Blind man sees emotions

[Blackstream]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4090155.stm

Interesting if I do say so myself.  How does one see emotions without sight?  Pretty close to the scientific community admitting the existance of such things I'd say.

[Telos]

Wow, the BBC doesn't hesitate to use the word "sixth sense." Journalists carelessly throw that word around because everyone's looking for the news story that will uncover a "real sixth sense."

Scans showed that when the man looked at faces with emotion...

The patient's eyes aren't damaged. He still has to look at the person's face in order to notice their emotions. This is very fascinating, but it's a variant of the "blindsight" phenomenon. He still has sight, his brain just no longer has the ability to interpret things like brightness and color.

Some people have otherwise perfect site but are blind to faces. They can pick out details like an eye, nose, or mouth, but when looking at the entirety of someone's face, they just can't see it. It's quite sad, really, because they don't recognize their own faces in a mirror or in a photo.

Facial recognition has also been proven as its own separate visual phenomenon in experiments with babies. Before a certain age, babies are able to distinguish primates of the same species just by looking at their faces. We all apparently lose this skill because, as our brains grow, we don't use that ability and it's forgotten.

[Stillwater]

Indeed- the results are interesting, but I would not say that they point to anything metaphysical unless he can do this with his eyes covered. It seems that he retains his sight, but does not have conscious knowledge of what he is seeing, despite the fact that his unconsciousness, situated in the "lower" brain, may still be able to interpret what he is viewing, and thus make survival-oriented decisions based on this information, such as avoiding a potentially dangerous person with an angry face.

I will say, though, that this type of study does have the potential to yield interesting results, and I would love to read any future stories you come across

Stillwater