The man, who has completely lost his sight, overcame the obstacle course. And he never stumbled
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Researchers, who described their amazing observations in the latest issue of the scientific journal Current Biology, assure that such abilities have never been recorded in humans before. In science, only the case of a blind monkey is described, which in some mysterious way navigated the terrain.
Beatrice de Gelder, an employee of the University of Tilburg and Harvard Medical School (Tilburg University, The Netherlands, and Harvard Medical School, US), spoke about her patient - a certain "TN". He went blind after two strokes that affected the visual cortex in both hemispheres.
As a result, the man was deprived of the ability to process visual information. And the tomography of the brain confirmed this - the nerve cells responsible for the translation of visual images did not show any activity.
The situation is about the same as if you were transferring the image from the camcorder to the screen of the turned off TV.
Nevertheless, this very "TN" learned to see something. But how - scientists still cannot understand.
The brain includes reserves
In the experiments, "TN" was asked to walk along a 15-meter corridor set with various obstacles. And he passed without bumping into them.
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Some blind people know how to orientate by sound. However, the patient walked in complete silence.
- He walked very quickly - much faster than we expected, avoiding obstacles without hesitation and hesitation, - Dr. de Gelder is surprised.
There is an assumption that the brain of "TN" was somehow rebuilt. And he began to use other areas located below the affected areas for processing visual information.
By analogy with a TV - instead of a good, but not working, another appeared. Let it be small, of poor quality, but still allowing at least something to see.
The experiments are encouraging. Because they give a chance to people with similar ailments. If one has "received his sight", then it is possible that the other will be able to learn the same.
“Once again we have seen that the brain is full of unsolved mysteries,” says Beatrice.