“Blindsight” is the ability that some blind people have to sense things that they can’t see. Here’s something amazing: One blind man, known only as “TN,” proved that he can find his way around obstacles in his way, even though he is totally blind. He can also “sense” emotions such as fear, anger and joy in other people, even though he can’t see their faces. This is one of the subjects she discusses with Russell Targ, who is legally blind, on Dreamland. Come talk to Anne in person in Nashville in June!
When scientists created an obstacle course for him, made up of boxes and chairs arranged in a random pattern, he didn’t bump into a single one. (To see an amazing video of “TN” in action, click here). In a 2008 edition of The Telegraph, Kate Devlin quotes researcher Beatrice de Gelder as saying, “This is absolutely the first study of this ability in humans.”
Researchers explain this as a subconscious ability to recognize things we cannot see, and say that even though a person’s eyes can’t identify an object, something in the brain can still respond to its presence on a subconscious level.
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