Reply to Danielle's Post

Danielle, I also was entranced by the Sacks piece. The account addressed the whole of Jonathan’s experience in a way that made me as the reader begin to envision the world as he perceived it. I thought it was interesting how his vision was not just a black and white version of what a normally sighted person sees, but a more challenged and confusing black and white version. He had reduced ability to distinguish shades and shapes. Arnheim explains in the chapter on color that humans can usually distinguish about 200 shades of grey. Jonathan did not seem to have that ability.
You also commented that you were surprised that when offered a possible cure, Jonathan refused. I thought this was interesting, but I was not very surprised. I have read a number of different Sacks essays and amazingly most of his subjects learn to live with and in some cases learn to love their shift in perception. Perhaps this demonstrates the extent to which out mind and our functioning can adapt and reorganize to cope with challenges. Sacks suggests that perhaps Jonathan’s brain reallocated certain areas for different functions, perhaps causing his stronger night vision and sharper long-distance vision.
I too was thinking about how different our perceptions of color may be. All of the readings asserted that color is not static, it depends on perception and context. It is constantly influenced by the surrounding colors and the ambient light. Although Livingston (I think) said that on average most people’s eyes seem to perceive colors in the same mechanical way it appears that our perception of color can still be very different. This seems like a question to continue to ponder, and one that will come up repeatedly as we read more about visual perception.