How much of what you see is a hallucination? - Elizabeth Cox

A condition called Charles Bonnet Syndrome can cause blind patients to hallucinate scenes in vivid color. fMRI studies show that these hallucinations activate the same brain areas as sight — areas that are not activated by imagination. Other hallucinations also involve the same brain areas as real sensory experiences. What's going on? Elizabeth Cox details the science of hallucinations.

Lesson by Elizabeth Cox, directed by Nerdo.

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[arithea]

"she was completely blind."
That really got me wtf

[ramanrendersrandomly]

The animations were one of the best I've ever seen

[tannerabbott]

Mom: WHICH ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS CONVINCED YOU TO TRY LSD??!?
Me: uhh, TED-ED

[freakinstien]

Rosali just vibin in her chair when suddenly she starts tripping

[JustinY.]

Lack of sleep definitely causes some hallucinations

[CuriosityCulture]

I think it's so freaking impressive how ted's animations reflects to the storyline. Well done!

[oilylondon]

"she was completely blind."
*jazz music stops*

[magicmjk]

The animation is AMAZING. As an artist, I appreciate such great endeavor for creating a visual environment for education to happen at it's very best. Salute to the director.

[jamdc]

I felt like it was an episode from Adventure Time.

[jake-ipvg]

once i started playing tf2 at around 11am and passed out on my keyboard at around 4am and when i woke up at 11am i could still hear the explosions and bullet fire of tf2, until i remembered i lived in south sudan and those sounds werent hallucinations

[trumanzim]

Really makes you wonder, if our brain fills in a lot of our vision with stored info, what in real life are we actually seeing and what isn't actually real?

[gatlina]

The cuteness of the hallucination lill guy kinda makes me want to hallucinate just to maybe see it

[tvlogs]

Well, we will fix this bug in the upcoming update

[azizuladnan]

When the narrator, Susan Zimmerman, said Rosalie was completely blind, with the build up of Rosalie seeing those real-life crowd of circus performers burst into her room, that just blows my mind!
That's what I called a plot twist!

[moon_roses]

Ever had that hallucination right after you woke up, that you're holding your phone in your hand, but then you open your eyes and realize you're actually holding nothing?

[bluesky]

I’m now remembering the time a few years ago my clothes crawled around on my floor for a few days and I heard someone breaking down my door and terrorizing. May I never relive those days of my life again.

[deathisinevitable]

Why doesn't the animator remake sonic

[kirbymarchbarcena]

It's quite amazing and surprising that someone who is blind since birth can distinguish colors in their imagination. Yes, they may know the basic colors but having knowing how red is different from blue is another matter.

[ette_ca]

This was a great talk! ♥ *I was really surprised, however, that you didn't mention the fact that no blind person has ever been diagnosed with schizophrenia.* To me, that's perhaps the most fascinating part, especially since the most common form of hallucinations for those suffering with schizophrenia are auditory.
P.S. since everything we see is subjective, and is all experienced in the brain (for instance: how colorblind people see the world differently), isn't it technically _all_ a hallucination? :)

[atharvius]

The brain is so underrated! A lot of people would be fascinated if they’re told about the subject in the right way. Thanks so much TED-Ed :D