Scientists Say We Can See Sound

[Dover]

Turning conventional neuroscience on its head, new research suggests the human visual system processes sound and helps us see.

Here's the basics of what was Neuroscience 101: The auditory system records sound, while the visual system focuses, well, on the visuals, and never do they meet. Instead, a "higher cognitive" producer, like the brain's superior colliculus, uses these separate inputs to create our cinematic experiences.

The textbook rewrite: The brain can, if it must, directly use sound to see and light to hear.
The study was published last week in the journal BMC Neuroscience.


Researchers trained monkeys to locate a light flashed on a screen. When the light was very bright, they easily found it; when it was dim, it took a long time. But if a dim light made a brief sound, the monkeys found it in no time — too quickly, in fact, than can be explained by the old theories.

Recordings from 49 neurons responsible for the earliest stages of visual processing, researchers found activation that mirrored the behavior. That is, when the sound was played, the neurons reacted as if there had been a stronger light, at a speed that can only be explained by a direct connection between the ear and eye brain regions, said researcher Ye Wang of the University of Texas in Houston.

The study presents the first evidence that a sensory cell can process an alternative sensation, said head researcher Pascal Barone of the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France, who discovered a contender for the anatomical connection in 2002.

..cont'd

http://www.livescience.com/health/080818-seeing-sound.html

[patrice]

1. Bookmarking for later. Thanks MUCH!

[Beregond2]

2. All of which supports Kant's idea that we can never experience

reality directly, but only a construct created by our minds. The "thing in itself" is always unknown.

[Greyskye]

3. amazing compensation abilities

I remember a video posted a number of months ago about this teenage blind boy who could 'see' his surroundings based on sound. He was interviewed by a TV reporter who was walking with him down a sidewalk. The kid was telling him about the obstacles they were coming across ("hey, there's a trashcan tipped across the sidewalk up ahead"), cars parked on the road next to the sidewalk, etc. He could also play video games by sound. :wow: Maybe this helps to explain his ability. :shrug:

Edit: Here's the video link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/318066/blind_boy_that_sees_using_sounds_like_dolphins/

[FiveGoodMen]

5. How was he at pinball?

[Greyskye]

6. he kicks ass at Foosball

"He's a Foosball wizard, has to be a trick..."

[lazyriver]

4. Old news to any of us who've experimented with certain

recreational chemicals. "Seeing sound" is pretty common when speaking with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I watched the speakers at Dead shows pump out all kinds of colored waves in the late 80's and early 90's. :hippie:

[syncinlight]

7. Fascinating...

and it leaves me to wonder if the opposite could be possible.

As we all know, deaf people can do amazing things. Wondering if the vibrations from sound can produce visual response in the brain or a reaction to the senses producing "feelings" such as calm, fear, etc. What does the article mean by deaf people having "superlight?"

After watching the video link provided in another message one can see how this can be true, amazing kid.

Thanks for the article link :hippie:

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. The flashes of explosions on TV drive me crazy because there is a very high pitched

almost whistle-like sound that goes with it. It's hard to explain but I sorta hear/feel it when it happens.

This probably doesn't tie into the article up there, but I did want to complain about that weird sound/feeling I get from those quick bright times on TV. Most people think I am crazy when I talk about it. :(

[FiveGoodMen]

9. I think you're hearing real sound in that case.

At least if you have an old-style, picture tube TV. High frequency noise from the fly-back transformer probably gets louder when the electron gun is going full-blast for all but the retrace intervals.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Yeah, I think that must be the case