You should by now have your two readers Anthropologist on Mars (AM) and Memory Observed (MO). Please read the case of the colorblind painter from AM.
After reading the chapter, please respond to the following questions.
Prior to reading this chapter, what did you think about cognition, color perception, and the brain's ability to adapt? Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why? How has reading the chapter changed what you originally thought about cognition, color perception, and the brain's ability to adapt? How so?
Before I read the case of the colorblind painter I thought cognition played a major role in the brains perceptions. I felt that cognition is something that develops over time as we learn as our brains grow. As our cognitive ability develops, we are able to perceive the world we live in as normal and comforting. Prior to this assignment I had never had much thought or feelings to describe color perception. Seeing color is often times under appreciated. I have never personally met anyone who is color blind or struggles to see normal vivid images which has caused me to take my own color perception for granted. However, I have had in depth conversations regarding if everyone has the same color perception. I feel that some people's color perception is stronger than others and therefore more intense, or meaningful. I've always been very interested in the brain's ability to adapt. The fact that our brains are able to adapt after loss of particular brain structures due to severe injuries, disabilities, ect. tells us that our brains hold a much higher power.
The first thing I will remember from this chapter are the intense feelings and emotions Mr.I experienced after his accident. "The first weeks of his achromatopsia were thus weeks of an almost suicidal depression." For a person to lose their ability to see color is unimaginable to begin with. However when a painter, artist, and who's passion for life revolves around color & it's beauty loses their color perception is horrific. I'll remember reading about his feelings of going to bed desperate to wake up and see color and to taking delight in wearing the glasses even though they didn't bring back any color. I'll also remember that now Mr.I feels his lack for seeing color is now a "privilege." His "whole new world," is uncluttered by the color in which the rest of us are distracted by colors. I'll remember from this reading that what started off as a nightmare and suicidal depression for Mr.I eventually turned into "a dark, paradoxical gift," and that he no longer grieves his color loss.
One thing that I really liked about this chapter was Mr.I's courage and motivation. When they men first met Mr.I to work with and help him, it was obvious that he was severely depressed by his condition. However, throughout the many testings, procedures, and more Mr.I worked with the men and tried everything he could in hopes to find a cure for his condition. It would be very easy for someone to get frustrated & give up hope under Mr.I's circumstances however he stayed motivated to help the men understand what he was seeing & experiencing in hopes to eventually see color again.
I didn't particularly like how the chapter jumped around from Mr.I's situation to previous researchers work done of color perception. I understand that it was important to read about the previous researchers studies about color perception because it related to Mr.I's condition. However, I found this part of the chapter hard to follow along with and then jump back to Mr.I's case.
After reading this chapter I now realize that even though we have the cognitive ability to perceive things that our brain will not always be able to adapt. "He knew all the colors in his favorite paintings, but could no longer see them, either when he looked or in his mind's eye. Perhaps he knew them, now only by verbal memory." This statement from the reading helped me realize that even if we have the cognitive ability to "know," that our brains will not always adapt and allow us to express or experience our cognition. I have a whole new understanding for color perception after Mr.I's story. Color perception allows us to describe ourselves,feelings, emotions, and so much more. To lose the ability to see colors would be so devastating. After reading this chapter, my thoughts of color perception are much more grateful and appreciated.
Prior to reading the chapter I had a fundamental understanding of cognition. I understand that the brain is a complex machine that develops based on some unknown combination of our heredity and surroundings to form our ideals, values, and standards any possible situation we may come across. In terms of color perception, I tend to side with philosophical ideals. When we see things in "color" we all have a similar experience. Whether those experiences are the same between individuals, I can not say; but many people can agree that "Yes, that fire truck is red." I feel that the brain has an amazing ability to adapt, though I feel that between individuals it happens at different speeds and different degrees. Essentially meaning I feel that some people are more readily able to adapt to stimuli better than others.
With very little thought required, my favorite part of the chapter was Mr. I's epiphany when he's driving to the studio after he loses his ability to see color. It was that moment that he realized that even though he's lost something, he developed something new. It was at that moment, he had accepted what had happened and he had adapted to something new.
A close second would be the process that the painter endured in order to adapt to the loss of color. His testimonial states that he lost interest in eating because it looked bland, every day just seemed to be gray and miserable, even his motivation for sexual intercourse had decreased entirely. He was going through an extreme state of depression at the loss of a sense he was intimate with.
The third thing that I found incredibly interesting about the chapter was that Mr. I., though having lost his ability to see color was able to accurately organize thirty three different colors of thread on a gray-scale in four groups ranging from 0-25%,25-50%, 50-75% and 75-100%. This was one of the two ways that it was determined that had total achromatopsia.
The particular area that I found difficult to get through in the chapter was the section on the theories. In general, I tend to struggle with theories unless they are explicitly explained verbally and then I take notes and process them later. That's just one of those learning quirks that I have, but once it's committed to long-term memory; I have very few problems recalling that information, if any.
My ideas on cognition and the ability for humans to adapt remained intact, but my perception on color has been altered greatly. I can't quite say how my perception of color has changed because I still feel that people share similar experiences, but a change in those experiences opens whole new doors of something to understand. Everything he knew changed overnight and it was enough to put him in a heavy state of depression.
In short, the first section of the reader was enjoyable and allowed for people to test the waters on the ideas that we will be discussing throughout the entire semester relating to cognition, color, and adaptation.
I knew from before that the brain is very plastic and can change very quickly even at the age of 65. This is not intrinsic knowledge, this is what my Biological Psychology teacher told me is true and I believed her. But the case of Mr. I. is a very clear demonstration of the adaptability of the brain. As to how we perceive colors, I was fairly certain that it was more than just seeing a color. I knew that the brain toys with the information coming into our eyes and depending on the context makes some objects darker or lighter than what they really are.
There is an aspect to the reading that particularly stuck to me and this is possibly unnecessary analysis. But as I was reading and I saw his symptoms presented, I thought: "Well, he has a concussion, and he briefly could not remember his accident so his Hippocampus must be afflicted. He can't recognize letters for a little while so there goes Broca's area. Then he is completely colorblind so there goes an area of the occipital lobe. (I think Sacks said it was V4?)" And this is all very interesting because he gets everything back accept his color vision. Or rather Sacks assumes he gets everything back. But I have to wonder if it is at all possible that he did not get everything back. Just maybe he sustained only color-related damage. Maybe Mr. I has forgotten what color is, as stated in the book, not just because he went colorblind but also because the related area in the hippocampus is damaged. I was really disappointed that Sacks did not address this. But I really appreciated his otherwise thorough analysis of what was wrong with Mr. I. It was probably what I liked most about the chapter.
The second thing that I will probably never forget is the complete transformation of Mr.I. He was absolutely wretched and depressed in the beginning then in the end he thinks he is superior to everyone because of his special night vision! This is certainly an indicator of how the human brain will reconcile with itself to preserve self esteem. In the end he has corrected some dissonance within himself. He thought he couldn't do without color, then he had to do without color, he couldn't live with feeling himself inferior, so he decided that not seeing color was superior. But it is one of the marvels of the human brain.
One aspect of Mr. I's vision puzzles me and therefore is at the back of my head at all times. Mr. I sees blue as white and sees white as dirty. Now I remember a little from Intro to Psych. And I remember how afterimages work. So White has a black, blue has a red, green has a yellow afterimage and vise versa. This seems unrelated but if the brain tends to organize color in that way, then shouldn't blue be as black as red (according to MR.I)? But instead he sees everything in the wavelength spectrum where blues and violets are really light and reds are really dark.
I actually really liked this chapter, and there is nothing that I particularly disliked. But at times I did wish the reading would just end. The length of it bothered me because of the lack of humor. Sacks is only reporting and it does feel very much like a 40-page report.
I think the reading reconfirmed what I knew the brain could do and gave me a case to really reflect over. It was very fascinating.
Before reading the chapter The Case of the Colorblind Painter in Oliver Sacks’ book An Anthropologist on Mars I thought of cognition as the workings of the mind; thoughts, perceptions, just the inner workings of the brain. Other than the biological aspect (or more so the make-up of the eye) that I had learned about in my human biology class, I really hadn’t put much thought into color perception as interpreted by the mind. Facts about the brain fascinate me each and every time I read about it. There is seemingly never-ending information on the subject and the complexity of it is mind-boggling and there is still so much that is unknown. I knew, prior to this chapter, that different areas of the brain are responsible for different responses of the body, but again I never thought as deeply as to the workings of wave-lengths and higher functions of the brain. As far as the brain’s ability to adapt, I knew some of that. The brain can sometimes be amazingly flexible, taking on jobs of damaged (or even removed) parts of the brain. I know of some stories of children who have had half of their brain removed to prevent seizures and have gone on to live relatively normal lives (a lot more normal than if they were left having repeated seizures).
Three things I will remember from this chapter are that Mr. I could see much better at night. I will remember this because it is opposite of the norm. The vast majority of us can hardly see at all at night, so I found that Mr. I preferred it intriguing. The second thing I will remember is the AHA moment I had when I comprehended what seemed to be going on with Mr. I. It seems that normally wavelengths are sent on to higher brain functions to interpret into colors and in Mr. I it stopped at the wavelengths making this a conscious image to Mr. I in a gray-scale. This really caught my attention! I found this an amazing thing the brain does. And because of this it seems as though Mr. I can see things (his gray-scale versus our colors) faster than we can. And lastly, I won’t forget that given the possible opportunity to regain his color-sight later down the road, he declined, even though he had spent some time in a depressed state because of his condition. This makes me wonder about the mind and how something becomes “normal” and we don’t want that to change. Almost no matter what our condition: deaf, hearing, blind, seeing, we can find a way to feel blessed, special, gifted, unique and feel the desire to remain they way we are use to. I would also like to note that I found it amazing that Mr. I not only lost the ability to see in color but also to remember what the color looked like. I mean, when the booked talked about Mr. I sitting and trying to remember the green of the grass, I thought I can somewhat imagine seeing in black and white I cannot imagine not being able to remember the grass being green, an orange being orange.
One thing I liked that was in this chapter was the information about other at least semi-related conditions. It broke up the reading and kept you intrigued; really a lot of the side-notes were nice to have. Also, most of the chapter in the book was not full of too much jargon to make it hard to understand. However, that leads me to the part I didn’t like as much. The part with the cameras and where it started talking about V1 and V4 were harder to read and understand. I don’t know if it was the language, the way it was written, or if I just needed a break, but that was the main part of the chapter I did not like.
Reading this chapter reminded me of the complexity of the human brain and the amazement of it. Cognition, I really believe, is far from being completely understood and this chapter is proof of that. Cognition seems to be bigger/more complex than words could describe. It’s a fascinating thing! As far as color perception, I have put a lot more thought into it. The perception of color, I had never that about what that meant before this chapter. It doesn’t stop at the eyes or even one place in the brain. It is not a constant. To end, I learned more about the brain’s ability to adapt. Even if a damaged part function is not taking over by another part of the brain it seems that in time the brain adjusts to its new “normal”. It learns to function in a new way as to allow the person it live life as best as possible. It can unlearn things (like colors), I wonder if this is a protective feature, or if it finds it unimportant anymore so out with the old and in with the new. It allows the person to continue to live.
Before reading The Case of the Colorblind Painter I thought that cognition and perception were much of the same concept. Last semester I was in a biopsychology class so I am a little familiar with odd case studies of individuals adapting to situations much like Mr. I. In this class, we also touched on how the brain adapts to damages to the nervous system. In some cases neural regeneration can take place depending on the nature of the injury. Color constancy was also a topic of the class in which the textbook discussed that objects stay the same color despite changes in the wavelengths of light that it reflects. We find out later that Mr. I. lacks this.
The first thing from this reading that I will remember is the way in which Mr. I. describes his new perceptions of the world around him. He no longer finds pleasure in objects, food, people, etc. after his loss of color. He describes it by saying everything just feels “wrong” to him without color.
I also thought the section on diagnosing Mr. I. was interesting. The section started with explaining patients who “could match colors perfectly but have lost the names for the colors” (anomia). On the other hand, a patient with color agnosia “could also match colors, but would evince no surprise if given a blue banana.” After running all tests, I found it very intriguing that Mr. I. did not show signs of either of these problems.
The next section I found fascinating was the testing session in which Mr. I. was asked to sort yarn by colors. He then proceeded to accurately sort them based on the levels of gray he perceived. While reading this section I started to wonder, does everyone with colorblindness see the same tones of gray for the same colors?
The one thing I really enjoyed about this reading assignment was the addition of photographs and paintings. For me, it helped me better connect with Mr. I. as a person. It also helped for a comparison of his work before the accident and how much the lack of color perception changed his art.Before he was accepting of his situation I think painting was his only outlet into sharing his darkened world.
The one thing I did not care for in this chapter was the addition of experiments and past research, particularly the section on Maxwell’s color theory. It was a little hard to understand and I think that it slowed down my interest and made the reading a little more boring.
My original thoughts haven’t really changed after reading the chapter. I do think it is interesting how dependent Mr. I. was on his sense of color and that eventually his brain allowed him to adapt to his new black and white world. It is almost as if his brain also allowed him to adapt emotionally to the loss.
Most of my ideas about how the brain works come from the Biopsychology class I took last semester. Before reading the text I assumed that cognition dealt with the brain’s processes - very broadly cognitive meant ‘thinking’. I thought cognitive psychology referred to our way (our brain’s way) of comprehending what we experience - organizing information so that we understand, remember, and can use it.
When discussing color perception I had two separate ways of thinking about it. One side was more aesthetic and creative while the other side was ‘scientific’ and demystifying. Aesthetically, when looking at the world, I saw/see colors that are so perfect that ‘only God could have done that’. I also put colors together in my mind, and on canvas, that I found/find visually pleasing. On the other hand, I was told that colors are simply electromagnetic waves. There are few wavelengths in the entire spectrum that we can even see. Of those few wavelengths we get all of the colors that make up our world.
The brain’s ability to adapt is something I related to superheroes and disabled people (sometimes the same persons). Examples would be Batman, Daredevil, the blind, or the deaf. When I thought/think of the brain’s adaptability ‘heightened senses’ came to mind. When one sense is lost the others pick up the pace and compensate for it. Another way to look at it would be the connections in the brain and plasticity. During Biopsych we briefly discussed language in children. When brain damage occurs and the parts in the brain that deal with language are affected children, more so than adults, will be able to regain/adapt the ability to speak because their brain has greater plasticity.
There are many things that I will remember about this chapter. First, is when the book discusses the gray scale that Mr. I. sees. Hues change due to light hitting in different ways/intensities. A black could become a medium gray if the light hits it right. The book (Helmholtz) talks about when wavelengths are reflected off an apple. Some waves are shorter or longer than others (a fluctuation in illumination) but we still perceive them all as ‘red’. That made me wonder when the wavelengths have such a change that we actually see a different color. For example we can shine a blue light on a red apple that should make the skin actually look violet. Or if there is a yellow object next to a blue object will their sides that are closest look green-ish because they are sharing wavelengths?
Second, Helmholtz is also mentioned with the term “unconscious inference”. This is a mental image/memory we have of a color. This concept helps us disregard the constant variations that we see in color because of ever-changing wavelengths. An example that might work would be painting something from memory versus painting something from a still-life. Painting from memory would end up with flat plains of color where we disregard multiple wavelengths. Painting from still-life would theoretically have many different variations of the same color because the different areas of an object would reflect different wavelengths.
Lastly, at the end of the chapter when Mr. I. is discussing the possibility of being able to see color again. When asked if he would go through the process he says no. I think it is interesting that his entire memory of what his world/career used to revolve around has been erased. He found a new way to comprehend visual information.
One thing that I really like in the chapter was the molding of my two ideas about color perception. It is explained very well along with Mr. I. His aesthetic understanding was stripped away and he (plus others) used the scientific side to help him regain a sense of stability is new world. Obviously the chapter was not set up that way purposefully but that is, in a nutshell, what I got out of it.
One thing that I did not like about this chapter was a part that, more or less, confused me. The areas of the brain that used to be and are currently attributed to the perception of color were confusing to me. I did not like the verbal explanation but would have preferred a diagram or illustration of some kind to put these areas in to context.
After reading this chapter my views on cognition became more clear. It shed light on how cognition does deal with the brain processing information and how we understand the world. My views on color perception changed and are more collective and holistic. I have a better understanding instead of the two separate ideas I originally had. This chapter also broadened how I thought about the brain’s ability to adapt. It is not only the connections in the brain but adaptation can be individualized to specific people. I wonder if a non-artist would have changed or ended up the way Mr. I. did?
Prior to reading this chapter I did not have much to say about cognition. I understood that cognition deals with the brain and takes on certain adaptations to the different things experienced by one person or another. As far as color perception, I have always thought that color is specific to each individual. People sometimes disagree what certain color something is and I know that there is even a gender difference in how people see colors. With the brain's ability to adapt I know that it has great potential for adaptation and can bounce back from major injuries.
The chapter was an interesting read, but it was kind of long. I enjoyed the way the writer expressed the things he wanted to say, but sometimes found that he was repeating things over and over when they could have been summed up in just one paragraph. It also got kind of confusing when it came to him talking about different studies of individuals or different things that were found about color perception ect.
Aside from that... I really enjoyed some of the things that were brought up that some people might not really think about. When he talked about Mr. I's inability to eat and enjoy certain things that once gave him joy because of the change it color, it really brings reality to the surface. Color is extremely important to how we view the world, and it takes someone to lose it (at least in this case) for them to appreciate this.
Another interesting thing brought up was the fact that he could no longer dream in color. This was very interesting to me because we had talked about dreaming in color in class and it seemed ironic to show up in here. You wouldn't think that dreaming in color would change to black and white because that is in the brain and does not deal with real vision (at least I don't think so), but it changed for him.
One last thing that I thought was interesting was his grey scale grouping. He could see things in about four different percentages of gray and could categorize things this way. He lost his sight for color, but could do something that normal people would not be able to do that quickly. This helped with his diagnosis.. and helped him to continue to paint, though in a dull way at first.
My ideas haven't drastically changed about the three terms, but the way I think about color perception has changed quite a bit. I said before that I believed color was slightly relative to each human being, and this has definetly reinforced my views. Color was very important to Mr. I's world, and it continued to be even though he lost it. He knew the hues and names for all the colors, but has lost his ability to use this. By losing the color in his sight, he has lost the memory of color and can no longer dream in color.
I have always been curious about how the grey mush in our heads makes it all work, and I guess this is what I thought of as cognitions. The way our brains fire away to make it all happen, our thoughts and feelings, the way we see and hear the world outside of us, and the ways we process all this input. I guess it's a bit of a rough definition, but it's been sufficient thus far. The thought of the brain as un-adaptable has never been something I considered. My grandmother suffered an illness as a child and the entire left side of her brain was lost. As a child this horrified me, and as I learned more about the human body and mind I was amazed. She was told there were numerous things she would never do, including leading a normal life, but she ignored these limits and seems to be doing quite well. She can't drive, she calls me Matilda, and she's got a wicked funny sense of humor. My family's brain injury story doesnt end here. My brother had brain cancer, and lived, and is very entertaining to mess with because of his short term memory loss, and my mother had a stroke which left her speechless for two weeks... but she could still sing which was fun. She speaks quite well now. It's because of these influences, and others, that I became interested in psychology and the ins and outs of brain functioning. That's also the reason I find books like the "Anthropologist on Mars" so intriguing.
One of the first things I found so interesting about this story was the description given of the first time Mr. I noticed his world was lacking color, while he drove to his studio and the world seemed to be in a fog though he knew it should be a bright sunny day. This reminded me of the day last spring when there were a few days in a row where it was chilly and foggy, and all the trees and road signs and basically everything was covered in ice crystals. Driving in this type of scene was strange, things were hard to recognize without color. I realize that this type of experience is not the same, I was able to go indoors and find colors, and the fog was not permenant, but that odd feeling that something wasnt right was there. The world looked black and white and stark and strange, and the description from Mr. I remind me of those mornings, except for the stark contrast in my personal impression of how beautiful the world looks in shades of white and grey whereas Mr I's world was disgusting to him. Of course the fact mine was not permenant and was explainable may have led me to enjoy the change. Another thing that I will remember was the description of Mr I's dislike for certain foods because of their shade or lack of distinct color, like tomatoes or jam. My kids once begged me for this nasty purple ketchup... try eating that on your meat loaf! I sympathise with Mr I on this one... food is intrinsically linked to its appearance. We dont eat ugly food and we dont eat black strawberries and purple ketchup... and definately not together. Another bit I liked was the doctors interesting problem solving by giving Mr I green tinted glasses to help make the world more tolerable to look at, and to make tv bearable. Its interesting that a man who can not even concieve of color, let alone see in color, would need tinted lenses to view his world through. What a neat idea! Using color to fix the lack of color even though the color is meaningless to the wearer. I realize this is all about light waves and not the color really, but its neat!
The best part of the story to me? Definately the knowledge that in the end Mr I found his "disability" to be some sort of gift. It takes a really neat sort of person to be able to look at something that at one point in life was devestating and find that it has changed the way they feel about life in general and made a tragedy into something meaningful to them. This may sound really sappy, but im a sucker for sappiness.
So, what did the story of Mr I change about my views on cognition, color perception, that awesomely flexible brain? I learned things about the way the brain processes color and movement. I hadnt given alot of thought to what happens when you can see color, and even have a bit of synesthesia going on, and then loose color perception. This is not common at all and I'm sure Mr I is truly one in a million. The descriptions of how distance sight is so much sharper and how texture and such is so much more important was very interesting. There was alot of neat information on how the other parts of the visual system work to percieve movement, contrast, texture, depth, etc. I think its neat to think about the visual system as so many little intricate systems that work so well together that we really dont see the parts as seperate.
I knew very little about color perception prior to reading this chapter. I had never even given it much thought. My ideas regarding such a cognitive process were naive. I felt that it was just something we saw...like most things I guess. As far as the brain's ability to adapt, I had always been curious about some of the remarkably heightened senses that have occured in some areas of some people when they have lost something. The ability of the brain to compensate, or adjust to losses is nothing short of a miracle. It is amazing to think about all of the delicate processes that our brains perform on a consistent basis and the possibility that it can make adjustments.
The biggest takeaway from this chapter for me is the "feel good" story it turns out to be. Although this is not any truly learned aspect, it is certainly tangible. Mr. I. had seemingly become lost after losing his ability to see color and yet, ultimately, found his world to be a better place without it. This is a valuable lesson for anyone to learn about how to make the most or best of what you have and to never take things for granted.
I was fascinated with the statement on page 24 reagrding Classical Theory that basically said colors are not naturally "out there", but are constructed by the brain. I had always thought this/understood this concept to a degree, but after reading the chapter, it really solidified my understanding about the brain's true ownership over the color spectrum. Stories such as Mr I's only further validate this fact. If color was just "out there" for us to see, brain damage essentially should not have a massive effect.
Another thing I will think of in the future is how our sense of color is a "bottom-up" process. It is easy to understand that our brains ability to see color requires no knowledge or learning, however, I had never really thought about it like it had been described in the book. It is a part of our world, from the beginning. An easy way to understand and categorize.
Similar to what I had said before, I found the overall story to be the most likable. We all want things to "work out" in the end and be a happy story, and this was the case for Mr. I. He had found his new world to be something of a gift and had achieved happiness with this change. It almost seems as though once the brain has the time to adapt to such a drastic change, our emotional stability will return as well.
As much as I like things to be thorough, the first half of the chapter seemed to drag on and on about the story of Mr. I's. impairment. I felt as though I had a thorough understanding of the new condition and his feelings about such about half way through the author's description of it. Nothing about the information in general was unsatisfactory though.
While reading this chapter, I started to think about the brain as it's own universe. When we look out into the sky and see the unimaginable depth and exploration that is possible, we see our brains as well. That is, there is always more to discover in the universe; we will never find it all nor will we ever figure it all out. The same goes for our brains as well. Mr I. had such a unique situation that had rarely happened before. This is the most exciting aspect regarding cognition and the brains ability to adapt, change, and ultimately decide what is going to happen. We will never have all the answers.
Before reading this chapter all I really knew about cognition is things I have learned in previous psychology classes. For example when a child is able to distinguish that two glasses have the same amount of water, even though one is tall and skinny and one is short and fat, so it looks like the tall one would hold more. Cognition is really something we all learn as we grow older. We learn how to problem solve and apply certain knowledge to what we are doing.
Color perception is something I knew a little about. I have learned in previous psychology classes that people can be red/green color blind and that is often due to genetics. Other than this I really did not know a lot about color perception. From personal experience of my family or friends and I fighting over what color something "truly" is (whether the shirt was scarlet, purple, dark pink, etc.) was the only difference in color perception that I really noticed.
From biopsychology I remember talking about how the brain is amazing in the sense that it does adapt when it needs to. If some parts are damaged the brain may take over the jobs of the damaged part of the brain or if one sense is lost by a person the others become stronger (for example if sight is lost, hearing and smelling may become enriched). There are so many questions that still shock me about the brain, even though it can adapt so well.
The first thing I will remember from this chapter is the fact that Mr. I referred to people as being "rat colored." When this was talked about in the chapter I really understood how much things had changed for Mr. I and how people (including himself) almost seemed to be disgusting to him and they really did seem alien. The reason I will remember this is because Mr. I was going through so much change and people who he would have turned to seemed to be different as well. I think this even increased his depression he had in the first few weeks.
Having his dreams no longer be in vivid color is the next thing I will remember. Not only was Mr. I's vision impaired, but his dreams and memory of colors was gone as well (although he tried to deny this at first). I will remember this because people may think that losing color is not a "big deal," but after living for 65 years with color to all of the sudden not have color one day and forget what colors really looked like would be a major loss for anyone.
Finally, there was so many shocking moments in this chapter like Mr. I sorting the yarn into grey-scale categories and him having great night vision, but the one thing that still stands out to me happened very early in the chapter. When Mr. I first awoke after his accident he tried to read the police report and it looked like it was in Greek or Hebrew to him. This is something that I have never personally heard of before, so I was incredibly shocked when I was reading this part. I personally cannot even imagine trying to read something that I know should be in my language and I should be able to read it, and just stare at it and not be able to make any sense of it. Mr. I in the chapter desperately tried to magnify it to help read it, but it just made the Greek or Hebrew letters bigger. This is something that would have frustrated me to no end.
My favorite topic from the whole chapter is the fact that at the beginning Mr. I would have been desperate to do anything that would help him get his color vision back. He was absolutely devasted by the fact that as an artist, he lost his ablility to see colors. By the end of the chapter Mr. I seem very adapted to his life. He now loved the night life and felt that he was almost "superior" to people at night time (he could see further than most at night). He no longer pined to get his color vision back and no longer wanted to be cured of what he had lost. He accepted it and adapted to his conditions. This is extremely inspiring and humbling to read. Mr. I was obviously angry at first when he lost his color, but then it seems like he realized that he is still greatful for what he has, even though it is not perfect.
I really enjoyed reading this chapter, but I felt as though I needed a review from biopsychology when they were talking about the different parts of the brain and functions of them. While reading this chapter, I found myself wishing that I knew more about color impairment conditions as well. There were often other examples and cases in the footers of the chapter, but I felt that I personally did not know enough about the topic when I started reading this chapter.
After reading this chapter I realized even more that the brain can truly adapt to help the individual. For example, Mr. I talked about how his sharpness and focus were much better then they had ever been when he had color vision. There was another case in the book, which involved a lady losing her sense of movement. She was afraid to cross the street due to the fact that she saw the cars very far away and then very near, but never saw them move. She learned to adapt by listening to how near the cars were. This shows that she personally adapted to her situation, but more than likely she is now relying on other senses (like hearing), so those senses may become stronger now. My knowledge of color preception has grown a little. The chapter talked about how colors can vary under different shades of light. This was only noticable to Mr. I and not people who have normal color vision. Mr. I was able to put colors into a grey-scale layout in a matter of minutes. These are things I never really thought about until I read this chapter. I feel like after reading this chapter there is a lot more about cognition to learn than I ever imagined. This chapter really just opened my eyes to how much I still have to learn about the whole process.
Before reading "The Case of the Colorblind Painter," I had little knowledge on the subject of cognition, color perception, and the brain's ablility to adapt. In highschool I took psychology and sociology and I remember learning about the three cones each person has to correctly view color. I also remember learning that men are much more likely to be colorblind compared to women because it is a genetic disorder on the sex chromosomes. As far as cognition goes, the most I have learned about cognition would stem from my introduction psychology class I took here at UNI. I remember taking an in depth look at how each part of the brain works and its location. I can't remember everything, but I would say it was when I have learned the most about cognition. Another class that comes to mind is developmental psychology. In this class I learned that young children view objects very differently than adults. For example, I remember learning that if you take away something from a young child and hide it while they are watching they percieve that the object is gone and can not be retrieved. As children grow they learn that the object still exists and they will try and find it back. In the past I have learned little on the topic of how the brain adapts to color perception. That is why I found this article so appealing because it was a total shock to read about how the world can look dirty and dingy to a person who is completely colorblind.
Overall I found this reading to be very informative. In some of the footnotes is where I feel that I learned the most. For example one thing I will remember reading is when Mr. I spoke to boxers who also dealt with partial or total achromatopsia and how from certain blows to the head caused them to share what Mr. I's world was perceived as. That stuck with me because it was a personal gain for Mr. I to find others to speak with that suffered from the same thing he did. Another area that I remember from this reading was how dissapointing it was for a very talented artist to loose his knowledge of color. In my opinion it is like a track star losing one of his legs. It was unbelievable to me how someone whose past was filled with an extreme amount of knowledge when it came to colors to no knowledge what so ever. It was like he was starting with a clean palette where he could only choose from a level of grayness. With Mr. I's case I learned what kinds of tests are used to study and learn from people with colorblindness. For example, Mr. I attempted to work with the Ishihara color-dot plates as well as the yarn-sorting test.
All in all, the thing I enjoyed reading about the most was the level of confidence Mr. I displayed after knowing that his world would be forever changed. I felt it was motivating that he began to paint again and even remodeled his studio. I can't imagine how I would react if I was put in his shoes. Looking at paintings Mr. I had completed before and after his accident was interesting to look at because it showed how his brain perception changed tremendously. Also, due to my personal interest I found it fascinating how normal foods and objects grossed Mr. I out. It makes perfect sense to me because a huge reason people choose to eat a specific thing is due to its color along with taste and texture.
One thing I disliked about reading this chapter was related to the fact that Mr. I was so angry and upset about newly becoming colorblind yet when it came time to try and retrain another part of his brain to learn color he was repulsed by the idea. I understand it could be a confusing challenge and he was just beginning to accept his new perception of the world but it was frustrating to me to have him react in this way.
This reading taught me many things about how the brain handles color and how it perceives it. I am aware now of how color can change from the broad spectrum(red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet) to several levels of greys based on the brains ablilities. Even though colorblindness can hinder most of a person's life there is ways in which you can teach yourself to work with your vision. For example Mr. I learned the location of colors on a traffic light, labeled his clothing according to drawers, along with condiments for foods. The brain is a very complex system that changes overtime, and can change your view of the world, but most importantly after brain damage occurs it works to make up for it as in the fact that other senses become stronger. In Mr. I's case he stated that his actual vision was as clear as a hawk's and that his sense of smell became much stronger. When dealing with how cognition and brain adaptation occurs another intersting example to read about is Phineas P. Gage and how his personality changed based on a brain injury.
Prior to reading the first chapter of An Anthropologist on Mars, my understanding of cognition, color perception, and the brain's abilities to adapt were pretty basic. I never really thought about any of the terms outside from the general definitions I've learned in previous courses; however, I believed all three terms had a certain degree of overlap given what I know about cognition. As for color perception, I've always thought it had more to do with the eyes and how they perceive light waves. I can't say I was completely oblivious to the brain's role in the process, but I've never put much thought into how complex it may be. I've always been astounded by the brain's ability to adapt, and, it seems like in every psychology class I take, I am exposed to a story that furthers my appreciation for its incredible abilities.
Chapter one had a lot of interesting material that really stood out to me, particularly the section about colored photography. Our generation takes for granted how privileged we are to have access to things like digital cameras or colored / high definition television but we rarely ever think about the very first steps that moved us in the direction of these technologies. I was surprised after reading because I realized I had never really considered how black and white photography transitioned into color. As I mentioned before, the idea of color to me was associated with the outside world and the complex structure of the human eye, not any mental processes of the brain. I was fascinated by the two stories about Maxwell and Land and the conclusion that colors are constructs of the brain rather than completely external.
The text also discussed Mr. I's inability to see color in his memories, imagination, and dreams. I found this very interesting and also relevant to what we discussed in class the first day. After reading the chapter, I shut my eyes and tried to imagine specific colors. The experience was somewhat surreal. I was caught off guard the first day when Dr. MacLin asked if we dreamed in color. I didn't have an answer and I've honestly never really considered the type of questions about color discussed in the book!
The best part of the chapter for me was getting to read about how Mr. I adapted to losing his color vision. At first he expressed anger and bitterness about the experience; however, over the course of the first year, he accepted the condition for what it was and began to see the positives. It was also interesting to see how his brain adjusted to the situation. His early descriptions of his experience were insightful and helped readers get a feel for what he was going through. I think the best was the description of the clouds and sky meshing together as one. And later in the chapter I thought it was pretty neat how he used green glasses to help him adjust when exposed to a certain brightness outside.
My favorite part of the chapter goes along with Mr. I's acceptance of his condition. In the footnotes there was a story about a woman named Frances Futterman who was born colorblind. She explains she is often overwhelmed by the beauty of the world despite her inability to see colors. Mr. I starts to incorporate the same philosophy to his life by the end of the chapter. It was amazing to see the transition from Mr. I willing to do anything to get the color back into him saying he felt at peace in a colorless world.
The one part of the chapter I struggled with was some of the brain terminology. I haven't taken Biopsychology or any biology classes that would familiarize me with some of the terms. I don't feel like that was detrimental to learning but having a background knowledge of certain parts to the brain would be beneficial before reading in order to grasp concepts a little better.
I think the chapter confirmed my beliefs about cognition and the brains ability to adapt. It's incredible how the brain usually finds alternative ways to function when certain areas are damaged in order to create a degree of normalcy. My view of color perception has changed drastically. I would have never been aware of how elaborate the process of seeing color really is.
My first idea and definition of cognition and its relation to psychology was fairly general. To me, cognition could be translated to empirical perception; an attempt at quantifying and qualifying our sense of reality and the world as we see it. Surprisingly, my definition was not far off the mark. Ulric Neisser the father and coiner of cognitive psychology stated it rather simply
“The term "cognition" refers to all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. It is concerned with these processes even when they operate in the absence of relevant stimulation, as in images and hallucinations... Given such a sweeping definition, it is apparent that cognition is involved in everything a human being might possibly do; that every psychological phenomenon is a cognitive phenomenon. But although cognitive psychology is concerned with all human activity rather than some fraction of it, the concern is from a particular point of view. Other viewpoints are equally legitimate and necessary. Dynamic psychology, which begins with motives rather than with sensory input, is a case in point. Instead of asking how a man's actions and experiences result from what he saw, remembered, or believed, the dynamic psychologist asks how they follow from the subject's goals, needs, or instincts (Neisser, 1965).
Looking at this definition I find it funny that I never really thought of cognition in regards to color and its perception. Color is something I have grown up with. I take it for granted I assume it is always there even with a sibling who doesn’t have that luxury. And truth be told I never saw perception of color having anything to do with psychology. To me color has something to with the eye not the mind, so I didn’t feel as if it was in my range of study. Nor, did I think the brain could adapt in such a way of perceiving life without color as did Jonathan I.
I feel as if I have always had a general understanding of brain adaption as well. We are products of evolution so it is no surprise that our brain will attempt to adapt in hopes of furthering our survival. However, with that said like many I don’t really know the lengths and the extremes the brain can and will go to adapt.
What I will remember most about this chapter is the systematic way our brain works. When looking at how we perceive colors and the different levels those entail such as v1 and v4. How without us being aware our brain systematically moves information up through these levels much like a machine. Our brain works so much like a machine when one level fails such as Jonathans V4 it reorganizes and allows itself to put the load onto the lower levels. Thus, avoiding what would appear as a complete malfunction such as a total loss of eyesight.
Another thing that stood out and will continue to stand out is the truth that our brain does not like to reorganize. That when faced with the task it aggressively avoids; that we our almost disgusted when this change occurs. I interpret this idea because the general aversion to the abnormal as pointed out by Sacks.
Segueing me to the next theme I will remember, our brain’s ability to create a new reality. A theme I noticed in this chapter was Jonathan’s strong desire to change his abnormality, and then 180ing and gaining peace and acceptance of it. I think that is one of the most amazing things about the brain. Is its ability to not necessarily let us come to terms with reality but find and create our own? As pointed out he was given the option of attempting to regain his sense of color but he chose not to. I think this is important because it shows how we cope, shape, and frame. How we can destroy and create new schemas, in order to be psychologically okay. And the fact that Sacks hints at this is also one of my likes. I too often feel as if people expect us as persons to come to terms with reality, that this idea is what is psychological healthy. My perception is that it is better to create our own sense of reality using what tools and gifts we were granted rather attempting to adapt ourselves to this societal construct of reality. But in saying this I am only discussing my own sense of reality, and how I perceive things, I guess you could call it a paradox of cognition.
One thing I disliked about the chapter was the way it was written. It dragged on and on, and was rather dry and not engaging. I also feel as if I could have benefited with more than one example that was not as extensive but at least more informational then the ones he gave.
Overall, I felt that this chapter expanded on my idea’s and also opened me up to some. I felt as if it showed me the lengths a brain (and mind) will go to adapt and gain some sense of normalcy. I also felt as if it debunked a couple of my own misconceptions regarding cognition such as perception of color and its relation to psychology.
Prior to reading the case of the colorblind painter I was already fairly aware of how elaborate human perception is, but I never thought about how the sensory information is really processed in our brains. It was somewhat eye-opening how much our color vision actually effects how we see the world and what our sense of sight would be without it. It is impressive how a person could not only adapt to losing their color vision, but eventually become so accustomed to the world without color that its restoration could actually become confusing.
To me what really stuck about Mr. I was how rare is condition seems to be. I do not think I have ever read about a case of color blindness from a brain injury that did such specific damage. The other reason this case is extremely interesting is simply that it happened to an individual who had a great deal of knowledge about color and how to describe what he was experiencing. Lastly, his ability to adapt to such an abrupt change in perception is impressive to say the least. I could not imagine eliminating a portion of my ability to perceive the world around me and not dwelling on it to some extent, possibly for the rest of my life. Adapting to loss is not unusual, but excepting and embracing it for the rest of your life takes a complete change in how one thinks.
What I liked most about this chapter was the amount of detail Mr. I was able to use to describe his own predicament. Instead of having an outside source describing something they could not see, a knowledgeable artist was able to use his own words and paintings to express what his world had become.
The Case of the Colorblind Painter
When I think if cognition I think of the mind’s ability to connect an understanding to what is being seen. I also think of Cognition as more of the “Scientific” approach to our minds. Color Perception can be looked at as understanding what an object is through the color that we see in it. For example we see a slender angled yellow with brown running through it. We unconsciously, but instantly, recognize it as a banana that is beginning to rot. We know this because bananas are yellow. And we know that the brown color running through the object is a sign of the banana rotting. We know all this because this object is familiar to us. We see the colors and have been programmed to understand what it is. Now if the banana was just yellow and there was no brown in it we would see it as a ripe banana waiting to be eaten. But our brain’s look are able to adapt to the yellow fading into brown and make the object make sense to our brains by realizing that it’s rotting. Obviously that is different for some people. Now if you wanted to use those bananas for making banana bread, you would look at the bananas as rotting and see that, they are almost ready to be used for the bread (banana bread tastes better when the bananas are completely brown). In my opinion, this is a perfect example of how our brains are used to adaptation to our environments. We look at objects and are able to adapt to the current situation around us and make sense out of it.
One thing that I realized that I found to be quite obviously, but honestly, had never occurred to me was the idea that there are people out there who can’t see color at all. I knew people in high school who couldn’t see greens or reds, or they couldn’t see blue. But I guess I have never heard of anyone who couldn’t see any color at all. It seems quite obvious, but I was fascinated by the idea that some people out there can’t see any color at all. It seems crazy because the world that we live in is so colorful. I can’t imagine how a person could go through a day without seeing color. We take our color vision for granted. The world that we live in is a color filled world and we rely on this ability to see color so much that we don’t even realize it. Breaking it down into little examples, if I saw an apple, I would see by the deep red or green of it that it is an apple. A person without color could see that object and think that it could be a number of things, possibly a peach. If a person was relying on JUST their vision (without touching these objects) I think that it would be very hard to realize what certain objects were. I think that it would play a major role in how that person lives their life. It would almost be like a disability. Another fascinating thing that the author spoke about was that food looked gross to the person who lost their color vision. Could you imagine growing up in a world of colorful objects and then one day you get in an accident and then all of that changed. Your sense of yummy food would be distorted, as well as your way of life. He mentioned that there was a sense of “wrongness” in everything that he says and that was disturbing to him. Also, I don’t understand how a person could paint after being absent to all color. That might be a discriminating remark, and I don’t mean it like that, but I don’t understand how he could paint things without seeing the colors he was using to paint the objects.
The colorblind painter painted things of dark colors. Things that kind of brought out the anger he felt towards losing his color. He was angry and overwhelmed by the new idea of living in such a colorful world, but not being able to see it and experience it himself. He was forced to rely on his memories and past experiences of the color of objects around him, but could not paint that with a present view without looking into his memories of that objects. Jonathon went into a suicidal depression after his accident due to his impairment. But, he claimed that he still knew what the world around him looked like in colors. Over time, he became unsure of things because he could no longer see them. I liked how the author described Jonathon’s feelings towards the colorful world around him. He mentioned that Jonathon now felt “divorced” from the visual world around him. He seemed to remember some, but since there wasn’t that reinforcement of color he felt as though he was forgetting certain little details and therefore began to wonder if he was in fact remembering it, or just filling his brain with what he thought he remembered.
After my readings I have come up with questions regarding my prior thoughts of color perception and the brains ability to adapt. Quite simply, I don’t understand how a brain could adapt. How could Jonathon see that the banana was rotting without being able to see the fading brown skin covering the banana? How would he be able to realize when the banana was ripe and when it was green? Without the cones in his eyes reading the color how would he be able to understand anything of what he was painting. For example how would be know that the sunset that he is painting is actually black instead of the yellow paint he thought he was using. It would be really interesting to see his paintings and see what he thought the colors were. It would almost be like looking at a little kid who had never seen the sun and known that it was yellow, but painting it some random color because that it what color he wanted to paint it.
When I was reading this chapter two things caught my attention: plasticity of the brain and the unbelievable effect that our cognitive experience has on human’s personality.
It seems so strange and surprising to me that Mr. I lost not only the ability to distinguish colors, but the whole part of his own personality, connected with it. He did not have colorful dreams, even the memory of color vanished out after a while. This process in my opinion indicates our ability to adjust to the new environment and reject the “unnecessary” experience.
Mr. I’s case proves modern approach to the neuron network as a dynamic self-transforming system that can change itself due to the challenges a person experiences. If the knowledge of color is connected with our inner “self”, things like categorization and values, than Mr. I actually came through a self-transformation where part of his personality became some “new Mr. I”.
Patient’s intense synesthesia with music reminded me about the works of Russian psychologist A.R. Luria. His patient’s name was Mr. Sha, who worked in one of the Moscow’s newspapers in 1920-ies. Luria studied him for several years together with L.S. Vygotsky.
Mr. Sha had special, unique perception of the world, based on strong synesthesia. Describing L.S. Vygotsky’s voice as “yellow and crumbly”, a fence leading to the institute like “salty and coarse” he managed to memorize huge amount of information without righting it down or any extra drilling. After fifteen years he still remembered rows of figures, syllables, words that Luria had presented to him. In Mr. Sha’s universe all visual images had their smell; every sound had its taste and color.
For those who are interested: this information might be found in a book by A.R. Luria, “Small book about big memory”.
Again, to me this is the evidence of strong connection of our cognitive experience with the inner individual world, subconscious “self”, and personality as such.
Cognition is the brain's processing of information; this can be understood by those even with only a elementary idea of psychology. Brain processing is not a simple subject; it is a multifaceted scientific study of how our brain not only picks up information, but also how its stimuli are interpreted. The first chapter of An Anthropologist on Mars, is about a man who has gone color blind as a result of an accident, or as a result of some other brain damage as postulated in the chapter.
As for my own personal experience, I have found out that cognition is only partly subjective. Before I read the assignment, I thought that thinking was mostly hard-wired in our minds. Things we are subjected to find their way into our cognition, and affect our thinking. In The Case of the Color Blind Painter, I found that this is not the case. The subject in question could see color through most of his life, until he was sixty-five. Through an automobile accident or other factors, he could no longer see color. He could see color until the late stages of life; a time when the brain is thought to lose some of its plasticity.
This result was one of the most curious things in this chapter: he loses the ability to remember color. He could tell another person about the different hues in the color spectrum and down to the number and shade in paint. However, he could not close his eyes or see the colors in his dreams. Despite over six decades of color stimuli, he no longer even imagined color. He could tell you that a banana was yellow, but could no longer see a banana in its yellow hue. Only gray in his sight and in his imagination. He was very aware of his loss, and he suffered for it. The world he saw was now “dirty...everything wrong, unnatural, stained and impure.” He no longer saw color, though he could abstractly remember it. This inability to imagine color, though before he had done so almost without thought, will resonant with me.
I have known that the brain was elastic since I have taken Introductory Psychology courses. Its amazing ability to “teach” new areas of the brain have never ceased to amaze me. Reading this chapter lets me know how restricted our brain is, and how much it may adapt. The brain of this subject seems to not know how to reteach itself how to see color, but it will make the most out of different shades of gray. The subject can see better in long-distance sight than those who can see color as if making up for its deficiencies. Mr. I's night vision was also improving. The brain's ability to compensate astounds me, because it shows its amazing way that it deals with trauma.
I found the different shades of gray that Mr. I sees very interesting as well. What made me curious was the fact that red and green seemed almost black. I read a Wired article that gave a gene to monkeys that made it possible to distinguish between the two. It also was suggested that is why evolutionary we have color vision; to distinguish between ripe and unripe fruit. I don't know if Mr. I's “black” red and green support this, but it seems to help. The fact that contrast is affected as well in his case; if we didn't have color vision, the blackness of possible foods would help us find it.
Something I didn't understand in this chapter is why it briefly mentioned Mr. I's sudden loss of his ability to understand what letters stood for. It says that it only lasted five days, but I found this interesting. Why did the brain “heal” itself of this and not color vision? It could be simply a matter of relative damage, that the part of the brain that interprets color was worse than that of interpreting the alphabet. Both reading and color are abstractions. I was curious to know if his ability to grasp abstractions was impaired in any way, but the chapter did not elaborate.