IUBio

Blind Sight

Stephen Black sblack at UBISHOPS.CA
Tue Apr 21 09:48:27 EST 1998


On Sat, 18 Apr 1998 cijadra at zedat.fu-berlin.de wrote:

> Alan Rorie <aer201 at is5.nyu.edu> wrote:
> 
> >Does any one have a good list of references on Blind Sight?
> 
> I am not English, do you mean seeing with eyes closed, like when some
> people transform the waves direct without the eyes?
> Or something else?
> 

Blindsight refers to the puzzling observation that some people with
damage to the primary visual cortex, which causes blindness,
nevertheless can still show some visual ability. While verbally
denying that they can see anything, they may nevertheless show a
surprising ability to point to an object or turn their eyes to it. 

One explanation is that this ability is based on visual processing
elsewhere in the brain. Another is that the damage to the visual
cortex spares small islands of tissue which remain functional. 
Textbooks of physiological psychology often treat this issue briefly
(e.g. Kalat, J. Biological Psychology, 1998; Carlson, N., Physiology
of Behavior, 1998). A quick search of the free (and wonderful) PubMed
web site turned up numerous recent references. It looks like it's a
hot topic. 

Or it could just be due to aliens, of course.

-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D.                      tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology                  fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University                    e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca
Lennoxville, QC           
J1M 1Z7                      
Canada     Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
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