New research reveals that the human brain utilizes the same set of neurons and the same neural code to both see physical objects and imagine them in the mind's eye, according to a report by NPR.
The study, published in the journal Science, shows that the neural pathways activated by actual sight are the same as those used during visual imagination.
Varun Wadia, a brain scientist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the California Institute of Technology, noted that this process allows individuals to perform tasks like navigating via a mental map or remembering a loved one's face.
"I can look at an object in the world around me, but I can also close my eyes and imagine the object," Wadia said, as reported by NPR.
Advancing vision technology
Previously, the precise neural mechanisms behind visual imagination remained a mystery to scientists. Kalanit Grill-Spector, a psychology professor at Stanford University's Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, stated that this level of demonstration has not been shown before at the neural level.
The findings offer a blueprint for future medical technologies. Scientists believe these insights could lead to the creation of computer models that simulate vision and various vision disorders, such as macular degeneration.
Such models could eventually assist researchers in developing prosthetic devices designed to restore sight to the blind.
Thomas Naselaris, a neuroscientist at the University of $Minnesota$, added that the research clarifies how the brain uses imagination to augment visual information received through the eyes.
