You are watching: Eyes in back of head
Like the childhood instance once I tried to eat an earthworm, and my mom—engrossed in yard work—spun via saucer-sized eyes and a clump of weeds she was ready to throw at me if I ongoing through my culinary expedition. I quit, dumbfounded, that via her ago entirely turned, she knew.
And although that back-head pair of eyes is often chalked up to folklore, recent study argues those stories might not be far from the fact.
But first, let’s talk around just how some civilization deserve to check out without actually seeing…
BLINDSIGHT
Researchers would certainly take clearly blind individuals—civilization via no aware capacity to see—and also throw a sphere at them. Although this sounds prefer a cruel prank, the researchers had actually discovered that these patients would actually catch the ball.
When the patients were asked later on how they knew/were able to catch somepoint they couldn’t check out, the patients had actually no explanation. They had no idea a ball was thrvery own till it ended up in their hands.
So…what the heck?
Blindsight describes individuals who have actually damage to their main visual cortex, avoiding them from consciously being able to watch anypoint.
However, bereason of other frameworks in the brain, such as the exceptional colliculus (a much less “evolved” location regarded vision) and the lateral geniculate nucleus (a space that procedures the place and also activity of objects), these otherwise blind people are able “to see” certain points. Or rather, their brains are able to.
Which, have the right to we take a moment to acunderstanding, is pretty darn remarkable…
But what about the spots that world with consistent vision are “blind” to? You understand, behind the head?
360° VISION
As I began this short article, it’s common for us to attribute eyes to the ago of people’s (mothers’) heads. And even though we don’t really have eyeballs ago there, the brain does simulate some for us.
Researchers had actually participants come into the lab wbelow they were surrounded through six LCD display screens (view right). Participants then had actually to perform a visual search job, wbelow a bunch of letters would appear on all the display screens, and also the participant would need to determine a certain one.
What the participants didn’t recognize, though, was that some of the letter fads repeated. That is, although participants had no aware awareness that these trends of letters (likewise shown right) were repeating, the brain somejust how remembered.
Consequently, the researchers discovered that also though participants believed each trial of the visual search task was unique, they were nonetheless able to even more quickly identify wbelow the specific letter was “hiding,” also as soon as that letter was out of sight behind them.
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In a feeling, then, the brain creates a non-mindful, 360° representation of the area around you. So even though the conscious mind doesn’t explicitly access it, the brain’s psychological map deserve to still affect our behaviors (simply favor with blindsight).
SEEING THE FULL PICTURE
