I could not find anything remarkable in this study. Anyone remotely familiar with blinds knows that they have a "faster perception of touch". The question that whether this skill is "due to the brain adapting to the absence of vision - a change called plasticity - or to a lifetime of practicing Braille" would have been easily answered by conducting a similar test on those blinds who don't know braille and those who know it; but they have mentioned it as if it is going to be a Herculean task. Shadab
There is enough light for one who wants to see. Easy tips of improving English at http://shadablucknow.blogspot.com/ My contributions to the press http://shadablucknow.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-contributions-to-press.html#link Many posts on one page http://shadablucknow.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=47 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vikas Kapoor" <[email protected]> To: "Access India" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 6:28 PM Subject: [AI] People who are blind perceive touch faster than those withnormal vision People who are blind perceive touch faster than those with normal vision Published: Wednesday, Oct 27, 2010, 15:45 IST Place: Washington, DC | Agency: ANI A new study suggests that people who are blind from birth are able to detect tactile information faster than people with normal vision. A group of researchers led by Daniel Goldreich, PhD, of McMaster University explored whether people who have a special reliance on a particular sense - in the way blind people rely on touch - would process that sense faster. "Our findings reveal that one way the brain adapts to the absence of vision is to accelerate the sense of touch," Goldreich said. "The ability to quickly process non-visual information probably enhances the quality of life of blind individuals who rely to an extraordinary degree on the non-visual senses," he said. The authors tested the tactile skills of 89 people with sight and 57 people with various levels of vision loss. And they found that 22 people who had been blind since birth performed better than both people with vision and people who had become blind later in life. The findings suggest that early onset blindness leads to faster perception of touch. However, whether that advantage is due to the brain adapting to the absence of vision - a change called plasticity - or to a lifetime of practicing Braille is still unclear. The study was published in the October 27 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_people-who-are-blind-perceive-touch-faster-than-those-with-normal-vision_1458545 Vikas Kapoor, MSN Id:[email protected], Yahoo&Skype Id: dl_vikas, Mobile: (+91) 9891098137. To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
