Vision and Blindsight Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Vision and BlindsightImplications Regarding instinctVision-- receiving and interpreting clear heads from the environment in order to form an image in ones mind-- is an improbably complex process. Somehow signals from photoreceptors located in the eye are reborn into the conscious experience of sight. Of all the aspects of vision, perhaps the most difficult for us to comprehend scientifically is this notion of brain. Somehow the brain interprets light waves hit the retina so that we are opthalmicly aware of our surroundings. While the mechanism of signal transduction from the photoreceptor through the visual cortex has been extensively elucidated, science has difficulty traffic with the phenomena of consciousness and awareness, especially on a reductionist level.A recent neurobiological approach to understanding consciousness, at least on a perceptual level, has involved the study of the phenomenon of devicesight. Damage to areas of the visual cortex a good deal result in complete or per centumial blindness. Although the eye itself is undamaged, patients news report an inability to detect any light input in part of (or the entire) visual field. However, experiments regularly show that somehow, visual cues are processed. Visual inputs presented to the blind field affect the patients response to stimulus in the normal visual field. Reaction times to stimuli are affected as well as the interpretation of the stimuli. A visual cues presented in the blind field may suggest a certain interpretation of an ambiguous stimuli. For example, the interpretation of the discussion bank, presented as an auditory cue, differs depending on whether the word river or capital is presented to the blind field, even though the patient does not... ...Linked%20Pages/Physiol/Cortex.html3) Visual Processing Streamshttp//mitpress.mit.edu/MITECS/ make believe/goodale_r.html4) Consciousness, Neurobiology ofhttp//mitpress.mit.edu/MITECS/work/koch_r.html5) Pattern of neuronal a ctivity associated with conscious and unconscious affect of visual signals, Sahraie, et al.http//www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/94/17/9406?terms=consciousness&searchqstr=tyear1997fyear1996fmonthNovtmonthNovtdatedef11+November+1997fdatedef12+November+1996hits10fulltextconsciousnesssenditSearch6) The Problem of Consciousness Crick and Kochhttp//www.unomaha.edu/spaige/crick-ko.htmblindsight7) Co nsciousnesshttp//www.duke.edu/kellogg/Classes/Mentation/Issue%201/Marchiano.htm8) On a astonishment About a Function of Consciousness. Block, Nedftp//ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/BBS/.WWW/bbs.block.html