brains, curious, visualization

[wispfox]

When you close your eyes, do you see something?


I was asked this at Thanksgiving, after a long conversation involving face blindness, the fact that I have no visual memory and only vague glimmerings - after a _lot_ of work - of visual imagination. My initial reaction was utter and complete confusion, to the point of asking if the person only asked to get that reaction from me. It was, in fact, a serious question, although the reaction was itself appreciated.

I see nothing at all. I didn't really consider that other people might see something.

Indeed, this makes me wonder if this is why I am so sound-oriented when navigating a dark room; at least some of the other people in the room apparently visualize the room they are in when their eyes are closed. And were, indeed, perplexed when I said that I _listen_ to get around places that I cannot see, in addition to feeling my way. In fact, making noise so other people know where I am actively interferes with my ability to not run into things, because I am no longer able to _listen_. (I can hear when I am near objects because the sound quality changes, especially walls and doors and such. Less so smaller objects, since they are not at my ear height, I suspect, and are less fully encompassing and thus causing echos that I can hear)

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Yes, both literally and figuratively: When I close my eyes in daylight, I literally see moving blobs of light and dark. But with almost no effort at all, I can also "see" things I remember, from the layout of the room in front of me to long-ago faces and places. I'm a strongly visual learner/navigator/rememberer, despite a lifetime of increasingly crappy eyesight.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

V cool! And not something I comprehend _at all_. As evidenced by the degree to which the question originally confused me. :)

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, our own perceptions shape our perceptions of perception, if you get what I mean. Synesthesia? I don't get that at all, although I'm willing to believe people who say they experience it.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's v hard to imagine things that one has absolutely no experience of. If one has experience that is close, it might be possible to approximate it, but even so. :)