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I explicitly brought up brain plasticity as not a convincing argument. People who are blind (even if just blindfolded) from birth and have their sight restored
by jessriedel 2y ago
I explicitly brought up brain plasticity as not a convincing argument.
People who are blind (even if just blindfolded) from birth and have their sight restored as adults are still functionally blind. They get a bit of light and color, but basically can't interpret objects.
- simpaticoder 2y agoInteresting. Do you have a reference for that claim? I am somewhat skeptical if only because of an analogy with cochlear implants - deaf people can start hearing once the signal starts!
- jessriedel 2y ago> Do you have a reference for that claim? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_from_blindness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_from_blindness https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/people-cured-blindness-see https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/people-c... As one might expect, when people have their vision restored while still young children, they do OK. The older they are, the worse they do. For adults, it's basically nothing except the crudest things like brightness and vague large objects. > I am somewhat skeptical if only because of an analogy with cochlear implants - deaf people can start hearing once the signal starts! I don't think this is right. Again, kids can do ok, and the younger they are, the better. But my impression is that adults who get cochlear implants having been deaf since birth are not able to interpret almost anything. Like, they can sense there are louder or quieter noises, but they can't understand speech, match up sounds to objects, get directionality, or anything like that. Let me know if you have cites to the contrary.