Editing Blindsight (section)

==== "DB" ====
Researchers applied the same type of tests that were used to study blindsight in animals to a patient referred to as "DB". The normal techniques used to assess visual acuity in humans involved asking them to verbally describe some visually recognizable aspect of an object or objects. DB was given forced-choice tasks to complete instead. The results of DB's guesses showed that DB was able to determine shape and detect movement at some unconscious level, despite not being visually aware of this. DB himself chalked up the accuracy of his guesses to be merely coincidental.<ref name="Weiskrantz">{{cite journal|title=Blindsight|journal=Scholarpedia|volume=2|issue=4|pages=3047|vauthors = Weiskrantz L|doi=10.4249/scholarpedia.3047|year=2007|bibcode=2007SchpJ...2.3047W|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The discovery of the condition known as blindsight raised questions about how different types of visual information, even unconscious information, may be affected and sometimes even unaffected by damage to different areas of the visual cortex.<ref name="Stoerig">{{cite journal|vauthors = Stoerig P|title = Varieties of vision: from blind responses to conscious recognition|journal = Trends in Neurosciences|volume = 19|issue = 9|pages = 401–6|date = September 1996|pmid = 8873358|doi = 10.1016/S0166-2236(96)10051-5|s2cid = 25012895}}</ref> Previous studies had already demonstrated that even without conscious awareness of visual stimuli, humans could still determine certain visual features such as presence in the visual field, shape, orientation and movement.<ref name="Weiskrantz" /> But, in a newer study evidence showed that if damage to the visual cortex occurs in areas above the primary visual cortex, the conscious awareness of visual stimuli itself is not damaged.<ref name="Stoerig" /> Blindsight shows that even when the primary visual cortex is damaged or removed a person can still perform actions guided by unconscious visual information. Despite damage occurring in the area necessary for conscious awareness of visual information, other functions of the processing of these visual percepts are still available to the individual.<ref name="Weiskrantz" /> The same also goes for damage to other areas of the visual cortex. If an area of the cortex that is responsible for a certain function is damaged, it will only result in the loss of that particular function or aspect, functions that other parts of the visual cortex are responsible for remain intact.<ref name="Stoerig" />