Do Humans Have a Sixth Sense

For blind people to regain the power of sight usually requires a miracle - either of the old-fashioned, Biblical variety or of the modern, medical sort.

Yet an extraordinary case reported this week shows us that there may be another form of miracle that can help the blind to 'see' - and it's one that may force us to rethink our whole understanding of the way in which the human senses operate.

In the journal Current Biology it is reported that a man left totally blind by brain damage has astounded scientists by flawlessly navigating an obstacle course without any help or practice whatsoever.

This is perhaps the most persuasive example to date of what is termed 'blindsight' - the extraordinary ability of some who have lost their vision to be able to 'see' without, apparently, any ability actually to receive images in the eye and brain at all.

Because blindsight is a nebulous concept, often linked to paranormal manifestations, it has often been dismissed by researchers as myth. Yet here was a case that defied any straightforward explanation.

Scientists at the University of Tilburg in The Netherlands found that the unnamed man, known only as 'TN', was able to negotiate his way past a series of boxes and chairs, despite the fact that a series of strokes had damaged the visual cortex of his brain to such an extent that tests have shown he is completely blind.

So how on earth does he do it? What does it tell us about the way we 'see' the world?

And is it conclusive proof, as many have claimed, that humans have a hidden 'sixth sense' that can detect aspects of the world around us in a way that defies any logical explanation?

The first thing to realise is that science loves to categorise things.

We have 'five senses' in part because 'five-and-a-bit senses' is messy and ' unscientific'.

And yet it may be a far more accurate description of what is going on in the complex interface between the outside world and our brains.

It seems that in the case of TN, for example, although he has no conscious awareness of the visual world, his brain is, somehow, keeping tabs on his surroundings, by processing the electrical messages that are travelling through his eyes and optic nerves (which remain undamaged by his stroke) even though the normal 'visual' part of his brain is damaged beyond repair.

To use a scientific term, his mind is not creating any visual 'qualia' - the name given to conscious experience of sensations, such as sight or sound.

By Michael Hanlon
Source: The Daily Mail

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