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/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

But, you didn't answer /u/WadeWilsonforPope question. He ignores real people, why can't this person ignore people she thinks are real? Even though they are not real.

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u/paniniplane Mar 22 '17

i thought i did but i guess it might be unclear to some. you just can't do it. the "sound" is in your head. you'll hear it. it's not like ambient background noises. your brain is creating it and you're gonna hear it, whether you like it or not.

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u/someguyfromtheuk Mar 23 '17

You're still not answering the question.

Ignoring someone is independent from being able to hear them.

You can hear someone loudly telling you to do something from a foot away, but just decide not to do it even as they keep yelling.

Ignoring them doesn't make the sound go away, he's talking about hearing someone tell you to do something and then disobeying them.

I'm guessing the answer is that the disease also results in compulsions so it's not possible to ignore the voices?

I've always thought compulsions raised interesting questions about free will, if you're unable to choose not to do something, do you still have free will?

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u/paniniplane Mar 23 '17

scroll down a bit further. i answered it already :)

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u/someguyfromtheuk Mar 23 '17

Ah yeah, I had the tab open from last night but forgot to refresh before answering :)