Neuro/bio/psychology
Blindness
Dreams of people who were blind from birth were found to include a high rate of olfactory, gustatory and tactile references, but no visual imagery and no processing in the visual cortex 20.
And yet, in 1996, a study verified blood flow in the visual cortex of blind people, while they where reading Braille 21.
"In blind people, some parts of the brain that would otherwise process visual images might be reorganized to process auditory messages." - Helen J. Neville 22
In another recent study, blind people who lost their sight at an early age were able to hear differences in tones more accurately than sighted people or those who lost their sight later 23. It might be argued that, once vision is missing, the focus shifts to the remaining senses.
Humans are blind during saccades and during eye blink 24. This does not only apply to visual perception in general, but also to the notification of change: changes in our surroundings (or an image presented) are hardly perceived when they happen during a saccade or a blink 25 26.
The sensory apparatus
In the development of mankind and many other species, vision has evolved to become the primary and most dominant of all senses.
The senses are known to influence their mutual perception; thus the presentation of a meal can have an influence on the perception of its taste, as can the appearance of a surface on our tactile sensation of it - an influence with possible evolutionary effects. A recent study has shown that the sense of smell in two separated primate lineages deteriorated once tri-colour vision had evolved in the species. 27.
The McGurk effect 28 is a studied example of how vision can be influenced by integrating other senses: a video shows a man mouthing the syllables 'ga, ga, ga', but the sound played with the video footage is of someone saying 'ba, ba, ba'. According to the researchers however, 98% of adults perceive a 'da, da, da' 29 - a mixture of what they saw and heard. Without seeing the video, the perception of 'ba, ba, ba' is clear.
Imagination
Sizeable research has been carried out in the area of mental imagery – quasi-visual representations in our mind. Theories of Kosslyn and others propose models for the mental image, a ‘spatial medium’ 30 that is induced through memory, external stimuli and imagination. It has been suggested that 'visual mental imagery is a function of the visual association cortex' 31.
Humans instinctively conjure up images when they cannot see – and if the eyes are closed, these mental images are based only on knowledge and the remaining senses. It has also been shown that only the imagination of body movements 32 can have physiological effects.
Moment of opening the eyes
There is a moment of special character that worth mentioning: it is the moment of opening the eyes - because the mental image is 'synchronized' with the actual situation, it is often accompanied by a sense of surprise.
Movies, literature and comics
Alfred Hitchcock, who became famous as the ‘master of suspense’ 33, however, wisely used imagination. A big portion of his work is based upon not showing the critical pictures, leaving dedicated room for the imagination.
"There is no such thing as silence. Something is always happening that makes a sound." - John Cage
As Scott McCloud 3 pointed out, most of the action while reading a comic book happens in the reader’s head; the panels give an idea of what is happening, but the action takes place when the panels are mentally connected.
Blood in the gutter
