An informational neurobiological explanation purposes of the poetry of Notes on Blindness (2016); Una explicación neurobiológica informacional a propósito de la poética de notas sobre la ceguera (2016)

Abstract

On the gradual loss of John Hull's vision and memories, recounted in Notes on blindness (2016), we propose an informational explanation of the neurological changes that blindness leads to. The brain, as a reorganization system, can adapt to the loss of functions, such as sight, and on this base the development of new adaptive capacities. In John Hull, the epicconscious activity is maintained on the basis of a perceptual activity that is oriented essentially from the auditory and the tactile, and no longer from the visual modality. The visual memory is fading, while the conscious-psychic activity is based on the auditory memory and the tactile memory. The occipital primary areas were wrapped, from above (kinetically) in the paleocortical areas, achieving non-typical processing: such as activation in the perception of sound and touch. Epicconscious activity is never altered. John Hull always imagines and thinks, always acts and perceives. The essential thing that happens to him is that he must learn to perceive not visually but, and essentially: auditory and tactile. John Hull, then, has learned to see with his auditory and tactile sensations. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.