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Full Idea
Scans show that a sub-section of the visual cortex called V5 - the area that registers movement - lights up during blindsight, even though V1 - the primary sensory area that is essential for normal sight - is not active.
Gist of Idea
In blindsight V1 (normal vision) is inactive, but V5 (movement) lights up
Source
Rita Carter (Mapping the Mind [1998], p.307)
Book Ref
Carter,Rita: 'Mapping the Mind' [Phoenix 2000], p.307
A Reaction
The whole point of blindsight is to make us realise that vision involves not one module, but a whole team of them. The inference is that V1 involves consciousness, but other areas of the visual cortex don't.
| 23240 | We can't know by sight or hearing without realising that we are doing so [Fichte] |
| 7372 | In peripheral vision we see objects without their details, so blindsight is not that special [Dennett] |
| 7373 | Blindsight subjects glean very paltry information [Dennett] |
| 2953 | Fish may operate by blindsight [Lockwood] |
| 2415 | In blindsight both qualia and intentionality are missing [Chalmers] |
| 4918 | In blindsight V1 (normal vision) is inactive, but V5 (movement) lights up [Carter,R] |
| 6646 | The brain may have two systems for vision, with only the older one intact in blindsight [Lowe] |