Can superblindsight come true ？！

Completely blind man shows 'blindsight' by navigating obstacle course
by Rich Bowden - Dec 23 2008, 02:23

A completely blind man has amazed researchers by successfully navigating a simple obstacle course without the assistance of a blind aid such as a cane.

Known only as TN, the man was completely blinded after he suffered damage from strokes yet despite lacking any vision -- a fact confirmed by brain scans -- he continues to react to such things as changes in people's facial expressions.

Known as "blindsight", TN is able to detect people and obstacles in his close environment using intuition instead of sight.

To prove the existence of the phenomena, scientists at the Harvard Medical School, US, and the University of Tilberg in the Netherlands, constructed a simple obstacle course which TN was able to navigate "flawlessly" according to the scientists.

The subject was "not aware of doing anything exceptional" according to lead researcher Dr Beatrice de Gelder of Tilburg University and believed he had only walked straight ahead along a long corridor.

"You can experience a total loss of your cortical vision but still retain some capacity to move around inside and out without damage to yourself," she told the BBC.

"It shows us the importance of these evolutionary ancient visual paths. They contribute more than we think they do for us to function in the real world."

Experts believe "blindsight" is the manifestation of a subconscious ability human beings have to recognise things in our environment despite not being able to see them.
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神奇盲視力 障礙群自在遊走

〔編譯張沛元／綜合報導〕一名因腦部受損以致全盲的男子，已成功地在不靠柺杖輔助的情況下通過障礙訓練，不但令科學家嘖嘖稱奇，也展現神奇的「盲視」（blindsight）能力。這是科學界首度研究這種人類能力，或將有助於腦部受損病患的治療。

盲視︰盲人偵測看不見之物的能力

英美各大媒體二十三日報導，這名被稱為「ＴＮ」、因腦中風以致腦部控制視力的區域無法活動而失明的男子，平常倚賴柺杖來偵測障礙物，穿梭於建築物時則需要旁人導引，但他以展現盲視—盲人能夠偵測到他們看不見的東西的神奇能力—聞名。例如，他能對其他人的面部表情有所反應，而腦部掃描證實這是喜悅、憤怒與恐懼等面部情緒。

如今，ＴＮ又證明他具有更驚人的能力—雖然看不見，卻能遊走於障礙群之間。科學家安排一場障礙訓練實驗，將許多箱子與椅子隨意散置於房間各處，然後要求ＴＮ不使用柺杖，從房間這一頭走到另一頭。結果，ＴＮ不但順利通過障礙訓練，而且沒有撞倒任何東西。盲視據信來自潛意識層次的原始視覺路徑；一個人即使在意識層次看不見，但大腦在意識層次之下，也許仍能對視覺刺激有所反應。

因此，ＴＮ的驚人盲視力，可被解釋為是靠這些另類的腦部視覺路徑，來處理透過眼睛（ＴＮ雙眼的功能仍在）所接收到的資訊，而他便是靠這些資訊遊走於障礙物間，即使他本人並不知道自己還能「看」。

該研究負責人荷蘭提堡大學教授蓋爾德說，這是科學界首度研究這種人類能力，即使看不到或刻意避開障礙，人類卻不會撞到障礙物。蓋爾德說，這顯示演化中的原始視覺路徑的重要性，其貢獻遠比吾人所想像的還大。蓋爾德還說，該研究或許有助於腦部受損病患的治療。