When you buy through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Although blind people can not see , they often still own the brain regions that enable visual sense . Does this mean that unreasoning masses can woolgather in optical images ?
In some cases , they can . A2014 studyfound that the great unwashed who were not carry unreasoning but had suffer their visual modality subsequently in liveliness sometimes cover ocular experience in their dreams . These dream probably drew from computer memory from when they still had visual sense . However , the earlier a person had lost their vision in living , and the longer they were blind , the less potential they were to see images in dreams , the study noted .
When blind people dream, do images appear in their minds?
" A person unsighted at age 7 or before who has been unreasoning for , say , 20 years , lose virtually all visual experience in their dreams , " study co - authorMaurice Ptito , a visual neuroscientist at the University of Montreal , tell Live Science .
When it comes to people who are congenitally blind — those born without vision — " dreams tend to rely more heavily on other senses such as hearing , touch , taste and smell,“Monica Gori , a cognitive neuroscientist at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa , told Live Science .
Most studies evoke visual experience are generally absent in the dreams of those who are unreasoning from nascency . " However , there are a few aspiration subject that have challenged this notion,“Ivana Rosenzweig , point of the Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre at King ’s College London , say Live Science .
When blind people dream, do images appear in their minds?
relate : Why ca n’t we remember our dreams ?
For instance , a 2003 study in the journalTrends in Cognitive Sciencesreported that people with inborn cecity who were scanned with electrode on their scalp as they sleep had evidence of brain wave associated with vision . A2023 studyfrom Rosenzweig and her fellow worker , which analyzed 180 dreams of seven congenitally blind people , also found reports of vision - like descriptions .
" What we regain most surprising and exciting about the possibility that congenitally blind individuals might dream in visual images is the idea that dreams could provide entree to experiences that these individuals have never find in their arouse lives,“Helene Vitali , a cognitive neuroscientist at the Italian Institute of Technology , evidence Live Science .
However , although activity may happen in the visual cortex of blind people ’s brain as they dream , that does not needfully mean they see images as they sleep , Ptito said .
" In the congenitally blind , the visual cortex has been recruited for other functions , " Ptito said . For instance , " with unsighted people who can take Braille , if you excite their visual cortex , they feel whiz in their finger’s breadth . The ocular cortex does not stop work in blind people — it gets reassigned . "
Ptito noted that " we ’ve had unsighted masses in fMRI [ useable charismatic resonance imaging ] scanners and send aroma to their nose while taking scene of their brains , and found this data goes to their ocular cortex . " The same hold dependable with auditory and touch sense datum , he lend .
Although Ptito argued that activity in the visual cortex does not mean that blind mass see pictures during dreams , Vitali evoke other possibility . One is that the brain ’s visual system may mold abstract concepts from a unsighted person ’s gumption that might be represented in a visual elbow room for them . Another is that " REM sleep move like a virtual reality simulator , helping the brain develop and maintain complex abilities like perception and motor skills , " she said . This could mean blind people ’s brain could generate images within dream even if they could never have such experience when they are alive .
One key problem with investigating whether congenitally unreasoning people dream in images is that , even if they do see mental picture , they have no experience connect them to what sighted people report as vision , Christopher Baird , an associate professor of physical science at West Texas A&M University , explain in ablog post .
— Why do babies rub their eye when they ’re tired ?
— Why does n’t your vision ' go dark ' when you blink ?
— Can carrots give you night imagination ?
To help address this problem , Gori and her colleagues are now exploring how unsighted people construct and experience dream image . " The consequence are currently being finalized and will be available shortly , " she said . Ptito also noted thatartificial intelligencemay one day analyze brain scan of blind people as they daydream to avail see how similar their brainpower activity is to what sighted soul experience .
One possible coating of this inquiry is the potential to rein in dreams as a rehabilitative tool , Vitali said .
" There is evidence that dreaming about sealed labor or experiences can enhance store and eruditeness , " Vitali state . This hint " targeting the dream state through sensory stimulation during sleep could avail reinforce specific abilities , such as spatial awareness . " This may provide a new way to help people with blindness , as " unsighted individuals often face challenges in developing spatial mapping and perform complex spatial tasks , " she noted .
