An Eye-Deal Relationship

4/11/2022

An Eye-Deal Relationship

Neuro Blog 1:

Little Ryann with her glasses!

Today I’ll be discussing an article on how we see different colors and a TED talk that conversed on the illusion of vision. I believe these two topics correlate and hit close to home for myself. Since I was in the second grade, I have some type of corrective lens. I have been wearing them every day since then. In 2017, I was considered “legally blind” without my contacts or glasses, and my eyesight continues to worsen each year – which can be scary. Just to give you some insight on the situation… my vision is 20/600 and the legally blind acuity limit is 20/200. I have come to be very appreciative and thankful for corrective lenses because they give me the sense of normalcy and allow me to function as normal as possible with my eye condition.

After listening to the TED talk about Isaac Lidsky, I felt so grateful and more at ease because of his approach to his lifestyle of having no sight. Isaac Lidsky at the age of 13 suffered from a condition where the cells in his retina died off and by the age of 25, he was completely blind. He is a Harvard graduate and now runs two successful businesses- Issac’s visual impairment has not stopped him; it has only motivated him. He goes into detail about how what we see is just an illusion of our own personal reality and that we are the creator of this - sight or no sight. I think that this statement directly relates to neuroplasticity and how our brain is constantly evolving, reorganizing and opening up new neural pathways for us. For those with no vision or low vision, our brain may visualize things differently due to the condition at hand and this may also affect our other senses to work even harder.

To discuss color in relation to vision, the article, “The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of this Dress”, states that the dress is 100% blue and black. However, for those who see white and gold, it is because the image hits a perceptual boundary of our visual system and deciphers it on a daylight axis. For someone like myself with astigmatism and not the most efficient eyesight, it makes sense why I only see a white and gold dress now. My neural pathways due to my low vision may have evolved to see this image in a different light compared to others. Overall, I think that our brain is steadily amazing us in the way it operates to create our own memories of the world, and I happen to like my personal reality it made!!