Blindsight: A Case Study and Implications
L. Weiskrantz
Abstract
Damage to a particular area of the brain — the neocortex — is generally understood to result in blindness. Studies of some patients who have suffered from this form of blindness have nevertheless revealed that they can, in fact, discriminate certain types of visual events within their ‘blind’ fields without being aware that they can do so: they think they are only ‘guessing’. This phenomenon has been termed ‘blindsight’ by the author of this book and his collaborators who were among the first to describe it. It continues to attract considerable interest among neuroscientists, psychologists, an ... More
Damage to a particular area of the brain — the neocortex — is generally understood to result in blindness. Studies of some patients who have suffered from this form of blindness have nevertheless revealed that they can, in fact, discriminate certain types of visual events within their ‘blind’ fields without being aware that they can do so: they think they are only ‘guessing’. This phenomenon has been termed ‘blindsight’ by the author of this book and his collaborators who were among the first to describe it. It continues to attract considerable interest among neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who see possible implications for theories of perception and consciousness. This book gives an account of the research into a particular case of blindsight, together with a discussion of the historical and neurological background. The empirical findings are followed by a review of other cases reported by other investigators, in which there is a dysjunction between clinical assessment of blindness and unexpected findings of residual function. Finally, a number of theoretical and practical issues and implications are discussed. This reissued version of the text includes a new Introduction summarizing some of the advances that have taken place in the field since the book was first published in 1986.
Keywords:
visual detection,
visual acuity,
movement discrimination,
form discrimination,
stray light,
neocortex,
response criteria,
colour,
natural blind spot,
neural pathways,
commentary system
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 1990 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198521921 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2008 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198521921.001.0001 |
