Scientists: We Can 'See' Sound And 'Hear' Light

Turning conventional neuroscience on its head, new research suggests the human visual system processes sound and helps us see.

Here's the basics of what was Neuroscience 101: The auditory system records sound, while the visual system focuses, well, on the visuals, and never do they meet. Instead, a "higher cognitive" producer, like the brain's superior colliculus, uses these separate inputs to create our cinematic experiences.

The textbook rewrite: The brain can, if it must, directly use sound to see and light to hear.

The study was published last week in the journal BMC Neuroscience...

...Researchers trained monkeys to locate a light flashed on a screen. When the light was very bright, they easily found it; when it was dim, it took a long time. But if a dim light made a brief sound, the monkeys found it in no time - too quickly, in fact, than can be explained by the old theories.

Recordings from 49 neurons responsible for the earliest stages of visual processing, researchers found activation that mirrored the behavior. That is, when the sound was played, the neurons reacted as if there had been a stronger light, at a speed that can only be explained by a direct connection between the ear and eye brain regions, said researcher Ye Wang of the University of Texas in Houston.

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Comments

[LeftRight]

Hell, anybody that's had a migraine coulda told you that!!

[Agnim]

Synesthesia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthaesia

[IndieVoterNY]

Hee. Yes, that was my reaction, the '60s, Aldous Huxley ... Timothy Leary ...
Beyond the knowing grins, though, there is the aspect that we don't know everything about everything. I have a friend born with severe hearing impairment who learned to hear through her bone structure and does really well.
Neurophysiology is pretty heady stuff (heh) and pretty new... That we can only handle a fraction of the perceptual information that comes at us at one time or we'd go nuts .. and go buy lava lamps.
Neuro Linguistic Programming looks at how that sorting and framing can be shifted to adjust perception and enhance our happiness. It really works! Which just might bring us back 'round to ... the Magic Bus!!!!

[KillgoreTrout43]

There is a normal process in the brain called "sensory gating," that filters out stimuli that we don't need for everyday living. When under the effects of hallucinogens, such as LSD, that process breaks down and we recieve input that we normally don't. It is a sort of temporary, "madness," that takes place. It used to be alot of fun, though:)

[pianoteacher]

I thought it was interesting that they said this is probably not related to synesthesia, which they said "happens at later stages of brain processing," and is a result of combined sensations. You have to read almost to the bottom of the linked page to get to that part of the full article.

[Chad53916]

Sounds like something I experienced back in my college days...

[CocteausTwin]

I certainly believe this is possible. I am just not sure that the experiment demonstrates it. Are they not locating the light with thew sound and not actually seeing sound?

[sunzen]

There are some people that can taste words...an­d some people see words as color and some people smell colors...i­ts an interesting world out there. Everything is possible. Just open your minds...if you dont believe me and put a silly little comment on here...use your pea brain and google it...lol

[incredulousnyc]

Yeah yeah...we saw the TV show too. Why not before you preemptively lash out at us because we're not as almighty smart as you, perhaps you should get some details to support your statement. No? Ok, I'll fill you in. Both light and sound are perceived as waveforms of energy transmitted at specific frequencies with light at the top of our visual spectrum, and audio at the lower end. We even perceive VLF (very low freq) sound below 20-30hz as a "rumble" sensation even though we cannot hear it with our ears. Our senses developed to monitor our environment, with some organs specializing in low frequencies and others better at higher frequencies. That doesn't mean that one organ ONLY, exclusively registers sound and not light. That's reality.

On the other hand, people who smell colors or taste words merely have brain dysfunction that crosses sensory input and confuses the brain into alternate perception­s...just like drugs.

You've been schooled..­.now be quiet.

[research]

we have evolved basic brain patterns matched to the expected sensory input. the cilia in the ear respond to frequencies and send a frequency encoded data stream to the auditory processing part of the brain. It is structurally designed to be good a stereo localization, faint sound alarm triggering etc... Now the visual sensors record light intensity with edge and color enhancements that is sent to the back of the brain where the visible processing takes place. It is structurally good for edge detection, form recognition, motion etc... The brain is fully capable of rerouting eye signals to ear processors, and it Sounds like that helps with certain low light perceptional tasks.

[GayGrandpa]

What drugs were these? :)

[RaraAvis17]

OMG, how in the h3ll will Rethuglican's grasp this when they can't even grasp 'climate change'? They'll just say it's another Democratic sham.

[TribunusPlebis]

This must explain why John McCain believes that the noise of his bellicose language about Russia and Iran is enlightened foreign policy, when in fact it's just noise...

[smilodon1]

Amazing the amount of anti-science expressed in the comments. Sad, too, but a direct result of science education in this country.

[Scalawag]

Where? I don't see a single anti-science comment. I see several pro-psychedelic comments, though.

[doodlefarbe]

"Where? I don't see a single anti-science comment."

I guess the Blame America Mentality will see a reason to insult America and Americans, no matter the evidence.

[DaOne]

Who was the scientist, Frank Zappa?

[KillgoreTrout43]

Frank Zappa didn't do drugs, and frowned on anybody in his band doing them too.

[Horus]

its called synethesia and is easily reached (well not always easy) with psylocibin.

[incredulousnyc]

Jeebus...t­hank you. These people need to go back to school.

[magen]

And how many gazillions were spent on genius scientists research to tell us this.

I learned it in my crazy teens.

Oh, sorry, scientists have papers on the wall that show their very serious credentials, and I don't.

My bad.

[KillgoreTrout43]

It was science that made it possible for you to have such experiences, unless you were doing mushrooms or peyote.

[ThePhilosopher]

Anyone whose ever dropped acid or eaten shrooms could've told you this...

[macaframa]

a quarter of magic mushrooms i'll do it.

[jeanruss]

Walter Russell, a 20th century American genius, stated this over 50 years ago. He proved that the Universe is only composed of Light. His science was a thousand years ahead of its time. He showed solutions to our energy woes using Hydrogen and displayed his Hydrogen engine for NORAD. Sadly, oil interestd squashed that.

[Unrepentant]

He proved that the Universe is only composed of Light.

Not to be a master of the obvious, but the only difference between sound and light is the frequency of the waves (or particles if you are talking quantum physics). We call sound "sound" because it falls within the frequency range that we perceive with our ears. We call light "light" because it falls within the frequency range perceived by our eyes. There has never been any dispute that there was a difference other than the frequency of the waves.

[bloxxom]

Frequency is not the only difference. Light can travel through a vacuum, but sound cannot. That's because light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, and sound isn't.

[sunzen]

Everything is energy. Not light. Light is a specific type of energy wave. Sound is a type of energy wave. There is still energy in a void of light.

[Marklar]

You are no master.

Sound and Light are totally different. Light is two occillating fields, magnetic and electric. Sound is a vibration through matter.

[weedhighnightmare]

lmao@the intellectuals arguing about who's smarter on an Internet message board!

[situationcritical]

And it's all just a thought.

Merrily, merrily, merrily life is but...