Do people who becomes fully blind forget how things looks like?

[curiousnorway]

I'm wondering if perfectly sighted people who becomes totally blind would forget how colors, shapes, people, things etc. actually looks like and if they would be unable to imagine visual things. #Blind #Blindness #Color

[BlueCoyote]

Well, I'm almost completely blind. I have a leftover vision of about 2% on one eye. That's about the same as Christine Ha (the American woman who won in the TV show MasterChef). To explain what it feels like, I usually tell people that it is a bit like trying to look through an alabaster glass window... or maybe like standing in really, really, really thick fog. I can still see colors fine but other things are pretty difficult or impossible.

It's also important to mention that I used to see better. My vision has always been very low because I was born with this but compared to today, it was much better. When I was a little child, I was able to see on both eyes and I had a vision of about 30% on both eyes.

In my experience, blind people forget MOST visual things but not all. Basically, I can still remember the very rough "ideas" of things. For example when you say the word "tree", I know there is a brown trunk, there are thick branches that spread out and separate into smaller ones, then even smaller, and then twigs. And of course there are green leaves all around.
What I don't remember however are all the details. For example I know a tree trunk has a cylindrical shape and I know the bark is uneven because I can touch it - but I wouldn't be able to draw it. Also, I don't really remember what leaves look like unless someone gives me one to touch.

Similarly, I know the rough idea of a car but I can't visually remember all the different types of cars and how they are different.

By far the hardest thing to remember visually are faces because they are so unique and they have so many small details. When my vision started worsening again a few years ago, my wife often had to cry because I told her I wouldn't be able to remember her face anymore one day. This was very painful for her.
Now I am at the point where this has become reality. I think because my vision has become so bad, my visual memory has also become very bad. So, while I can still make out my wife's face if she comes really close to me (like when we're kissing), I usually forget it again just a few moments later. For example I just saw her 10 minutes ago and she's in the kitchen now... but I don't remember what her face looks like.

However, this does NOT mean that I don't remember anything. I still get an inner "feeling" when I hear about things, for example I feel my wife's physical presence and my love for her.
And I have become quite good at remembering individual sounds and voices.

[curiousnorway]

I've heard that it's only existing 500 facial templates and there's limited in how many facial features that exists. It's the combinations of them that's making us unique. Therefor many people have a look alike. So theoretically if the theory is right, it's possible to memorize 100 - 500 faces and then be able to know what the majority of the people in the world looks like without seeing everybody. Your mind just have to be creative with the combinations to get a lot of diversity. I've also heard that you can tell what something or someone looks like by touch, but I'm not sure if that's true or a myth.

[BlueCoyote]

Well, the problem is that as my vision has worsened, I have forgotten a lot of those details. For example I know that eyes are oval but that's about it. I can't see things like eyelashes. So, it's a very, very rough idea. Also, I can't really see the "inside" of the eyes, the white part and the pupil, unless I go really, really close. So, for me, faces are more like a combination of geometrical shapes if that makes sense. With skin color, that is ;-).

And yes... to a degree touching helps. In fact, I can recommend this to anyone who has a boyfriend/girlfriend or maybe a sibling or good friend. Someone you're very close to. Even if you have good eyes, it can be fun. Try to close your eyes and only "see" their face with your fingertips. You can also do this with other things... for example gently sliding your fingers along a plaster wall or over a wooden table or maybe a lawn in the garden. Close your eyes and just try to "suck in" the feeling you get from touching. It can be (cont.)

[BlueCoyote]

a very nice experience. A lot of people with good eyesight only use their eyes in every-day life, so they tend forget about their other senses. Exploring the world with your other senses can be quite fun, even if it's just for a minute. Because a surface may not actually feel the way it looks. For example I really like rough wooden tables (the ones you find at fireplaces in the forest or at lakes). They don't look very nice because they're just dark brown but when you go over them with your hand and feel all the small cracks in the wood and you try to smell the wood, it can feel really special.

[curiousnorway]

Thanks for answer. Do you think you would ever forget how colors looks like if you becomes totally blind in the future? It sounds difficult for both you and your girlfriend that you would forget how she looks like. That sounds actually a bit scary since it's one of your closest.

[BlueCoyote]

As for colors:
Yes and no. If I become completely blind, I probably won't be able to see colors "in front of my inner eye" anymore. In this sense, I will forget them. My fantasy won't be able to reproduce blue or green or red.
BUT I will still have an idea/concept of what each color is like. For example if I was completely blind and you told me "your t-shirt is blue", I would still know that certain colors fit to this and others don't. People who have never experienced colors because they were blind since birth don't have that. For them, colors are just empty words. "Green" doesn't mean anything to them. When I become blind and someone tells me "the sky is really red today", I will immediately know that this is a bit strange or at least special, even if I don't remember what the color red looks like. And if someone tells me "your cocktail is blue and green", I would know that it must look pretty cool.
People who have never experienced colors wouldn't know these things because (cont.)

[BlueCoyote]

the words don't mean anything to them. For a person who has been born blind, a red sky is just as normal as a blue sky or a green sky or a pink sky. The only way they can know what's normal and what's not normal is by learning it by heart, like learning French. For me, that's different. Even when I forget what the color blue looks like, I will have a "feeling" for why blue skies make sense and pink skies don't.

As for my wife:
Yes, in a way it is quite scary. I think it's even more scary for her than for me because it feels a bit like I would forget her entirely.
But that's of course not the case. I only forget her looks but all the other memories stay. And some memories might even improve. For example lately I have noticed that I can remember her voice much better. Even when she's away for several days, I can clearly "hear" her voice in my "inner ear". Back when my vision was better, this wasn't really possible.

[ScaryCool]

My grandpa turned blind around 30 and I don't believe so. I say this because if he is getting new clothes he asks for specific colors and constantly talks about places he has seen and describes them. Most people who go blind, their other senses go up. His memory is ridiculously crazy and if I tell him a phone number, he only needs to hear it about 2-3 times and he's got it for good in his head.

[CubsterShura]

I don't think so people would forget blue green yellow... But things with detailing like a person's exact facial features, the designs on a dress, the exact appearance of an animal etc can get forgotten.

[acooke-13]

No. My great uncle is blind and he still talks about what things look like and colours and stuff. He's in his 70's and went blind in his early teens

[cherryphi82]

I don't think the ability to visualize internally is in any way connected to the actual cortex of eye sight, so, no.

[Aynsof]

Well from the few times I have spoken to blind people who were not blind by birth it seems that they do remember colours and such at least... because I am too curious not to ask them about things like that heh

[Whatthefluff]

Yes. Most blind people weren't born blind, but memory fades

[Domiqz]

They will never know what new things will look but they will remember everything

[Roje_Kurdish_Gil]

Ihm ihm I don't think some people would forget something thing maybe clothes, dress or anything

[JKask]

That is a good question...

[Anonymous]

you could find out by sticking a pin into each of yours

[cupidkisses]

i think they do forget by time

[Dwaboutmynamelmao]

Don’t think so

[AlexEfron]

I doubt it.

[BronzedAdonis]

Don’t think so