Where is the observer?

[CraigT]

Following on from the last thread, I found myself wondering just exactly what I was 'seeing'.

The image wasn't on my retina - my eyes were closed and there was nothing whatsoever that looked like what I was seeing out there to see, plus sound affected it.

Next stop is the visual cortex. I tried to imagine myself looking backwards at an imagined screen plastered across the back of my brain. This felt right, but led to the question, if the imagery is indeed formed on the visual cortex, what is perceiving it?

It's interesting to think that we may, in fact, be going through life looking backwards

Cheers,
Craig

[~Brainwave~]

Hi Craig,

The image on the retina is inverted and back-to-front just by the optics of the eye. The brain then flips it top to bottom, and left to right so you can pick up your cup of tea, etc. When you look backwards at the back of your brain, you are probably experiencing the image the right way around, since "real" viewing is actually backwards as mentioned above.

By the way, when you say you weren't seeing the image on your retina, well some will tell you that's your "third eye" perceiving the image. But I'd say it's just your visual cortex, which is at the back of the brain.

Mike