And in other cases people have neurological conditions that can have an impact consciousness in different and various ways, for example, some people can have issues understanding their emotional state, I have issues recognizing my own emotions.
@Ψ Interesting perspective. This is such a complex subject. One thing I'd ask based on your comment though, what is "taking something for granted"? The definition of the term is expecting someone or something to always be available or serve without thanks or acknowledgement or recognition, by that definition, our expectations, which come from our conscious brain could lead one to think that consciousness takes itself for granted, expecting itself to just always exist. Just a thought.
_Blindsight_ is also the title (and core concept) behind a hard science fiction first contact novel by Peter Watts. Very imaginative, kind of frightening, and some exceedingly neuroatypical characters. Highly recommended.
This reminds me of that guy who could clearly see, but his brain wasn't able to connect the lines to separate objects or humans. He just learned to recognize line patterns by heart.
Conscious thought is a relatively slow process and many experiments seems to indicate our brain already made the decision before the individual is aware of it. One analogy is that if your mind were a car consciousness is not the driver the one making the decisions, it is the kid with a toy wheel pretending to be the driver. For the reason for its role it might be important for socialization or maybe learning. When you are learning a new task or skill you need to think on every step but when you already mastered it you can do everything much faster without even thinking about it. In fact, thinking about it slows you down.
I would prefer to go blind to going deaf. Having had like 20/500 uncorrected vision since preschool, relying on senses other than sight is far easier to adapt to than being unable to hear anything.
@@NotHPotter But you've got used to doing that, hence it doesn't seem as scary to you. Do you think someone with severely compromised hearing might say the opposite i.e. that they'd prefer to lose all their remaining hearing to losing their still intact sight, as they've gotten used to world with little sound?
@@ArawnOfAnnwn I'd contend that deafness would be worse overall. Sound plays a huge role in shaping our understanding of environment in very subtle ways.
I had a weird episode when I was three where I thought I was blind for a few minutes and started to freak out. I stumbled downstairs with my hands out feeling my way and stumbled over shoes by the front door. I was screaming and crying that I couldn't see but I could. I just thought and acted like I couldn't and it was really scary. I have no idea why this happened but this video reminds me of that.
So if a person with blindsight sees something scary, like say a threatening dog, would they feel fear without knowing why they’re afraid? Because their amygdala is getting that fear signal?
AFAIK not. I don't remember having read or heard of them seeing something scary, but I recall having read something along the lines that they'll "see" someone sed, and then "know" they're sad, and respond accordingly, asking why they're sad or whatever, which is an empathic emotional response that they are aware of. The person doesn't know how they know, as in their POV they're completely blind, they just "feel" it, probably initially thinking it was just some "sixth sense" or some other reason.
My uneducated guess would be probably not. It's probably a more primitive or instinctual part that evolved before we could properly analyze things with our big brain. Just "walk there to food" or "run away from predator". Simplified pattern recognition. So we'd be able to recognize some things but not too much. Maybe the face of a predator would trigger something though.
My first answer to this comment was based on misreading it as "would they feel fear without knowing -why- they’re afraid." Now realizing there's a "why" there, then I'd change it to "likely yes," even though the rest of my original comment still kind of supports this answer, ironically.
0:32, I completely misheard when you said “rhesus monkey” - I thought you said “racist monkey” so I was wondering how on earth they found out it was racist 😂😂
Christel Headington it’s called ‘double speak’ the English language is drenched in linguistic phonetic, and semantic multiple meaning and sound like how ‘double speak’ is actually saying ‘devil speak’... it’s apart of how we are mind controlled...all the world elite, wealthy people in positions of power and authority and all the famous music recording artist know about it and use it in their music... I’ll give you an example the word “for” is also the number “four” or the word “no” is also SPELLED “know” the word “one” is also “won” the word “eyes” is also “ass” or the word “come” is also “cum” the word “development” has the word “DEVEL” as its first FOUR LETTERS... the word “analysis” is phonetic to ANAL CYST(CIST)... there’s a million and one examples I could give you... but basically language and alphabets(scripture/writing) is essentially black magic, because once someone gets indoctrinated into the WORD OF GOD, a demon is summoned and POSSESSES (pose ass is) your self/mind (as the ego/I am/self) and the individual loses the ability to sense reality, basically becomes able to be mind controlled, all human suffering and war and evil in the world can be attributed to ALPHABETS, because you can’t tell a soldier for the US to go to the Middle East and blow up a whole innocent family if that man can’t hear or understand the words coming out of the bosses mouth... the serpent in the garden of eden is the human tongue... how could something so simple as “go kill them” be so powerful?
This one time I was walking down a street when a random guy in a group simulated an uppercut to my chin. Now, I may have some V1 damage from a brick to the back of my head when I was a kid, as although I can see, I usually get around "on autopilot" - no memory forms about what I've seen, and I can't actively identify places or people in a crowd when this happens. What happened is that I caught his guy's fist in my hand without putting any conscious effort into it, but my vision was pretty much on standby. I haven't had this area investigated yet. I mean, it's not causing me much trouble - I just come up as awkward, so I'm not sure I'd be able to convince a doctor to give me an MRI to check if anything shows up over there.
Off the wall, but a genuine experience... I can "see" (occasionally) when my eyes are closed. Not clear vision, more shadowy,. Dark on dark, really. But I've been able to lay my hands on things in the dark or with my eyes closed for years... But not when I'm blindfolded. So it would seem I'm seeing through my eyelids? I often wondered...
Makes me wonder if this has anything to do with why sometimes I hear someone say something, blurt out what and then get what they say and even sometimes respond while they are resaying. I don't understand what they say but my subconscious hears the entire thing or enough to get what i was just told?
That happens to me as well, also to my husband. I think this is a common thing. I've never looked into it but I'd be curious to know if their are studies on it. Probably has to do with processing time in the brain when something isnt super easy to hear
Happens frequently to me as well. Best explanation I could figure is that you remember what is basically an audio file- exactly the way it was said with their voice and everything- and are still processing that even when you've already given up and asked them to repeat. I've learned to just cock my head and think about it that extra few seconds before giving up. Seems to help quite a bit just to give yourself a little more time before the "what?"
In some cases, patients with aphasia can show up at their appointment, say "hello" and then not be able to even repeat it after they doctor told them so. That's because of the neural networks of memory and what we call "schemes". There is an association between "entering a room", "seeing someone" and "introducing ourself" because we repeated this scenario enough times. So that's an automatism. However if the patient has to repeat the same word, sometimes he isn't able to because his working memory (or another function in the brain), which is sometimes seen as a form of consciousness itself (an "active" one), is broken.
I'm pretty sure I've had my own experience with blindsight just a few months ago. I was wearing a crappy eyepatch, one that didn't completely occlude my entire right eye's field of vision, and in low-light conditions, I could swear I was still seeing in binocular vision, like my brain was filling in the information in my reduced field of view. It felt pretty weird, but it was awesomely fascinating.
Subconscious signaling would be a good explanation for being able to react to traffic, pedestrians, debris, etc. while driving. It is impossible to consciously scan every movement. I think experienced drivers are generally better drivers because we've learned to trust these reactions.
In case someone else comes here now, 3 years into the future from this video, re: this person’s comment that “experienced drivers have better reactions while driving”; I don’t disagree with you, but here’s something interesting… someone I know very recently had driving school to obtain their license. Their instructor told the class that because they had been a passenger for years, they already learned how to drive from observation. It’s an interesting theory. Although for brand new drivers, this probably only applies for those who’ve actually been observing, and not for those who never pay attention (i.e.: only ever looking at their cellphones, for example).
This would explain a lot. I'm legally blind (not totally blind), but I can often function like a sighted person. In fact most acquaintances don't even know I'm blind. But when I'm in a chaotic or destressing situation, I become a lot less functional. The examples you gave were mainly about brain damage. Wonder if the possibility of blindsight changes if only the eyes or retina are damaged.
Well, I couldn't do it. I was born blind and was given minimal sight after 3 operations. I "saw" with my hands and ears and via another "sense" that I can't describe and I'm not talking about ESP. I mean something different. I just don't have the right words tp describe it. That's what I'm talking about: what she described with that monkey but I never would have called it blind sight. It's more like a sensation around your energy field. It's like being hypersensitive in all your other senses because one is missing so the others need to make up for it.
I visited a friend in hospital who was suffering from a brain abscess. It had caused him to lose vision of everything on the left side of his field of view. We walked down a corridor when a couple of people approached us from the opposite direction. My friend moved aside to allow the couple to pass. He then told me that he had not heard or seen them approaching - they were in the blind part of his field of view. But somehow he just knew they were there... Fortunately the abscess has now been cured and he has fully recovered his lost vision.
I wonder if blindsight is consistent with single cell theories of consciousness. In particular, Steven Sevush (neuroscientist) wrote "Single-neuron theory of consciousness" discusses "verbally reportable (VR) consciousness" such that certain conscious areas of the brain which process certain information might feed VR conscious areas for example.
There are also collicular pathways that bypass LGN. I noticed a few years ago in rush hour traffic, I would change lanes w/o being aware of consciously doing so and when I checked, it was usually the right choice based on cars slowing or turning from the lane I was just in.
Defining the easy and hard problems of conciousness and then clarifying which you mean in various circumstances might make things more clear. Since both variations are used interchangeably, and that can get confusing.
I hope you'll make an episode about blindness caused by psychological trauma or stress... if that's even a real thing, though I'm quite sure it is. I heard about it in a game (Yakuza 0 if anyone's interested) and one of the characters had this kind of condition but then was actually able to recover her sight in the end. Saw some articles about this as well. Anyway, would be a cool topic for a future vid imo!
Or like when driving and you don't remember part of the drive despite contending with stop lights, signs, railroad crossings, or even needing to turn. Which always freaks me out.
@@angelcdeath no, i have full waking dreams. Its like watching a movie, i stop seeing whats really in front of me(or my mind is not recording my physical sight into memory) and i only remember the daydream until it fades like a normal dream. I arrive home safe and sound like a cutaway in tv/films. Its very unsettling! I always think 'how did i not hit anything/anyone!?'
Meant that as a little joke. I know what you mean. Driving specifically. As a chronic day dreamer sometimes I wonder how often people (myself included) aren't just running on "auto pilot" as its been referred to. Some are just more vivid than others I think.
On an unrelated note, what is the significance of that latitude and longitude you have tattooed on your arm, unless I'm being too nosy, in which case disregard the question.
Well you can "feel" someone staring at you, or sneaking up behind you.I have felt a slight air movement out of my line of sight. Could it work when you pass a still object while moving ?
I could imagine senses working in concert (like proprioception) could do something like echolocation, like you're talking about with air movement. The feeling of "being watched" almost certainly is purely down to anxiety, context, the lack of awareness of the context by the subject, and the unconscious signaling that the subject is performing that draws attention to them. Simply, people tend to look at other people, and when you're around people it's going to happen. All the other times you look back to not see someone staring at you get discounted and forgotten due to perceptive bias. The more you look around, the more you are likely to find someone looking at you, and if you're doing that, you're probably a lot more likely to have anxiety and be self conscious about being watched.
In China and India, this being common knowledge for thousands of years. In the year 1812 in Mexico, Coronel Jose Perdiz reported that his granddaughters were playing blindsight instructed by a teacher. He states that his granddaughters couldn't run around completely blindfolded without having any kind of accident. Today, UK and Mexico are the most advanced teaching this skill to kids. You don't have to have brain damage to activate this skill.
Could it be that the V1 area is not involved directly with the process of vision instead it is what allows you to remember what you see. So if damage occurs to that region vision would remain unimpaired, we just would forget what we saw as we were seeing it.
I bet one's fight or flight instincts are tied to this ability. could explain why any time I've attempted to spar I've found myself suddenly five feet away before I can even realize what I'm doing.
There are two types of people, those who can't stand the idea of unconscious mental processes controlling their behavior throughout their lives, and those who embrace their unconscious like an old friend.
Sometimes I'll do things without thinking like reach for something I thought was there then when I look I feel blind because I put things in places so I don't have to look or think about it so when something is out of place or I reorganize I find it difficult to see what's there mostly because it's so dense and so many layers. Other times I'll look so quick I either feel like I guessed without actually seeing anything or I don't realize I didn't actually look long enough and think I didn't see anything.
I guess it's not too surprising, the eye and brain evolved step by step and it's logical that there were stages were animals would just automatically or instinctively respond to visual stimuli in a more primitive manner. I makes sense that there are levels. And what we perceive as vision is just the upper one where we can analyze what we see for complex thoughts and planning.
"We all have *unconscious* processing going on all the time..." "It seem odd to you that there are parts of your brain guiding you *subconsciously*..." I've never been clear on this. Are 'unconscious' and 'subconscious' interchangeable? Do they have different meanings, but both apply here? What's the deal?
This reminds me a lot of my experiences with a macaw I worked with while interning at a marine mammal facility. Even though she was in familiar places that she spent a lot of time in before she was blind, when I was training her or when I did something or something moved, she responded like the birds we had who were not blind. It made me really question if she was but this video shed some light for me that I figured what happening, and what I tried to tell my supervisor. Can you offer any further explanation for me, now that I've had this aha moment I'm really curious!!
If they're reacting to suprises, it would be interesting to have them look at visual jumpscares to see if they can actually be scared by them. If so, would they know why? Would they just suddenly feel creeped out for apparently no reason?
I have a student who is supposed to be blind, in theory, but she reaches out and grabs things with more than 70% accuracy and can walk around without running into things, so long as, y'know, her eyes are open.
That could also be your mind tricking itself. It takes around 150 milliseconds for a visual stimulus to be processed. When you're doing something that requires fast reactions, or happens at great speed, e.g. driving, your brain "fills in the gaps". For example, when you're driving at 120 kph, 150 milliseconds is the time it takes to traverse 5 meters. When something unexpected happens, you don't really consciously notice that your brain "jumps" from predicted to actual reality, even though that's exactly what happens. You feel as though it's a single, logical continuum, despite your brain creating this cohesion after the fact. It is quite likely the same with your reflexes. They happen, your brain becomes aware of them, and then makes it seem like you were aware while it happened.
@@hititwithit Yeah, could very well be. That does not explain how I can trace my thoughts back to random queues to the subconscious. I was on a bus this Summer and a word I seldom used came into my head, when I realised it had flashed by on an advertising poster along the road. I can be quite aware of what happens in my subconscious, so I wonder what the actual occurence is.
@@TreespeakerOfTheLand Isn't that normal? It happens to me too, anyway. The opposite as well: knowing I know something, but being unable to explicitly retrieve it from memory: a tip-of-the-tongue experience.
Soooo...when you tell a blind person, they're now walking into a kitchen, do they automatically try and avoid things like stoves, tables and chairs etc?
I'm not sure which would make me saltier, being straight up blind, or being unable to consciously see. Like both suck, but for COMPLETELY different reason imo.
Spoiler alert for The Traitor Baru Cormorant, but At the end of the first book one side of her brain gets some kind of damage that causes similar symptoms - she can't see out that eye anymore, but she responds to visual cues on that side repeatedly in the second book.
"No one knows what makes us conscious, or why we experience life instead of just going through the motions like a robot." Hahah, SciShow has the best jokes
The biggest surprise is that we had to go this long into the current year to find a 20/20 pun.
Consciousness is such a weird and complicated thing everybody takes for granted.
Irony is that it's consciousness that takes itself for granted.
What is existence without consciousness?
@@only20frickinletters probably nothing. You are just a big computer
And in other cases people have neurological conditions that can have an impact consciousness in different and various ways, for example, some people can have issues understanding their emotional state, I have issues recognizing my own emotions.
@Ψ Interesting perspective. This is such a complex subject. One thing I'd ask based on your comment though, what is "taking something for granted"? The definition of the term is expecting someone or something to always be available or serve without thanks or acknowledgement or recognition, by that definition, our expectations, which come from our conscious brain could lead one to think that consciousness takes itself for granted, expecting itself to just always exist. Just a thought.
_Blindsight_ is also the title (and core concept) behind a hard science fiction first contact novel by Peter Watts. Very imaginative, kind of frightening, and some exceedingly neuroatypical characters.
Highly recommended.
Yes!! Im currently reading it man thats a good book. Its such a mindfuck to convive in your brain how the Scramblers work.
People with cortical-blindness can also catch stuff thrown to them… but don't go throwing stuff at blind people.
Aww, it sounded like FUN. Til you said 'dont'! Lol! 😉
@@mystfaex8794 The "don't" makes me want it even more...
@@cherubin7th lol!! See ya at The Braille Institute'! We'll have some fun! 🤗
It's called....
*_the FORCE._*
Who needs Darkvision when you can get Blindsight?
Yeah, wait is this how rogues get blindsight?
This reminds me of that guy who could clearly see, but his brain wasn't able to connect the lines to separate objects or humans.
He just learned to recognize line patterns by heart.
Have a link to that?
@@ArawnOfAnnwn Eh, I saw it somewhere during one of my classes 2 years ago... So I'm going to have to look it up. But I can try
@Leen If you dump him in the middle of Madame Tussauds it might work. However, he off course might reason that it's weird the humans aren't moving.
@@ArawnOfAnnwn if I recall, it or someting like it is mentioned in Oliver Sacks' "an anthropologist on Mars," which is not fiction.
Do you remember the name of this case ? Or the diagnosis ?
Well, that was an unsettling statement to end on. Thanks Britt!
Britt is the best! Perfect delivery of a good content.
Conscious thought is a relatively slow process and many experiments seems to indicate our brain already made the decision before the individual is aware of it. One analogy is that if your mind were a car consciousness is not the driver the one making the decisions, it is the kid with a toy wheel pretending to be the driver. For the reason for its role it might be important for socialization or maybe learning. When you are learning a new task or skill you need to think on every step but when you already mastered it you can do everything much faster without even thinking about it. In fact, thinking about it slows you down.
Going blind is one of my biggest fears
I would prefer to go blind to going deaf. Having had like 20/500 uncorrected vision since preschool, relying on senses other than sight is far easier to adapt to than being unable to hear anything.
I see your point
Dementia is the worst
@@NotHPotter But you've got used to doing that, hence it doesn't seem as scary to you. Do you think someone with severely compromised hearing might say the opposite i.e. that they'd prefer to lose all their remaining hearing to losing their still intact sight, as they've gotten used to world with little sound?
@@ArawnOfAnnwn I'd contend that deafness would be worse overall. Sound plays a huge role in shaping our understanding of environment in very subtle ways.
I had a weird episode when I was three where I thought I was blind for a few minutes and started to freak out. I stumbled downstairs with my hands out feeling my way and stumbled over shoes by the front door. I was screaming and crying that I couldn't see but I could. I just thought and acted like I couldn't and it was really scary. I have no idea why this happened but this video reminds me of that.
2:17 TN didn't have blindsight, the patient just has ultra instinct
No way, TN is the guy they send in to stall for time until Piccolo, Goku, or Vegeta arrive.
@@OtakuUnitedStudio Even more badass
Remember when TN kicked Cell's ass that one time?
TN has the Peter Tingle
No animals were harmed in the making of ...... Nevermind.
Now I’m remembering when Spongebob could only drive while blindfolded
So if a person with blindsight sees something scary, like say a threatening dog, would they feel fear without knowing why they’re afraid? Because their amygdala is getting that fear signal?
An interesting question. My best guess would be yes, based on the description of the pathways in the brain this video covered.
AFAIK not. I don't remember having read or heard of them seeing something scary, but I recall having read something along the lines that they'll "see" someone sed, and then "know" they're sad, and respond accordingly, asking why they're sad or whatever, which is an empathic emotional response that they are aware of. The person doesn't know how they know, as in their POV they're completely blind, they just "feel" it, probably initially thinking it was just some "sixth sense" or some other reason.
I can't remember the research I read in detail, but yes, as long as the pathways to and from the thalamus are intact.
My uneducated guess would be probably not. It's probably a more primitive or instinctual part that evolved before we could properly analyze things with our big brain. Just "walk there to food" or "run away from predator". Simplified pattern recognition.
So we'd be able to recognize some things but not too much. Maybe the face of a predator would trigger something though.
My first answer to this comment was based on misreading it as "would they feel fear without knowing -why- they’re afraid." Now realizing there's a "why" there, then I'd change it to "likely yes," even though the rest of my original comment still kind of supports this answer, ironically.
0:32, I completely misheard when you said “rhesus monkey” - I thought you said “racist monkey” so I was wondering how on earth they found out it was racist 😂😂
The creep deserved it !
Same 🤣
You’re pretty dumb mate.
Christel Headington it’s called ‘double speak’ the English language is drenched in linguistic phonetic, and semantic multiple meaning and sound like how ‘double speak’ is actually saying ‘devil speak’... it’s apart of how we are mind controlled...all the world elite, wealthy people in positions of power and authority and all the famous music recording artist know about it and use it in their music... I’ll give you an example the word “for” is also the number “four” or the word “no” is also SPELLED “know” the word “one” is also “won” the word “eyes” is also “ass” or the word “come” is also “cum” the word “development” has the word “DEVEL” as its first FOUR LETTERS... the word “analysis” is phonetic to ANAL CYST(CIST)... there’s a million and one examples I could give you... but basically language and alphabets(scripture/writing) is essentially black magic, because once someone gets indoctrinated into the WORD OF GOD, a demon is summoned and POSSESSES (pose ass is) your self/mind (as the ego/I am/self) and the individual loses the ability to sense reality, basically becomes able to be mind controlled, all human suffering and war and evil in the world can be attributed to ALPHABETS, because you can’t tell a soldier for the US to go to the Middle East and blow up a whole innocent family if that man can’t hear or understand the words coming out of the bosses mouth... the serpent in the garden of eden is the human tongue... how could something so simple as “go kill them” be so powerful?
@@camerontaylor7471 ikr
well. I didn't need THAT question on my mind at the end there lol
This made me think of the way Molly Burke responds to visual cues so well during conversation despite not being able to "see" them.
This one time I was walking down a street when a random guy in a group simulated an uppercut to my chin. Now, I may have some V1 damage from a brick to the back of my head when I was a kid, as although I can see, I usually get around "on autopilot" - no memory forms about what I've seen, and I can't actively identify places or people in a crowd when this happens. What happened is that I caught his guy's fist in my hand without putting any conscious effort into it, but my vision was pretty much on standby.
I haven't had this area investigated yet. I mean, it's not causing me much trouble - I just come up as awkward, so I'm not sure I'd be able to convince a doctor to give me an MRI to check if anything shows up over there.
Radu Cristescu find out what’s going on! You might learn a thing or two
Yeah, it can never hurt to know more.
This makes that stat in D&D make a lot more sense
The human body truly is amazing. I loved learning biology in college.
Many times, when something falls on my peripheral vision, I grab it way before consciously knowing what is happening.
A man hasn’t been able to see since New Years
He doesn’t have 20/20 vision
Off the wall, but a genuine experience...
I can "see" (occasionally) when my eyes are closed. Not clear vision, more shadowy,. Dark on dark, really. But I've been able to lay my hands on things in the dark or with my eyes closed for years...
But not when I'm blindfolded.
So it would seem I'm seeing through my eyelids? I often wondered...
Yeah you can see through your eyelids
5:31 I think there's a previous draft of the scipt lefto-over in the subtitles or something XD
most people were blissfully unaware of this.
I like this host a lot :-)
This was so well presented, I didn’t even miss Hank! 😋
Great job, ma’am!
Makes me wonder if this has anything to do with why sometimes I hear someone say something, blurt out what and then get what they say and even sometimes respond while they are resaying. I don't understand what they say but my subconscious hears the entire thing or enough to get what i was just told?
That happens to me as well, also to my husband. I think this is a common thing. I've never looked into it but I'd be curious to know if their are studies on it. Probably has to do with processing time in the brain when something isnt super easy to hear
Happens frequently to me as well. Best explanation I could figure is that you remember what is basically an audio file- exactly the way it was said with their voice and everything- and are still processing that even when you've already given up and asked them to repeat. I've learned to just cock my head and think about it that extra few seconds before giving up. Seems to help quite a bit just to give yourself a little more time before the "what?"
In some cases, patients with aphasia can show up at their appointment, say "hello" and then not be able to even repeat it after they doctor told them so. That's because of the neural networks of memory and what we call "schemes". There is an association between "entering a room", "seeing someone" and "introducing ourself" because we repeated this scenario enough times. So that's an automatism. However if the patient has to repeat the same word, sometimes he isn't able to because his working memory (or another function in the brain), which is sometimes seen as a form of consciousness itself (an "active" one), is broken.
I am one with the force.
The force is one with me.
I am one with the force.
The force is one with me...
Really appreciated the video. Thanks for posting! I am pretty sure my class enjoyed it too!
Finally, a scientific explanation for Daredevil's power 👍
I'm pretty sure I've had my own experience with blindsight just a few months ago. I was wearing a crappy eyepatch, one that didn't completely occlude my entire right eye's field of vision, and in low-light conditions, I could swear I was still seeing in binocular vision, like my brain was filling in the information in my reduced field of view. It felt pretty weird, but it was awesomely fascinating.
Subconscious signaling would be a good explanation for being able to react to traffic, pedestrians, debris, etc. while driving. It is impossible to consciously scan every movement. I think experienced drivers are generally better drivers because we've learned to trust these reactions.
In case someone else comes here now, 3 years into the future from this video, re: this person’s comment that “experienced drivers have better reactions while driving”; I don’t disagree with you, but here’s something interesting… someone I know very recently had driving school to obtain their license. Their instructor told the class that because they had been a passenger for years, they already learned how to drive from observation. It’s an interesting theory. Although for brand new drivers, this probably only applies for those who’ve actually been observing, and not for those who never pay attention (i.e.: only ever looking at their cellphones, for example).
I really like that last part. I think consciousness is just a by product or accident that happened to be very helpful.
This would explain a lot. I'm legally blind (not totally blind), but I can often function like a sighted person. In fact most acquaintances don't even know I'm blind. But when I'm in a chaotic or destressing situation, I become a lot less functional.
The examples you gave were mainly about brain damage. Wonder if the possibility of blindsight changes if only the eyes or retina are damaged.
This is strange but really interesting!
Great book!
Ugh poor Helen :(
Well, I couldn't do it. I was born blind and was given minimal sight after 3 operations.
I "saw" with my hands and ears and via another "sense" that I can't describe and I'm not talking about ESP. I mean something different. I just don't have the right words tp describe it.
That's what I'm talking about: what she described with that monkey but I never would have called it blind sight. It's more like a sensation around your energy field. It's like being hypersensitive in all your other senses because one is missing so the others need to make up for it.
That ending though .... what a clif hanger
Funny, I watched an interesting episode of Vsauce this morning about the correlation of deja vu and blindsight.
This was SO interesting! Thank you! :)
I visited a friend in hospital who was suffering from a brain abscess. It had caused him to lose vision of everything on the left side of his field of view. We walked down a corridor when a couple of people approached us from the opposite direction. My friend moved aside to allow the couple to pass. He then told me that he had not heard or seen them approaching - they were in the blind part of his field of view. But somehow he just knew they were there... Fortunately the abscess has now been cured and he has fully recovered his lost vision.
Somewhat related: Blindsight by Peter Watts is an amazing book. Tackles a lot of issues relating to how we model the world.
its very similar, scramblers in the book are basically those with blindsight
I wonder if blindsight is consistent with single cell theories of consciousness. In particular, Steven Sevush (neuroscientist) wrote "Single-neuron theory of consciousness" discusses "verbally reportable (VR) consciousness" such that certain conscious areas of the brain which process certain information might feed VR conscious areas for example.
There are also collicular pathways that bypass LGN.
I noticed a few years ago in rush hour traffic, I would change lanes w/o being aware of consciously doing so and when I checked, it was usually the right choice based on cars slowing or turning from the lane I was just in.
Defining the easy and hard problems of conciousness and then clarifying which you mean in various circumstances might make things more clear. Since both variations are used interchangeably, and that can get confusing.
I hope you'll make an episode about blindness caused by psychological trauma or stress... if that's even a real thing, though I'm quite sure it is. I heard about it in a game (Yakuza 0 if anyone's interested) and one of the characters had this kind of condition but then was actually able to recover her sight in the end. Saw some articles about this as well. Anyway, would be a cool topic for a future vid imo!
I have blindsight to my feelings.
Alexithemia
Is this how im able to drive home safely while having vivid daydreams?
Or is that the way the mind normally runs but spikes in awareness while doing something mundane make it seem like day dreaming?
Or like when driving and you don't remember part of the drive despite contending with stop lights, signs, railroad crossings, or even needing to turn. Which always freaks me out.
@@angelcdeath no, i have full waking dreams. Its like watching a movie, i stop seeing whats really in front of me(or my mind is not recording my physical sight into memory) and i only remember the daydream until it fades like a normal dream. I arrive home safe and sound like a cutaway in tv/films. Its very unsettling! I always think 'how did i not hit anything/anyone!?'
Meant that as a little joke. I know what you mean. Driving specifically. As a chronic day dreamer sometimes I wonder how often people (myself included) aren't just running on "auto pilot" as its been referred to. Some are just more vivid than others I think.
"...first person to _observe_ blindsight."
Really awesome video!
On an unrelated note, what is the significance of that latitude and longitude you have tattooed on your arm, unless I'm being too nosy, in which case disregard the question.
Wow amazing:0!!!🤯
Well you can "feel" someone staring at you, or sneaking up behind you.I have felt a slight air movement out of my line of sight. Could it work when you pass a still object while moving ?
Christel Headington are you referring to soundwaves as air movement?
@@naveej No, more like a tiny breeze.
I could imagine senses working in concert (like proprioception) could do something like echolocation, like you're talking about with air movement.
The feeling of "being watched" almost certainly is purely down to anxiety, context, the lack of awareness of the context by the subject, and the unconscious signaling that the subject is performing that draws attention to them.
Simply, people tend to look at other people, and when you're around people it's going to happen. All the other times you look back to not see someone staring at you get discounted and forgotten due to perceptive bias. The more you look around, the more you are likely to find someone looking at you, and if you're doing that, you're probably a lot more likely to have anxiety and be self conscious about being watched.
In China and India, this being common knowledge for thousands of years. In the year 1812 in Mexico, Coronel Jose Perdiz reported that his granddaughters were playing blindsight instructed by a teacher. He states that his granddaughters couldn't run around completely blindfolded without having any kind of accident. Today, UK and Mexico are the most advanced teaching this skill to kids. You don't have to have brain damage to activate this skill.
This reminds me a book by Saramago.
Could it be that the V1 area is not involved directly with the process of vision instead it is what allows you to remember what you see. So if damage occurs to that region vision would remain unimpaired, we just would forget what we saw as we were seeing it.
Blindsight = Tingling of the Spidy Sense.
It'd be a great idea for a story about a blind psychic...
**Insert the overused mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell joke*
I bet one's fight or flight instincts are tied to this ability. could explain why any time I've attempted to spar I've found myself suddenly five feet away before I can even realize what I'm doing.
Just when I'm reading the novel Blindness by Saramago
Wow fascinating subject. I wonder if echolocation is in any way related to this area
There are two types of people, those who can't stand the idea of unconscious mental processes controlling their behavior throughout their lives, and those who embrace their unconscious like an old friend.
Sometimes I'll do things without thinking like reach for something I thought was there then when I look I feel blind because I put things in places so I don't have to look or think about it so when something is out of place or I reorganize I find it difficult to see what's there mostly because it's so dense and so many layers. Other times I'll look so quick I either feel like I guessed without actually seeing anything or I don't realize I didn't actually look long enough and think I didn't see anything.
I guess it's not too surprising, the eye and brain evolved step by step and it's logical that there were stages were animals would just automatically or instinctively respond to visual stimuli in a more primitive manner. I makes sense that there are levels. And what we perceive as vision is just the upper one where we can analyze what we see for complex thoughts and planning.
"We all have *unconscious* processing going on all the time..."
"It seem odd to you that there are parts of your brain guiding you *subconsciously*..."
I've never been clear on this. Are 'unconscious' and 'subconscious' interchangeable? Do they have different meanings, but both apply here? What's the deal?
Petiton to rename Blindsight Daredevil Syndrome
This reminds me a lot of my experiences with a macaw I worked with while interning at a marine mammal facility. Even though she was in familiar places that she spent a lot of time in before she was blind, when I was training her or when I did something or something moved, she responded like the birds we had who were not blind. It made me really question if she was but this video shed some light for me that I figured what happening, and what I tried to tell my supervisor. Can you offer any further explanation for me, now that I've had this aha moment I'm really curious!!
I wonder if this has something to do with visual snow syndrome too.
If they're reacting to suprises, it would be interesting to have them look at visual jumpscares to see if they can actually be scared by them. If so, would they know why? Would they just suddenly feel creeped out for apparently no reason?
This might explain what people call intuition or got feeling. It could be the receiving of sensory input with a lesser developed V1. Just a theory.
So even when people make guesses, there is some sort of subconscious logic and decision making going on
I'm guessing something happened about 300m off the west coast of Sunset Key, Key West, Florida.
Okay, what kind of jerk scientists blind a monkey or have a blind man walk down a hallway full of obstacles after telling him it’s clear?
I wonder if blind sightedness could explain why Stevie Wonder caught that mic stand.
I have a student who is supposed to be blind, in theory, but she reaches out and grabs things with more than 70% accuracy and can walk around without running into things, so long as, y'know, her eyes are open.
How can perception be possible without consciousness?
How about being consciously aware of automatic responses? I have had reflexes that I was aware of while they happened, not just after they happened.
That could also be your mind tricking itself. It takes around 150 milliseconds for a visual stimulus to be processed. When you're doing something that requires fast reactions, or happens at great speed, e.g. driving, your brain "fills in the gaps".
For example, when you're driving at 120 kph, 150 milliseconds is the time it takes to traverse 5 meters. When something unexpected happens, you don't really consciously notice that your brain "jumps" from predicted to actual reality, even though that's exactly what happens. You feel as though it's a single, logical continuum, despite your brain creating this cohesion after the fact. It is quite likely the same with your reflexes. They happen, your brain becomes aware of them, and then makes it seem like you were aware while it happened.
@@hititwithit Yeah, could very well be. That does not explain how I can trace my thoughts back to random queues to the subconscious. I was on a bus this Summer and a word I seldom used came into my head, when I realised it had flashed by on an advertising poster along the road. I can be quite aware of what happens in my subconscious, so I wonder what the actual occurence is.
@@TreespeakerOfTheLand Isn't that normal? It happens to me too, anyway. The opposite as well: knowing I know something, but being unable to explicitly retrieve it from memory: a tip-of-the-tongue experience.
I really want an answer to why we have consciousness
They all had over 50 Insight
I have an important question: what is written on her tatoo in the right arm? Seems lat/long coordinates? Or klingon?
Soooo...when you tell a blind person, they're now walking into a kitchen, do they automatically try and avoid things like stoves, tables and chairs etc?
so the monitor is damaged but the computer is still sending the signal like nothing happen so at least something is taking the info
i remember there are a exact opposite of this condition, where patient claim they can see but it's all made up by their brain
Can’t just leave us hanging. What’s it called?
got it, Anton-Babinski syndrome
I'm not sure which would make me saltier, being straight up blind, or being unable to consciously see. Like both suck, but for COMPLETELY different reason imo.
How close do they have to be, though?
my grannie had physically lost one of her eyes but she seemed to see in that area.
Is blindsight just that or is it an offshoot of active and passive echolocation that blind and visually impaired people use?
0:33 Please God tell me I'm not the only one who thought she said "racist monkey" and was briefly _extremely_ confused.
not sure if it's YT or SciShow censoring comments for no reason (my guess is SciShow), and it's quite deplorable
Okay can someone with blindsight do the same thing with a blindfold on? Or in the dark?
Poor Helen 😣😔
So, whatever Daredevil had?
So it only applies to people with broken V1 centres? Cool. Is there anymore research kn this topic?
We got dragon Ball fans... Guy named DB (Dragon Ball) and TN (Tien) with the 3rd eye. Really this sounds like a play on names ;)
Spoiler alert for The Traitor Baru Cormorant, but
At the end of the first book one side of her brain gets some kind of damage that causes similar symptoms - she can't see out that eye anymore, but she responds to visual cues on that side repeatedly in the second book.
Literally did this to myself. Had 20/80 vision at 12 and never wore glasses. 20/20 vision now because I learned to adjust it.
damn, I hope DB sued the people who performed his surgery
"No one knows what makes us conscious, or why we experience life instead of just going through the motions like a robot."
Hahah, SciShow has the best jokes