In my ongoing quest to replicate the effects of cannabinoids on my vision through technology, I came across galvanic vestibular stimulation. The vestibular system seems to play a huge role in my cannabinoid-induced visual experiences, specifically in my ability to generate spatial and visual-like mental imagery. I gain better awareness of where my eyes are (but not necessarily better control) because of increased vestibular and proprioceptive feedback. I can also imagine a rotating ball in external space, and I can also understand spatial relations between actual objects. I've read some intriguing articles about how GVS can increase facial recognition, spatial memory, and visual memory speed, and that it can also have therapeutic benefits on brain regions that have been de-activated. I'm wondering if it could help reinstate the vestibulo-ocular reflex, which disappears in cases of congenital visual deprivation, and, even more exciting, whether simulating vestibular states through GVS could lead to visual-like experiences in the congenitally blind.
I think there are strong individual differences among the congenitally blind in terms of spatial navigation, and maybe variations in functioning of the vestibular system can account for these. I become disoriented easily and can't form a mental map of space.
You might find this article interesting: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18621365
I agree about the vestibular system and visual halucinations, but I also believe it is associated with mental imagery more generally: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1661665/
Yes! Here's what I think happens (and this is pretty much entirely based on intuition): Rapid eye movements during dreaming are somehow related to the activity of the vestibular system. The vestibular system (maybe combined with representations of parapersonal space in the posterior parietal cortex) are capable of simulating vision-like experiences. I say vision-like because they might not be visual per se, but they are relatively stable images that can be processed halisticly (parallel processing, unlike the serial processing of touch). Ordinarily, this simulation capacity (and the associated images) are not available to consciousness, but they can become available to someone in an altered state (marijuana use). If there could be another, non-pharhmacological way to give blind people access to these dream-images, (i.e. galvanic vestibular stimulation), then it is possible that even the congenitally totally blind would experience something akin to vision during waking life.
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