Posted by alexandra_k on February 17, 2020, at 7:47:55
In reply to Re: No person born blind has ever been Schizophrenic: » alexandra_k, posted by undopaminergic on February 17, 2020, at 3:26:12
I find it hard to imagine that a blind person wouldn't be able to imagine some aspects of visual experience. I imagine they use something a little more like echolocation than I am able to imagine to form... Representations of their environment. Aspects of spatial layout, I mean to say. Distance of objects.
I find it hard to imagine that a deaf person wouldn't be able to feel tap tap tappity tap tappity tap tap tap and vibrations fast and slow, deep and light to feel the music.
I don't see why they wouldn't experience these during dreaming. Have the capacity to hallucinate even.
I have a fun little game I like to play with myself sometimes. It is closing my eyes and trying to see a particular color. Red, let's say. Trying to see it with my eyes closed. I can imagine red. I can imagine red objects. Red fire engines and the like. But am I actually seeing red with my eyes closed? For me, vivid dreaming / hallucinating with my eyes closed, actually seeing without visual stimuli is something that only really happens at a certain point of drowsiness towards sleep. I get glimpses only at other times. Hard to tell if I am actually seeing with my eyes closed or imagining in a way that isn't actually a visual experience.
There was this cool little trick you could do to locate your blind spot (you have a blind spot right in the middle of your field of vision when you close one eye so binocular vision doesn't eliminate it). Once you have located it you become quite convinced that you have a blind spot. Indeed.
Only your visual field doesn't seem to contain a blind spot, to you. It feels or seems to be a complete field.
So then it seems that your brain is somehow filling in the blind spot with visual experience.
It sort of gets you thinking / realising how we don't actually see half the things we think we see.
I don't know that I am making any sense.
I just mean that a blind person wouldn't likely report visual hallucinations because if they had visual hallucinations they wouldn't have any way of knowing that they were *visual* hallucinations, particularly. I mean... How would you begin to describe visual experience to someone who didn't have it?
On the other hand... I think that description can go rather a long way. I can come to some sort of appreciation of what it is like to be a bat by 'feeling' my way there by thinking about how blind people get around. Maybe by blindfolding myself and acclimitising somewhat. Maybe by discovering how the other senses can become heightened. Not to capture it exactly...
But sort of...
Infer the missing shade of blue from examples either side.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1108443
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20200104/msgs/1108492.html