That the Blind May See: A Review Of Blindsight and Its Implications for Optometrists (1999)
BibTeX
@MISC{Alsterlund99thatthe,
author = {Les Alsterlund and Dominick Maino},
title = {That the Blind May See: A Review Of Blindsight and Its Implications for Optometrists},
year = {1999}
}
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Abstract
Can the blind see? Blindsight is residual visual capacity in a field defect secondary to damaged striate cortex without conscious awareness. This phenomenon was discovered when patients with this form of field loss were given forced-choice testing. Although the subjects denied seeing anything, their accuracy was much better than one would achieve by chance. This paper reviews the different residual visual capacities, ex plores the neural pathways responsible for blindsight, and discuss the theories of how awareness occurs. This topic has implications for optom etry with respect to rehabilitation ofthe visually impaired and even man agement of our sighted patients. Key Words: blindsight, residual vision, ambient vision, consciousness, awareness. he k~ v1' tb m hi te as th sil th be fOJ so to tel ri~ so. ge Vo Can the blind see? The possibility that a blind person can see is counter-intuitive. How ever, there are some patients who have be come blind following damage to their striate cortex that have apparent residual vision in their blind field. These residual functions were not uncovered until researchers put sub jects under forced-choice testing conditions. Although denying having any sight, the sub jects consistently performed above chance in making visual discriminations. These hidden abilities included locating targets in the blind field using eye movements or pointing, detect ing stimulus orientation, discriminating wavelength, detecting flicker, and being able to determine the direction of motion. This strange phenomenon of visual function with-Correspondence regarding this article should
Keyphrases
blind field striate cortex hidden ability residual visual capacity blind person visual discrimination stimulus orientation different residual visual capacity th sil th forced-choice testing condition eye movement optom etry ge vo man agement sighted patient field defect ambient vision strange phenomenon neural pathway forced-choice testing residual vision sub jects tb hi te field loss key word conscious awareness apparent residual vision residual function visual function with-correspondence
