Brain enables sight without light
Even in total darkness, people often see glimmers of their own hands moving
By Bruce Bower
Many people can vaguely see their own hands moving in total darkness, thanks to brains that pick up slack for the eyes.
Sight without light is no figment of the imagination, say psychologist Kevin Dieter of the University of Rochester in New York and his colleagues. A person’s movements transmit sensory signals that the brain turns into visual perceptions of that motion, even if the eyes see nothing, the researchers propose October 30 in Psychological Science. The brain learns to associate the sight of one’s own hands in motion with the bodily sensations accompanying that activity.