How blind people dream?
By rashima
@rashima (72)
India
July 2, 2011 9:38pm CST
I think we dream with the visuals that has become a memory in the subconscious. Then what a blind person sees while dreaming?
2 responses
@GemmaR (8517)
•
3 Jul 11
Our dreams are simply a random arrangement of anything that we might have sensed recently. For people who can see, this involves images, however for people who cannot it might just include sounds that they have heard. Some blind people can sense light changes and some movements in front of their eyes, and these may also be included in their dreams. For the majority though, it would just be sounds; however they would know to whom each of the voices would belong, so they could have just as much fun dreaming as those who could see.
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
3 Jul 11
If they have been blind their entire life, then they do not "see" dreams, rather they would sense them in other ways, mostly feeling. Blind people still sense light, so they would probably see changes in light in some parts of their dreams. They would feel braille and doorknobs and people, etc.
People who have gone blind later in life do sometimes see visuals in their dreams.
Sighted people do not only dream with visuals. We also feel and sometimes taste and smell things too.
Dreams work the exact same parts of the brain as are worked in the waking life. This is why we are paralyzed in our sleep, so that we do not act them out. So just as dreams for sighted people are similar to our waking lives, so are dreams for blind people.
Interestingly enough, blind people still experience REM or rapid eye movement, which actually doesn't have anything to do with seeing at all.