Blind man amazes scientists with his ability to detect objects he cannot see

Blind man amazes scientists with his ability to detect objects he cannot see

www.guardian.co.uk

A man who was left completely blind by a series of strokes has delighted scientists by negotiating a maze of obstacles without using his cane.

The man, known only as TN, walked around chairs and boxes without knocking into them in an extraordinary demonstration of "blindsight", a strange ability some blind people have to detect objects they cannot see.

(visit the link for the full news article)

An intersting article I stumbled upon. Is it some sort of "sixth sense"?
I thought the blind man could be lying and be partially blind, or to see shapes - can scientists find out the exact level of blindness?
Maybe someone who has lived with a blind person have witnessed anything?
We are only scratching the surface of our brain powers, I wish to live long enough to witness many of our hidden capabilities

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by TheOracle


WOW. Thats amazing. There has to be so much more to our brains than what we do with it.

It kind of reminded me of something on tv about this blind guy who used depth in drawing a building. All he did was feel the building and recreated it on paper.

[edit on 29-12-2008 by lucidclouds]

I think it is a hyper sensitive version of the ability most of us have to sense the presence of say, somebody standing behind us. In other words, the ability is probably based on sound and/or vibrations.

It's not unusual for blind people to use sound for navigation. One blind guy actually teaches others how to do it and he is so good that he can ride a bike.

[Edit] Echolocation that is

[edit on 29/12/2008 by PsykoOps]