Dreams in Blind individuals: A mystery of brain and vision

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundDreaming and synthesizing a dream world is a complex process undertaken by the brain with the impulses it has received. It’s often said that blind people can’t see in their dreams but some papers suggest that they in fact do see in their dreams. This knowledge can be used to understand how actually the dream world works and get more insights about the whole process.AimTo identify if different categories of blind individuals can see or not and to understand if they can dream, what type of dreams they get and whether they have vision in their dreams or not.MethodologyA cross sectional survey based study was conducted with interview pattern to identify the patterns of dreaming. Questions about duration since they have visual impairment were also asked and data was digitalized and later analyzed in excel.ResultsA total of 75 visually impaired individuals were recruited for the study who were willing to give consent for the study. It was seen that individuals who lost their sight totally before attaining a level of mental maturity that they can comprehend the concept of light were unable to see in their dreams. Individuals who lost their sight completely after attaining that level of maturity could see in their dreams but the vision in their dreams was only limited to what they had seen and what they could imagine from that limited experience of light sense. Other individuals who still could percept light could see in their dreams what they could see in the real word.ConclusionVisually impaired individuals can in fact see in their dreams provided they still can percept light and see and if they have lost their sight completely then they lost it after gaining enough mental image maturity to understand the concept of light.