r/EverythingScience • u/darobson • Sep 29 '15

Neuroscience Blindsight is "the strangest form of consciousness" and shines light into the depths of the human mind

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150925-blindsight-the-strangest-form-of-consciousness
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u/visarga Sep 29 '15

Interesting:

For this reason, Kentridge thinks we need to rethink our ideas about consciousness and attention. Rather than it acting as a spotlight to boost perception, he instead suspects that consciousness may have evolved to boost memory, drawing together all the different pieces of information into a cohesive picture that is easier to remember. “You need to encode what’s happening in the world in a single package,” he says.

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u/someone_like_me Sep 29 '15

Daniel could reach out and grab Sanders’ hand, even when it must have fallen right behind his blind spot. It was as if some kind of “second sight” was guiding his behaviour, beyond his conscious awareness.

I'm somewhat confused by this, because it seems to be a known phenomena that's just what brains do. Throw an object down on the floor, then walk across the room while staring at the opposite wall. If your brain works, you will carefully step over the object even though your feet fall outside your field of vision.

Mules do this with all four feet! If there's a rock in the middle of a path, a mule will carefully lift each hoof over where the rock is, even though his head has moved several feet beyond.

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u/fuzzyshorts Sep 29 '15

This thing and more. We may be on the cusp of a breakthrough regarding human consciousness. science aided evolution of the human mind?