sorry $6 is all i can afford 

ive always wondered what people who have never been able to see dream
about.

Im sure they must do, but without a defined vision of the world and
its colour what form would their dreams take?  Any ideas

THanks

pennyless but extremely curious student.

dedude-ga

Hi dedude

This is an interesting question -- and one that piques more than just
human curiosity. There have a been a couple of academic studies made
on precisely this subject, particularly amongst those concerned with
developmental psychology, and the general conclusion is that people
who have been blind from birth, or from a very young age, tend to have
no visual component to their dreams.

One page on the internet which discusses this in simple terms is
http://www.rommes.org/blind/dreams.html, which also references some of
the earlier studies done on this subject.

Most of the studies done (as opposed to anecdotal evidence) on this
subject appear to be unavailable on the internet, although a number of
sources cite Hunt H "The Multiplicity of Dreams: Memory, Imagination
and Consciousness" as a thorough and worthwhile read, if you're
interested in an in-depth investigation. This book is available to
order through Amazon and presumably other online or real-world
booksellers (although it's priced at US$20 so is maybe not ideal if
you're completely penniless!)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0300049854

A recent paper (1999) by Hurovitz C, Dunn S, Domhoff G W, and Fiss H
entitled "The dreams of blind men and women: A replication and
extension of previous findings" aimed to perform further research on
this subject. The entire paper is available online at
http://psych.ucsc.edu/dreams/Articles/hurovitz_1999a.html

The conclusion of the researchers in the above paper pretty much bears
out the traditional thinking, although there were a couple of slight
surprises including two congenitally blind subjects reporting seeing
objects in their dreams. The researchers however concluded that this
was merely a metaphorical use of vision, especially as one of the
subjects said that she could tell silver objects were beautiful when
she touched them because the silver "felt pretty". Those of us with
sight would almost always ascribe the beauty of silver to its
appearance, yet evidently those who have no sight can still use the
same language terms in a different context.

In general, it appears that those who have been blind from birth or
very early childhood have just as vivid dreams as the rest of us.
However their dreams centre upon the non-visual senses: particularly
smell and sound, but also to a surprisingly large degree the sense of
touch. Whilst most of us usually view things before we feel them, the
blind often "see" with their fingertips and hence tactile dreaming is
not uncommon.

I hope this is sufficient to answer your question, however if there is
anything that you are unsure about or that seems unclear, please feel
free to ask me for a clarification.


Regards
iaint-ga


Search techniques (Google):
blind people dreams

thankyou for your answer it was very interesting. i hope you dont mind
me giving four rather than five stars.

For five i really would like to have seen something about the
documented experiences within their dreams, or more about the tactile
aspects of thier dreams. I havent spend a huge amount of though
pondering this (tactile component) (YET that is, i intend to reread
your answer without the distractions of my workplace).  initially it
would seem to me that as dreams are so vivid, i cant quite grasp the
true power of the tactile aspect within thier dreams.

does this make sense, i rarely do.

i think maybe i just wanted to know what thier dream would be like.

simple deductive logic led me to the conclusion that without the sense
of sight, the other senses would have to pick up the tab, when the
blind person started to dream.

But how would the dreams come together. 

if i look down a street, i can see whats in front of me, or go into a
room; see whos in it.

but for a blind person, their mental image is directionally incomplete
untill they have walked down the road feeling (touching) as much as
they need to.

so, what im trying to say is, if they were dreaming of a room with
people in it. are there people in it, how would they know unless they
dreamed they walked into the room and went round touching,

therefor dreams are initially empty.

phew, it may not make sense but at least ive said it.

>>therefor dreams are initially empty.<<

If the real-life experience is initially empty, then the dream version
of the experience would be initially empty. Dreams mirror real-life
experiences and sensations, whether you're blind or not.

When I walk into a room of people, I experience sensations of various
kinds, and I sense the way it feels, sounds, smells, and looks. If I
dream of walking into a room of people, my dream consists of those
sensations, too.

If I'm blind and I walk into a room of people, I would sense the way
it feels, sounds, and smells (but not looks). It might take longer for
me to sense how many people in the room, perhaps by the sounds,
perhaps by what the first person I speak to says to me. And my dreams
of the experience would be similar.

dedude,

its so strange for most people to assume that becos some folks are
blind that they cannot "see".  They may not be able to look at things
becos of a visual equipment failure, but that does not detract them
from being able to sense the shape of any object and then form a
mental picture of it.  Ofcos the mental picture may or may not be the
same as a person with eyes, but one would hazzard to guess that they
do "see" or I prefer the term visualize in their minds shapes (and
possibly color) of objects.

Color is also a very relative thing, what we see as colors around us
looks black and white to some insects.

But seriously dedude, wouldn't it be easier just to have a friendly
chat with someone who is visually challenged and ask them to describe
to you what they "visualize" when they dream?

regards

firstly, mara-ga, great response, i found your comments extremely
insightfull (please excuse my spelling, im dyspraxic (i was once told)
and dont notice my mistakes) the human mind is beautifull and you are
certainly a good representation of that beauty.

secondly, unstable-ga your absolutely right. I should talk to someone
who is visually LessAbled and ask them, but to date i have not met one
person (face to face) who has been blind. That is strange and the
first time ive ever realised.

ill certainly 'keep my eyes open' for some one who may be able to shed
some light on the subject.

thanks guys/

DeDude-ga

I think your question was answered especially well in the first
comments, but I thought I'd add a slightly different perspective.

I have low vision.  Before I was about 25 I saw reasonably well.  I
remember clearly that I dreamed with precise vision.  But as I tell
people at presentations I do, I now dream in low vision.  (It is
what's NORMAL to me.)  In my dreams I cannot read standard print, just
as I cannot in "real life".  I am aware of myself as partially
sighted.  And I never dream in precise vision any more.

There's more info explaining different aspects of blindness in a
direct and un-sugar-coated way at eSight Careers Network
www.eSightCareers.net

Nan Hawthorne

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller might shed some light upon this
subject, if you'll pardon the weak pun. The Dover Thrift edition can
be had for a dollar - less than the cost of one beer, if I remember
correctly! (I was a philosophy major and pondered many questions like
these over a pint of ale.)