Seeing with the Tongue

Today I'm watching a "Wired Science" episode about sensory "reorganization" for the blind and other sensory-impaired folks. It's a repeat from it's original 12/19/2007 airing, but still fascinating....

The theories and research of Paul Baca-y-Rita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Tactile Communication & Neuromodulation Lab (TCNL) have become applications.

In particular, the application is the "Brain Port." It has 625 sensors to deliver from the tongue to the brain. The user puts the device in her/his mouth and "sees" with the tongue. As the announcer on the episode argues, all input to the brain is essentially the same set of impulses, so shifting the brain area that receives the impulses could lead to interpretation of the data by that alternate area. For example, "seeing" as the back feels the shape of an object projected through pressure points. Commercial versions of "Brain Port" have been underway.

Paul Bach-y-Rita said that the sense of touch has been neglected when designing computer and neurological interaction. (In a clip of an earlier (1976?) interview.)

Another group built a helmet with an accelerometer to aid in regaining balance sensation. This "sensory substitution" was extremely effective in retraining the subject user's body -- the "residual" effect grew with use over time.

More information can be found at PBS.org's Wired Science site on "Mixed Feelings."

A "crazy concept" about rewiring information in the brain, and the importance of other senses especially touch, proves to be true.

So, thoughts about the significance of movement to thinking have a future, too....