Naked Science Forum

General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Emilio Romero on 15/01/2009 12:34:51

Title: If a sense is lost, such as sight, do other senses sharpen to compensate?
Post by: Emilio Romero on 15/01/2009 12:34:51

When someone looses a sense (sight, for instance) do the other senses really become sharper or the subject just pays more attention to them?

Emilio

Title: Re: If a sense is lost, such as sight, do other senses sharpen to compensate?
Post by: Soul Surfer on 15/01/2009 23:14:52

My guess is that some of the brains unused processin capacity gets diverted from the unavaiable sense and so more analysis capacity is avaiable rather than any improverment in specific performance

Title: Re: If a sense is lost, such as sight, do other senses sharpen to compensate?
Post by: Chemistry4me on 16/01/2009 01:43:42

Just going a bit off topic, you might be interested to know that a monkey was raised from birth to 6 months of age with one eyelid closed. The animal permanently loses useful vision in that eye because of diminished use. This gives cellular meaning to the saying “use it or lose it”!

Title: Re: If a sense is lost, such as sight, do other senses sharpen to compensate?
Post by: Chemistry4me on 16/01/2009 01:44:58

Also, about one-fourth of the brain is involved in visual processing, more than for any other sense. So if you lost your sight, there is one-fourth of the brain that is not being used!