Can imagination actually improve the ability to see?
New studies by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, indicate the answer is yes, but only when the mental images come from short-term memory. "It seems that, under certain circumstances, activating short-term memory can change the hard wiring of the visual cortex, allowing people to see what they couldn't see before," said Alumit Ishai, PhD, who conducted the study. It was published in the December Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Participants in the study watched subtle points of light known as Gabor signals appear along a straight line on a computer screen. After establishing an intensity level at which the lights became visible to the study subjects, the researchers increased the distance between 3 lights on the screen until participants found it difficult and eventually impossible to see the center light.
Next, the researchers showed a . . . [Full Text of this Article]
