Editing Blindsight (section)

== History ==
Much of our current understanding of blindsight can be attributed to early experiments on monkeys. One monkey, named Helen, could be considered the "star monkey in visual research" because she was the original blindsight subject.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Weisberg|first=Josh|date=June 2006|title=Red in the head|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=441|issue=7093|pages=577|doi=10.1038/441577a|bibcode=2006Natur.441..577W|s2cid=26642958|issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free}}</ref> Helen was a [[macaque monkey]] that had been decorticated; specifically, her [[Visual cortex#Primary visual cortex (V1)|primary visual cortex]] (V1) was completely removed, blinding her. Nevertheless, under certain specific situations, Helen exhibited sighted behavior. Her [[pupils]] would dilate and she would [[blinking|blink]] at stimuli that threatened her eyes. Furthermore, under certain experimental conditions, she could detect a variety of visual stimuli, such as the presence and location of objects, as well as shape, pattern, orientation, motion, and color.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors = Humphrey NK|title = What the frog's eye tells the monkey's brain|journal = Brain, Behavior and Evolution|volume = 3|issue = 1|pages = 324–37|year = 1970|pmid = 5001242|doi = 10.1159/000125480}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors = Humphrey NK|title = Vision in a monkey without striate cortex: a case study|journal = Perception|volume = 3|issue = 3|pages = 241–55|year = 1974|pmid = 4459818|doi = 10.1068/p030241|s2cid = 4686081|citeseerx = 10.1.1.452.5493}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of the Mind|vauthors = Humphrey N|date=1992|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=9780671686444|location=New York|oclc=25915998|title-link=A History of the Mind}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2018}} In many cases, she was able to navigate her environment and interact with objects as if she were sighted.<ref>{{cite book|title=Blindsight and the Nature of Consciousness|vauthors = Holt J|date=2003|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=978-1-55111-351-7|location=Peterborough, Ontario|oclc=50755257}}{{Page needed|date=January 2018}}</ref>

A similar phenomenon was also discovered in humans. Subjects who had suffered damage to their visual cortices due to accidents or [[stroke]]s reported partial or total blindness. Despite this, when prompted they could "guess" the presence and details of objects with above-average accuracy and, much like animal subjects, could catch objects tossed at them. The subjects never developed any kind of confidence in their abilities. Even when told of their successes, they would not begin to spontaneously make "guesses" about objects, but instead still required prompting. Furthermore, blindsight subjects rarely express the amazement about their abilities that sighted people would expect them to express.<ref>{{cite book|title=Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness|vauthors = Humphrey N|date=2006|publisher=Belknap Press|isbn=978-0-674-02179-2|series=Mind/brain/behavior initiative|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|oclc=234101445|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/seeingredstudyin0000hump}}{{Page needed|date=January 2018}}</ref>