I never have given this a thought, "Do blind people see in their dreams?". Just wondering if anyone knows the answer to this question.

I really like this question. We just discussed it briefly in the chat room. It would be fantastic if people could ask anyone they know who is blind. I am realy curious now too.

I would think people who were not always blind would but as for people who were born blind i have no idea ?! Good question.

I hope this article helps:

http://psych.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/kerr_2004.html

Bottom line: People who are blind from birth, or beginning at an early enough age, apparently do not really report seeing things in their dreams. People who become blind after a certain age may well have and report visual content in their dreams.

The article addresses a tricky issue: blind people, like everyone else, are situated in three dimensional space, and they dream. In the same way that I can never visit inside your head, but must rely on what you tell me about what is going on in there, some dream reports from blind-since-birth dreamers "sound" like they are having visual experience in dreams.

What these authors think, however, is that these dreamers are reporting "three dimensional" spatial experience, not really visual exprience.

Extra credit tricky question: If someone were blind from birth, and had never seen anything in the world, but actually did have visual experience in dreams, then how would the blind person know whether that dream experience was visual or not?

I would think that, perhaps they would. Because would it not be easy to distinguish between total darkness and visual information? Then again, Im not sure how these things work ^ ^

could be that they do dream hearing things but see nothing

This topic does bring up more questions then answers, because if someone, thats been blind since birth can visually dream, then what would they dream of? How could they have a dream of, say walking down the road to get a ice cream, when they have never seen a road, an ice cream or anything for that matter. I know people would have most deviantly describe these things to them but with out actually having seen such things it would be pretty hard to visualize such things.


STIR

Agreed ^^

Great question....

Here's an academic paper on the topic ...dont have time to read it all so maybe someone can synopsise it.

http://psych.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/kerr_2004.html

Damn good question this Thread!!

I guess what a blind person could dream of is shapes - I mean they don't just sit in an armchair all their lives, they feel their way around. I suspect they must get some sort of impression what something might be like in shapes and sizes - colours however, are another matter, they wouldn't really know what a colour is like would they. Their hearing would be accute too as they are compensating their lack of eyesight with their hearing, so perhaps it would be shapes, sizes and noises. Perhaps they also feel things like pain, heat and cold in their dreams, because they would feel these things in real life after all.

It would be so good if a blind-since-birth person was to try and describe what they dream - I think it would enlightening to us all.

of course they can see in their dreams...and blindness doesnt mean that they cant see anything at all. some people are blind, but can see stuff. just not that great.

How would they know what anything "looked like" if they had been blind since birth, never having seen anything?

This doesn't apply, of course, to people that could see at the beginning but went blind later on.

It probably depends on the type of blindness. And it would have to apply to complete blindness. if its in the brain I doubt they would see anything. but if its jsut the eyes they must.

What about just imagining images, and not nessesarily dreaming of them? Like I can Imagine made up faces in my head or a chair or a dot of color... can people blind from birth do that? I mean any randoom shape... can they feel a shape with their hands and imagine what it looks like?

I'm guessing no, because that part of their brain would probably not develop properly.

Well, I know a "Blind since birth" person. I just don't think it would be nice to ask him. I installed a weather station August this year. What do you guys think?

Do you know him well enough to have a good old conversation with him? Perhaps you thinking it would not be nice to ask is just your own fear as to what he might reply with - telling you off for asking in the first place, sort of thing

On the other hand, he may not mind at all, especially if you mention that there are a number of people that are genuinely interested in the answer (that they are not taking the piss) and ALSO if you tell him some of the theories people are coming up with, he may laugh at them all for all you (and I for that matter) know

Has anyone seen the movie 'Love at First Sight' w/ Val Kilmer. That is totally what this topic reminds me of.

Blind since age of 3 with almost no memory of sight. Finds out later on in life that his condition is reversable and has the surgery... pretty cool flick.

You know, that would be totally mind-boggling, I suspect, for the blind person, to suddenly be able to see after a lifetime or most of their life of being blind.

The thought of it definitely brings things into perspective, sight is something that the vast majority of "seeing" people take for granted.

I happen to have a second hand answer for this question from a person that has been blind since birth...

I was curious a few years ago and asked this same question. He told me he did indeed dream of course, but in his dreams he only gets the physical inputs he gets in real life. He gets all the senses in his dreams but sight as he has never had it(not even the slightest bit) to know what it is like. He tells me he does indded fly in his dreams on occasions, I asked him how he knows how he knows how high he is and he says that it is just a combination feeling, hearing, and knowing where he is in relation to things(buildings, walls, whatever)...he told me that he can fly safely in his dreams. I thought that was cool.

My guess is that his brain simply does not have that input to draw from to include.

Hey Fluffybunny, nice one!

I guess being totally blind, the person will develop their other senses to compensate - they "see" in a different way.

thats a weird question because if your blind and your having a dream you wouldn't know what you looked like, mabe blind people have dreams about how they feel instead of seeing, because they dont know what they look like, mabe they feel it is them.

Hey there ,

Great topic !

IMO blind people are able to visualize at least the very basic shapes.. otherways they would not be able to assimilate languages and actually talk . Linguistics are based on inner display .

Sama

Based on the limited knowledge of neurology when it comes to dreams I have, I would say: No. Dreams are a rehash of the mind. A brain cannot replicate what it doesn't have. A person blind from birth has no comprehension of what sight is and thus wouldn't be able to dream it. A person blinded later in life will likely still have dreams where they could see since sight is something their brain understands.

If they were a psychic and could lucid dream or have premonitional dreams, who knows. I suspect the same goes for them and they would simply dream of a sound that would happen in the future.

I wonder if this goes for deaf people , too ? Do deaf people hear in their dreams ? Or , let me put it that way , is the lack of any of the perception senses automatically reflected in dreams ?

Sama

A thought provoking comment.

The role and nature of "internal representations," such as visualizations, are controversial among psychologists. It is clear, however, that it is possible to understand three-dimensional space without sight.

What may be difficult, however, is for a sighted person to imagine three-dimensional space without introducing some visualization. Habits of thought are hard to break.

To break out of the rut, the following line of thought may be helpful. Most human beings have a sensory capacity for probing three-dimensional space at a distance (the forte of sight) which hardly anybody uses, and about which I have never encountered even a single dream report. I have not specifically sought out such a report, either.

The capacity is echolocation, well used by some other mammals, like bats and dolphins. There is no question that human beings with normal hearing can readily develop this capacity, but hardly anybody does (although people who "have to" do so might, and might be unaware of what information they are making use.).

So, in some ways, maybe sighted people have a basis for thinking about the dreams of blind people. You probably do not spontaneously experience "echolocation dreams," while it is a safe bet that bats and dolphins do.

The cognitive apparatus is similar across mammals. It would seem that you might be able to have an echolocation dream. I would think it likely that if you took the trouble to develop your capacity for echolocation, then it would show up in your dreams.

But here and now, assuming you are echo-blind since birth, if you did have such a dream, would you know what it was? If you did know and told someone about your dream, would they know that it was "truly" echolocation, and not some dream simulacrum of echolocation based on your knowledge of spatial relationships acquired from other senses?

(Note added on reflection: I'll bet that trained sonar operators have de facto echolocation dreams, based on their experience with an "artificial sensory apparatus" and the cognitive effort they exert to construct a three-dimensional surround using that equipment.)

Born blind people don't see in the dreams but they do dream with their other senses, for example smell or touch.

But people who have gone blind by an accident or any other occourence might dream with their sight.