Human Dermo-Optical Perception: Colors of Objects and of Projected Light Differentiated with Fingers

Abstract

It has been popularly reported that some persons can discriminate nonvisually among stimulus objects usually requiring visual cues. A female S (A) was reported to possess the ability of so-called “finger-sight” or “dermo-optical perception.” To determine whether there was anything unusual about her sensory behavior, S and three controls were tested using plastic discs, projected light and playing cards as stimuli. The stimuli were presented so as to prevent use of visual cues for identification. Results indicated that S performed reliably above chance and above the level of the controls as a group in discriminating colored plastic discs, colored projected lights, and in discriminating the suit and number of playing cards. Some controls also performed reliably above chance but below A.