Introduction
Human senses of perception are fundamental aspects for maintaining regular life activities. Thanks to the various sensations people perceive from their environment, it becomes possible to carry out life activities in society. The loss of one of the senses can become a severe problem, significantly worsening the individual’s life.
Without vision, a person cannot fully move or perceive important objects in space. This process of perception is necessary for a person to perform both routine and unusual actions effectively. In this regard, modeling the situation of blindness can help to better understand all the complexities of this condition.
Processes of the Sense of Vision
Vision is based on several fundamental processes that, when combined, enable people to perceive the world around them. The first central aspect is capturing light through the cornea and lens, focusing the rays on the retina, which converts the light into electrical impulses. After that, they are transmitted to the optic nerve and the cerebral cortex, where they undergo neural processing.
The brain interprets the signals and, based on them, creates an idea about the world around it (Li et al., 2021). This is followed by a process of interpretation, where the brain analyzes the information and creates images based on it to form a comprehensive understanding of the environment, taking into account depth, color, size, and movement. Thus, a person can receive and process an image that enters their optic nerves through light. The brain plays a vital role in this process, interpreting data in a way that provides insight into the world around us.
Different Senses
I utilized all the other senses during the session, including hearing and touch. With their help, I could better navigate in space. In addition, since the exercise took place in a room familiar to me, I actively used my memory and imagination to better understand which part of the room I was in. Hearing in the situation of modeling blindness at home was useless, as the room was completely silent. In this regard, the most crucial aspect was feeling the furniture elements based on their location, which I vividly remembered.
Information Picked Up Without Vision
During the exercise, I received valuable information that could have been overlooked earlier by relying solely on vision. For example, sound sensations showed how the different landscapes of the room reacted to my movements. The floor covering could silently hold together or make dull sounds that I did not perceive when I relied on my eyesight.
In addition, recalling the spatial perception of the room from memory helped me understand that many small details were overlooked without vision. For example, a small bedside table did not come to mind, so I found it with the help of tactile sensations. This made it clear that the elimination of sight can lead to an aggravation of the remaining senses, as they are given more responsibility.
Habituation and Sensory Adaptation
Habituation can be called the process of desensitization to constant or regular occurrences over time. During the exercise, addiction was reflected in the fact that my body stopped relying on the most reliable way of orientation in space. Some sounds that disappear when using vision, such as creaking, are an example of getting used to the environment. Sensory adaptation refers to the process by which sensory receptors become less sensitive to environmental stimuli (Petitpierre et al., 2023). During the exercise, my sense of smell adapted, and gradually, I began to lose it.
Permanent Sense Loss
My perception could change significantly if I were to permanently lose my sight. With the loss of this sense, the brain initiates an adaptation process to strengthen all other senses, enabling the body to function more effectively in society among other people. Additionally, this approach enables individuals to move more comfortably and perform their usual duties and actions despite the loss of one or more senses, such as vision, hearing, touch, and smell (Meehan & Spooner, 2020).
The mental representation of the environment can be formed based on the sounds emitted in response to the individual’s actions within the environment. The sense of touch also adapts to new conditions and can be significantly enhanced as a person perceives objects around them more accurately. Based on this data, the brain can form and visualize a map of the area, providing a more comfortable and effortless movement (Meehan & Spooner, 2020). The sense of smell simultaneously plays a vital role, as it allows a person to detect odors at long distances, warning them of potential dangers, for example.
Conclusion
A lack of vision can cause a person to rely more heavily on other senses, such as hearing, smell, and touch. In this way, people can compensate for the loss of one sense or another with those that remain. The experiment on eliminating vision made it possible to understand that all human feelings can be complementary. At the same time, human emotions determine how each individual interacts and engages in interpersonal communication. Understanding how the processes work and the sensations a person perceives can improve their condition and help them adapt to the world around them.
References
Li, Z., Guo, P., & Song, C. (2021). A review of main eye movement tracking methods. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1802(4). Web.
Meehan, C. E., & Spooner, R. K. (2020). Utilizing transcranial alternating current stimulation and functional neuroimaging to investigate human sensory adaptation. Journal of Neurophysiology, 124(4), 1010-1012. Web.
Petitpierre, G., Dind, J., & De Blasio, C. (2023). Olfactive short-term habituation in children and young people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 140. Web.