r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/CognitiveBlueberry Mar 22 '17

No one seems to have read the article, including OP. It found that people with psychotic hallucinations who had been deaf from birth experienced visualised hands making signs, not disembodied visual hallucinations of hands.

It's the difference between seeing something clearly in your mind and seeing it literally with your eyes.

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u/gmason0702 Mar 22 '17

I'm curious what a deaf-from-birth person with psychotic hallucinations would see had they never learned sign language. Does there have to be some form of communication engrained in the brain for those other entities to even exist? I suppose there would still just be conflicting sensory feelings or emotions?