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Jeanette Bates's picture

Filling in the gaps

I think that it is very interesting that the brain can see without seeing or that it can “lie” to us, telling us that we see things that aren’t actually there.  Since the brain is a tightly connected network, it makes sense to me that there are some parallels between how the visual system and motor system work, especially in relationship to the I-function. In other words, I am not surprised that people can see without consciously seeing anything because there are people that can move without being able to consciously move anything. What I am most curious about at this point is how what we have learned about how these things may relate to other systems. For example, we have learned that our brain “lies” to us about seeing and hearing by filling in the gaps of our vision or gaps in the words that we hear. Does this apply to smelling, tasting, and feeling? What I mean is, can it possible that we aren’t completely feeling something, or we aren’t feeling all of it, but our brain decides to fill in the gaps and lie to us about the way we are feeling something?  

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