Altering Sensory Input
"When a primary area is destroyed in man, the sense served by that area is not completely removed. In a few unusual cases, the primary visual cortex has been destroyed without damage to the surrounding visual parts of the cortex. The patient is blind, but he can still point quite accurately to things he is shown. He knows where something is in the visual field, but he cannot say what it is. This produces the amazing situation of the patient being unable to see something but being able to put a finger on it, at the same time insisting that he sees nothing. In a sense, we may conceive of vertebrates as having two visual apparatuses, one to tell what a thing is, and another to tell where it is." (Oxford Companion to the Mind, p. 525.)
All sensory input comes into a primary sensory area in the cortex. These areas are connected to secondary areas by nerve fibers who go nowhere else in the brain. The secondary areas (which are located in close proximity to their respective primary spaces) are connected to the association areas (where, you know, "connections" are made) and finally the motor areas. Each secondary area branches into ALL of the secondary areas and the motor areas. Synaesthesia is the confusion of one sense with another -- hearing colors, for example. It happens in the associative areas and the secondary areas. Data gets misfiled or incorrectly pathed.
Could you make it happen consciously?
writing
This is a reasonably comprehensive list of my published work, both virtual and physical.
THE MISFIT LIBRARY
I am Nine of Thirteen, one of the members of the Misfit Library, a writing collective which puts out a quarterly journal of our respective work. We are scattered across the globe and determined to change the face of the planet one story at a time. The link above will take you to Misfit Central where you can acquire copies of the journal as well as read exclusive online material.
SYMBOLIC
I wrote a column for OPi8.com's Transmit blogs: journals of the new dark underground. SYMBOLIC tracked the novel I was working on, referencing the process and the research materials which mad up the backbone of the work. In addition, SYMBOLIC busied itself with ruminations and considerations on the nature of language and communication. And a wee bit of mythology. The first 100 entries of SYMBOLIC can be found here on this site as well as at OPi8.com.
LITERARY REPRESENTATION
I am represented by Scribe Agency as my literary agents. Please contact these gentleman if you have any queries about my work.