Something I've always been curious about..
..but didn't want to offend by asking.

How do blind people dream? I'm assuming I'm with the majority in that I dream of people, places and events in colour, sound and general imagery based of things I've actually seen. If a blind person (assuming they were blind from birth) has never seen these things, what do they dream of? Do they dream in colour and imagery created entirely by their imagination or do they just dream in sounds and, depending on their sight capabilities, rough shapes of light and shadow?

My boyfriend disagrees with me on this point, but I don't think you can entirely imagine something out of nothing without having seen some basis of that thing, like for example I can imagine what a Griffin would look like because I've seen an eagle and a lion, but I've never actually seen a Griffin, if you get what I mean.

I didn't want to seem like a tard by asking a blind person and have them be horribly offended by my ignorance.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:39, 8 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

In the immediate time after blindness they dream as normal.

As time passes and their memory of how things look are altered by the imagination, their dreams change to reflect this. For example I've had dreams of people that have been dead for and I haven't seen even pictures of for years. Yet the minds "eye" still creates an image for this.

As years pass and as memory alone of vision completely fades away, the individual will dream only of how they perceive the world, i.e. with no imagery at all.


Well that's my understanding of how a blind man once put it...
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:44, Reply)

what about people blind from birth?
hmmm?

I will look it up!

edit:

Research suggests 4 findings on 'blind dreams' apparently according to an online study I found.

1. There are no visual images in the dreams of those born without any ability to experience visual imagery in waking life.

2. Individuals who become blind before the age of five seldom experience visual imagery in their dreams, although Deutsch (1928) reports some visual imagery in six schoolchildren who lost their sight before age five.

3. Those who become sightless between the ages of five and seven may or may not retain some visual imagery.

4. Most people who lost their vision after age seven continue to experience at least some visual imagery, although its frequency and clarity often fade with time.

The study also showed the following -

Findings on non-visual sensory references, the percentage of taste/smell/touch sensations was very high in the dream reports of participants who had little or no visual imagery. For the four participants who had no visual imagery in 13 or more sensory references (participants 11, 7, 10, and 2), 55% of the sensory references were taste/smell/touch and 45% were auditory. For participant 14, the 45-year-old male totally blind since age 28, 22 of his 34 sensory references (65%) were in the taste/smell/touch category, as compared to the 9% for visual references reported earlier. The sensations in such dreams were very strong. The participants "felt" the warmth of the sun, the texture of a coat, the edge of a knife, the slope of the ground, vibrations, snow, or the soft fur of a dog. They "smelled" fire, tobacco, aftershave lotion, fresh air, food, or coffee. They noted the "taste" of a cigar, a cup of coffee, or an orange. These dream sensations seemed to reflect their use of or pleasure in these sense modalities in waking life.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:52, Reply)

Why thank you
kind sirs, there should be a wikib3tia. One that's not dominated by /talk losers.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:54, Reply)

al is right
/talk are all attractive, thin, funny, intelligent and articulate and we are barely fit to lick the shit from their boots.

I would count myself lucky if one of them were to kick me into the gutter as they passed.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 17:05, Reply)

Not being blind myself
I have to rely on common sense- they'd not likely dream in visuals, but in the other senses. Just as I never dream in stereo, as I can't hear stereo. (I'm deaf in one ear.)

Put it another way- do you dream of how the wind feels against your wings, or of the buzzing of the other bees in your hive as you crawl across the honeycomb? Unless you were born with wings or as a bee, probably not.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 28 Oct 2008, 17:38, Reply)

Why would it be offensive?
You're not blind, so don't know. It's an interesting question.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 9:52, Reply)

It is an interesting question
and shows an enquiring mind. I don't think it'd be offensive either. I tend to ask these kinds of questions with the disclaimer 'If you don't mind me asking, and please don't take offence...' just in case :)
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 10:41, Reply)

I suppose
it stems from being told off for asking questions like that, I have a vivid memory of asking a man giving some kind of careers talk at school how much he got paid and was told not to ask offensive questions so I think I worry that I have the etiquette section of my brain missing.

Thank you for your responses, I feel most enlightened!

Although now I wish I could dream about the things bees dream of!
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Fri 31 Oct 2008, 17:00, Reply)