster, that's rich

sorry, allow me...

wow that is fucking incredible. It is a genuinely inspiring demonstration of how our visual system is layered with different pathways, and careful reflection of this example can lead to a better phenomenological appreciation of our own every day normal visual experience.

I'm going to go masturbate now in celebration. unbelievably cool.

[Massive Quasars]

Jules, at the risk of bursting your bubble, have you checked out ax's thread in the Void?

[[xeno]Julios]

It's not a far stretch to think of visual signals and mental imaging as being separate processes. It's similar to stroke victims that can recognize words, but their brain can't figure out how to use them correctly.

I also wouldn't be surprised if a psychological problem would give a similar result. i.e. a person can see just fine, but their brain refuses to believe that it can see.

A popular theory to explain blinsight is that we seem to have two (relatively) independent pathways - the ventral stream and the dorsal stream. Ventral stream seems to specialize in building up a rich detailed representation of the object for conscious processing. Dorsal stream seems to specialize in directing motor behaviour based on the crude properties of the object. So when you reach down to grasp an object, you are actually using your dorsal stream to control the aperture of your grip. We use both streams all the time together.

I think in principle it would be possible to develop an object awareness based solely on dorsal stream (perhaps by paying attention to kinethetic feedback).

anyway, this dude here seems to have suffered ventral stream damage.

Another possibility (though I'm not sure if it's entirely different from the above description) is that he's using his lgn (part of the thalamus) to react to objects - the area of the brain which sensory information is passed through before going to higher visual areas. There are pathways from the thalamus which control motor behaviour.

This is why you react to a snake or potent stimulus before realizing what you reacted to

[[xeno]Julios]

Jules, at the risk of bursting your bubble, have you checked out ax's thread in the Void?

ah thanks - didn't see that.

[xer0s]

i don't know why they're making such a big deal about this - yes it's cool, but it's nothing new. We've known about blindsight for a long time.

lol, I love you Jules. This entire post was created just so you could use the term "blindsight."

*kiss*

[Dr_Watson]

they had this in the science times today as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/healt ... odayspaper
video here : http://www.beatricedegelder.com/documents/Filmato.wmv
interesting research.

[4days]

I also wouldn't be surprised if a psychological problem would give a similar result. i.e. a person can see just fine, but their brain refuses to believe that it can see.

shared a house with a lad that had a blind spot for vacuum cleaners. i don't think it was a dodge to get out of housework (none of us did any until it was life-threatening) and if it was an act, he never let it slip. one night we sat the hoover in front of him while we were getting mashed and watching telly - he laughed and told us to fuck off but half an hour later when he stood up, he tripped over the damn thing as if it was invisible. same bloke always got confused between street bins and post boxes.

[Grudge]

I remember writing a report on blindsight for my neuropsychology class back in '97 or so

interesting stuff