Since our birth, we have come to know the world around us with the help of five senses. Thanks to them we see, hear, feel, smell and taste.
A full-fledged work of all analyzers makes it possible to fully perceive reality. But vision among them is the key.
In order to realize the load on the visual analyzer, let's imagine it by the post office. In this case, about 100,000 parcels would come to his address daily. The same number of informational plots enters our brain through the eyes (the rest of the senses account for only 10%). During loss of vision and visual defects, a person can not react to the world around him like all other healthy people.
If the eyes do not work
What happens if the main post office closes? Small branches will be overloaded. They will have to expand the territory and work overtime. Approximately the same thing happens in our body. People with visual impairment activate so-called secondary sense organs: hearing, tactile sensitivity and sense of smell. And over time they will learn to process not standard 10% of information, but much more.
The success of the replacement of the visual analyzer system depends, first of all, on the age at which the loss of vision and visual defects occurred. People with congenital blindness or acquired in childhood adapt best.
Compensatory mechanisms
Hearing. People with visual loss and visual defects are more likely to localize the source of sound, longer "hold" its direction and analyze it more quickly. Investigations of the reaction to the above phrase prove that in the case of the blind, it proceeds twice as fast. In general, the hyperactivation of certain sense organs sometimes leads to interesting phenomena: the irritation of one analyzer system can provoke the excitation of another. So, sounds can cause sensations of color or touch. Playing the flute, for example, in many blind people is associated with the touch of something cold and smooth.
Touch. A complete loss of sight leads to the need to "feel" the world. In connection with this, the distal parts of the hands, that is, the fingertips, are activated. This "training" reduces the threshold of perception and, accordingly, increases tactile sensitivity. Its level is different throughout the day: for example, in a tired person, the threshold of sensitivity decreases.
Drawing an image
The methods for obtaining information about the environment for the blind are mostly universal, but the analysis of the data obtained and the further presentation may vary.
There is a fundamental difference between blind people since birth and those who suffered loss of vision and visual defects at a conscious age. People who have gone blind in adulthood, remember the stories they have seen, and all the further formation of images takes place on the basis of these memorable pictures. Blind from birth or lost sight at the age of up to three years represent the surrounding world purely in their own way, not at all like the sighted. For example, they do not dream of visual images. Their sleep will be filled with smells, sounds and sensations. Similarly to our eyes during a dream, the fingers of the fingers move with the blind, making sensational or "fluttering" movements.
On the verge of extrasensory perception
There are often cases when the vibration sensitivity of blind people reaches not only high, but really phenomenal level! Their heightened perception allows you to catch fluctuations in the air environment. As a result, the reflected vibration from houses, trees and other large objects allows the blind to sense them and facilitates movement.
Not everyone can describe this feeling in detail. For some, it is like a sensation of a barrier at the face level, for others - shadows. There are cases when a blind person feels the house from five meters, and a pole - from one.
About this ability of the blind in scientific circles began talking in the middle of the twentieth century. It was called "sixth sense", and later - "facial perception."
It is believed that people with normal vision also have a vibrational sensitivity. However, for lack of demand, it remains at a low, sub-threshold level.
And how do you like that?
The top of tactile sensitivity is the development of skin-optical sensation, that is, the ability of the skin to respond to color and light changes. It is proved that, with a certain training, blind people are able to distinguish the color with the help of their hands and even read a large written text.
While scientists are only trying to explain this phenomenon and are not in a hurry with the conclusions - all the justifications exist only in the form of theories. The most reliable version is the electric and electromagnetic oscillations. According to her, differently colored surfaces create different electrical potentials. When you feel the surface, there is a "grip" of the fingers. And the blind determine the color by the strength of the clutch.
A full life is possible!
Blindness is perhaps the most particular reason for the loss of vision and visual impairment from all existing. The head does not fit: how can you live, work, move, communicate, finally, if you can not look into the eyes of the interlocutor, if you do not understand the road?
Meanwhile, there are many examples where people, deprived of their visions, not just adapt to their new realities, but do something extraordinary in life: they write poetry, work, and most importantly, fall in love and create families.