End To Blindness?

Kevin writes "For the first time ever, researchers from a company called Optobionics surgically implanted an artificial retina into three patients who are blind from retinitis pigmentosa. These highly-experimental prosthetic devices, made of silicone computer chips, are intended to restore ambulatory vision, thereby giving people the freedom to walk without the assistance of a cane or guide dog. Researchers are begining to develop computer chips that might function in place of damaged photoreceptor cells."

Comments

How do blind people visualize?

[Plasmic]

I'm curious about something and I think the follow-up discussion will be interesting:

How do people that have been blind their entire life visualize things?

I don't mean to imply that they can't visualize, only that I'm wondering about the extent of their ability to create mental images and how they differ from my own (FYI, I am not blind). That is, it seems as thought they could feel an object and create some sort of wireframe-like thing in their head. Maybe a more appropriate question would have been directed at what they visualize. Most my visualization consist of a combination of things I've perceived with my eyes, not to mention issues associated with color.

Well, there's my potentially ignorant question that's probably only answerable by either blind people or someone who has close contact with them.

Educate us.