Do people who are blind from birth see colour and have dreams?

Question

I’ve always wondered this. What do people who have always been blind visualize and dream about? Do they see colour, cause that’s not a concept you can explain to person. A bit of a weird question but would really like to hear your answers. Thanx

Answer 1

Yes, blind people do have dreams. However, those blind since birth or very early childhood have no visual imagery in their dreams. Instead, they experience a very high percentage of taste, smell, and touch sensations in their dreams.

The breakdown is as follows:

There are no visual images in the dreams of those born without any ability to experience visual imagery in waking life.

Individuals who become blind before the age of five seldom experience visual imagery in their dreams.

Those who become sightless between the ages of five and seven may or may not retain some visual imagery.

Most people who lost their vision after age seven continue to experience at least some visual imagery, although its frequency and clarity often fade with time.



People who are blind do dream. The dreams of people who have been blind from a very early age (called “congenital blindness”) tend to be different from those who are blind now but had sight before. Those who are congenitally blind often have dreams that include more instances of sounds. Both groups experience dreams as imaginatively rich as those of sighted people.

Whether or not congenitally blind people dream in images has been studied, but the findings have been mixed – some studies conclude that congenitally blind people do not dream visual images, while other reports conclude that they do.

Answer 2

Ya know, I really think this is a good question. And it intrigued me, so I looked it up.

The answer, simply put, appears to be "no." When people born blind were questioned about what they "see" in dreams in several studies, their answers indicate that the experience of vision first is needed before it can be translated into a dream. Those blind for a lifetime instead experience other keenly developed senses in their dreams--i.e., the sensation of moving around, the emotion of joy, etc.

Dream images of the blind instead seem to be reconstructions of objects based on sensory input such as touch and sound, just as occurs in waking life. But can these images be accurately described as visual? Can an object be recreated in detail if the dreamer has in fact never experienced seeing it?

Other studies indicate that individuals blind at birth do see visual images. But it can be argued that these images are constructs based on input from other senses (and on what the dreamer has been told by the sighted about what these objects look like).

Answer 3

Ask a blind person or doctor for a certain answer.

EDIT: Have you ever noticed how you don't always really "see" in a dream? You're just kind of watching and observing (usually) and then when you wake up you either forget you had a dream or it's just a vague memory? I guess it's like that for blind people when they dream. So maybe they do dream, but they don't totally "see" (which is how it is for most people).

Answer 4

If the people were born blind, they have no visual imagery; the dreams consist of impressions from the other senses -- touch, hearing, smell, and taste. If the people were sighted and then became blind, their dreams contain visual imagery -- but these visual dreams might cease to occur eventually

Answer 5

I merely keep in mind this arising in my intro to psych type, and my professor telling us that folk who have been blind in view that start defined seen impressions from there desires that should merely logically be defined as shade

Answer 6

Not everyone dreams in color. You would have to ask a blind person about that.

Answer 7

maybe, ask a psychology