On the blind and dreaming
http://psych.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/kerr_2004.html
sensory prosthetics
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/esp_pr.html
“More than 50 years ago, Austrian researcher Ivo Kohler gave people goggles that severely distorted their vision: The lenses turned the world upside down. After several weeks, subjects adjusted – their vision was still tweaked, but their brains were processing the images so they’d appear normal. In fact, when people took the glasses off at the end of the trial, everything seemed to move and distort in the opposite way”
Shows that the brain can remap to perceive new sense inputs.
along the same lines Haptic Radar
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/perception/HapticRadar/index-e.html
The Seeing Tongue
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010901/bob14.asp
“Also, many studies over the past 40 years indicate that the brain is capable of massively reorganizing itself in response to loss or injury. When it comes to seeing via the sense of touch, reorganization may involve switching portions of the visual cortex to the processing of touch sensations, Bach-y-Rita says.”
synesthesia
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvwTSEwVBfc[/youtube]
nine + purple = cheese
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lILCT1Dxrg&NR=1[/youtube]
Talks a little about the desirable aspect of synesthesia and it’s role in the arts, and it’s shot in New Zealand !!!!