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Daredevil and the Physics of Falling example

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How Does DAREDEVIL "See"? || Comic Misconceptions || NerdSync

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How Does DAREDEVIL "See"? || Comic Misconceptions || NerdSync

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How Does DAREDEVIL "See"? || Comic Misconceptions || NerdSync

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How Does DAREDEVIL See Without Sight? (Because Science w/ Kyle Hill)

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How Does DAREDEVIL See Without Sight? (Because Science w/ Kyle Hill)

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How Does DAREDEVIL See Without Sight? (Because Science w/ Kyle Hill)

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Cross modal plasticity is the adaptive reorganization of neurons to integrate the function of two or more sensory systems. Cross modal plasticity is a type of neuroplasticity and often occurs after sensory deprivation due to disease or brain damage. The reorganization of the neural network is greatest following long-term sensory deprivation, such as congenital blindness or pre-lingual deafness. In these instances, cross modal plasticity can strengthen other sensory systems to compensate for the lack of vision or hearing.

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Cross modal plasticity is the adaptive reorganization of neurons to integrate the function of two or more sensory systems. Cross modal plasticity is a type of neuroplasticity and often occurs after sensory deprivation due to disease or brain damage. The reorganization of the neural network is greatest following long-term sensory deprivation, such as congenital blindness or pre-lingual deafness. In these instances, cross modal plasticity can strengthen other sensory systems to compensate for the lack of vision or hearing. This strengthening is due to new connections that are formed to brain cortices that no longer receive sensory input.

Even though the blind are no longer able to see, the visual cortex is still in active use, although it deals with information different from visual input. Studies found that the volume of white matter ( myelinated nerve connections) was reduced in the optic tract, but not in the primary visual cortex itself. However, grey matter volume was reduced by up to 25% in the primary visual cortex. The atrophy of grey matter, the neuron bodies, is likely due to its association with the optic tract. Because the eyes no longer receive visual information, the disuse of the connected optic tract causes a loss of grey matter volume in the primary visual cortex. White matter is thought to atrophy in the same way, although the primary visual cortex is less affected.

For example, blind individuals show enhanced perceptual and attentional sensitivity for identification of different auditory stimuli, including speech sounds. The spatial detection of sound can be interrupted in the early blind by inducing a virtual lesion in the visual cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation.

The somatosensory cortex is also able to recruit the visual cortex to assist with tactile sensation. Cross modal plasticity reworks the network structure of the brain, leading to increased connections between the somatosensory and visual cortices. Furthermore, the somatosensory cortex acts as a hub region of nerve connections in the brain for the early blind but not for the sighted. With this cross-modal networking the early blind are able to react to tactile stimuli with greater speed and accuracy, as they have more neural pathways to work with. One element of the visual system that the somatosensory cortex is able to recruit is the dorsal-visual stream. The dorsal stream is used by the sighted to identify spatial information visually, but the early blind use it during tactile sensation of 3D objects. However, both sighted and blind participants used the dorsal stream to process spatial information, suggesting that cross modal plasticity in the blind re-routed the dorsal visual stream to work with the sense of touch rather than changing the overall function of the stream.

Experience dependence

There is evidence that the degree of cross modal plasticity between the somatosensory and visual cortices is experience-dependent. In a study using tactile tongue devices to transmit spatial information, early blind individuals were able to show visual cortex activations after 1 week of training with the device. Although there were no cross modal connections at the start, the early blind were able to develop connections between the somatosensory and visual cortices while sighted controls were unable to. Early or congenitally blind individuals have stronger cross modal connections the earlier they began learning Braille. An earlier start allows for stronger connections to form as early blind children have to grow up using their sense of touch to read instead of using their sight. Perhaps due to these cross modal connections, sensory testing studies have shown that people who are born blind and read braille proficiently perceive through touch more rapidly than others. Furthermore, tactile spatial acuity is enhanced in blindness and this enhancement is experience-dependent.

Cross modal plasticity can also occur in pre-lingual deaf individuals. A functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI) study found that deaf participants use the primary auditory cortex as well as the visual cortex when they observe sign language. Although the auditory cortex no longer receives input from the ears, the deaf can still use specific regions of the cortex to process visual stimuli. Primary sensory abilities like brightness discrimination, visual contrast sensitivity, temporal discrimination thresholds, temporal resolution, and discrimination thresholds for motion directions do not appear to change in the loss of a modality like hearing. However, higher-level processing tasks may undergo compensating changes. In the case of auditory deprivation, some of these compensations appear to affect visual periphery processing and movement detection in peripheral vision.

Deaf individuals lack auditory input, so the auditory cortex is instead used to assist with visual and language processing. Auditory activations also appear to be attention-dependent in the deaf. However, the process of visual attention in the deaf is not significantly different from that of hearing subjects. Stronger activations of the auditory cortex during visual observation occur when deaf individuals pay attention to a visual cue, and the activations are weaker if the cue is not in the direct line of sight. One study found that deaf participants process peripheral visual stimuli more quickly than hearing subjects. Deafness appears to heighten spatial attention to the peripheral visual field, but not the central one. The brain thus seems to compensate for the auditory loss within its visual system by enhancing peripheral field attention resources; however, central visual resources may suffer.

Improvements tend to be limited to areas in the brain dedicated to both auditory and visual stimuli, not simply rewriting audio-dedicated areas into visual areas. The visual enhancements seem to be especially focused in areas of the brain that normally process convergence with auditory input. This is specifically seen in studies showing changes in the posterior parietal cortex of deaf individuals, which is both one of the main centers for visual attention but also an area known for integrating information from various senses.

Recent research indicates that in attention-based tasks such as object tracking and enumeration, deaf subjects perform no better than hearing subjects. Improvement in visual processing is still observed, even when a deaf subject is not paying attention to the direct stimulus. A study published in 2011 found that congenitally deaf subjects had significantly larger neuroretinal rim areas than hearing subjects, which suggests that deaf subjects may have a greater concentration of retinal ganglion cells.

Sign language

Deaf individuals often use sign language as their mode of communication. However, sign language alone does not appear to significantly change brain organization. In fact, neuroimaging and electrophysiology data studying functional changes in visual pathways, as well as animal studies of sensory deprivation, have shown that the enhancement in attention of peripheral visual processing found in deaf individuals is not found in hearing signers.

The peripheral visual changes are seen in all forms of deaf individuals - signers, oral communicators, etc. Comparative fMRIs of hearing speakers and hearing early signers, on the other hand, show comparable peripheral activation. The enhancement in attention of peripheral visual processing found in deaf individuals has not been found in hearing signers. It is therefore unlikely that signing causes the neurological differences in visual attention.

Cochlear implants

Another way to see cross modal plasticity in the deaf is when looking at the effects of installing cochlear implants. For those who became deaf pre-lingually, cross modal plasticity interfered with their ability to process language using a cochlear implant. For the pre-lingual deaf, the auditory cortex has been reshaped to deal with visual information, so it cannot deal as well with the new sensory input that the implant provides. However, for post-lingual deaf their experience with visual cues like lip reading can help them understand speech better along with the assistance of a cochlear implant. The post-lingual deaf do not have as much recruitment of the auditory cortex as the early deaf, so they perform better with cochlear implants. It was also found that the visual cortex was activated only when the sounds that were received had potential meaning. For instance, the visual cortex activated for words but not for vowels. This activation is further evidence that cross modal plasticity is attention dependent.

Cross-modal plasticity can be mutually induced between two sensory modalities. For instance, the deprivation of olfactory function upregulate whisker tactile sensation, and on the other hand, the trimming of whiskers upregulates olfactory function. In terms of cellular mechanisms, the coordinated plasticity between cortical excitatory and inhibitory neurons is associated with these upregulations of sensory behaviors.

1. ^ Van Brussel, L.; Gerits, A.; Arckens, L. (2011). "Evidence for Cross-Modal Plasticity in Adult Mouse Visual Cortex Following Monocular Enucleation". Cerebral Cortex. 21 (9): 2133-2146. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhq286. PMID 21310780.

2. ^ Bonino, D; Ricciardi, E; Sani, L; Gentili, C; Vanello, N; Guazzelli, M; Vecchi, T; Pietrini, P. (2008). "Tactile spatial working memory activates the dorsal extrastriate cortical pathway in congenitally blind individuals". Arch. Ital. Biol. 146 (3-4): 133-146. PMID 19378878.

3. ^ Van Boven, R. W.; Hamilton, R. H.; Kauffman, T.; Keenan, J. P.; Pascual-Leone, A. (2000-06-27). "Tactile spatial resolution in blind braille readers". Neurology. 54 (12): 2230-2236. doi:10.1212/wnl.54.12.2230. ISSN 0028-3878. PMID 10881245. S2CID 12053536.

4. ^ Fine, I; Finney, EM; Boynton, GM; Dobkins, K. (2005). "Comparing effects of auditory deprivation and sign language within the auditory and visual cortex". J Cogn Neurosci. 17 (10): 1621-37. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.379.9029. doi:10.1162/089892905774597173. PMID 16269101. S2CID 5498280.

5. ^ Proksch, J.; Bavelier, D. (2002). "Changes in the spatial distribution of visual attention after early deafness". Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 14 (5): 687-701. doi:10.1162/08989290260138591. PMID 12167254. S2CID 207673213.

6. ^ Proksch, J.; Bavelier, D. (2002). "Changes in the spatial distribution of visual attention after early deafness". Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 14 (5): 687-701. doi:10.1162/08989290260138591. PMID 12167254. S2CID 207673213.

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Cross modal plasticity is the adaptive reorganization of neurons to integrate the function of two or more sensory systems. Cross modal plasticity is a type of neuroplasticity and often occurs after sensory deprivation due to disease or brain damage. The reorganization of the neural network is greatest following long-term sensory deprivation, such as congenital blindness or pre-lingual deafness.

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Daredevil's powers and abilities

Superhuman Sense of Touch

Daredevil's sense of touch is so acute that his finger can feel the faint impressions of ink on a printed page, allowing him to read by touch. The rest of his skin is equally sensitive, enabling him by concentration to feel minute temperature and pressure changes in the atmosphere around him. Even with his senses of smell and hearing blocked, he can feel the presence of a person standing five feet away from him simply by his or her body heat and disturbance of air. A side effect of his sense of touch is Daredevil's ability to manipulate his muscles and internal organs. The sense of touch is not just external, but internal too (central nervous system), thereby giving him the ability to have total body control, increasing his strength and reflexes to near peak human levels and increasing his agility to enhanced human levels.

Superhuman Sense of Smell

Daredevil's sense of smell is so acute that he can distinguish between identical twins at twenty feet by minute differences in smell. He can detect odors of an atmospheric concentration of thirty parts per million. Further, his ability to remember smells enables him to identify any person he has spent at least five minutes with by smell alone, no matter how he or she might try to camouflage his or her natural odor. His powers of concentration are such that he can focus upon a single person's smell and follow it through a crowd of people at a distance of fifty feet.

Superhuman Sense of Hearing

Daredevil's sense of hearing enables him to detect an acoustic pressure change of one decibel at a pressure level of seven decibels (whereas the lowest threshold for average human hearing is twenty decibels.) He can hear a person's heartbeat at a distance of over twenty feet, or people whispering on the other side of a standard soundproofed wall. Through practice, Daredevil is able to control his hearing acuity, mentally blocking out specific sounds like his own breathing and heartbeat, all ambient sounds to a normal human level of perception, or all sounds but a particular sound he is concentrating upon.

Lie Detection Daredevil can tell whether a person is lying by listening to changes in his or her heartbeat (though he can be fooled by a pacemaker or those able to control their own heartbeat.)

Person Identification

Daredevil can identify people by the specific patterns of their heartbeats.

Superhuman Sense of Taste: Daredevil's sense of taste enables him to detect the number of grains of salt on a pretzel. His ability to remember tastes enables him to determine every ingredient of a food or drink he tastes, as long as there are at least twenty milligrams of that substance present.

Superhuman Sense of Balance

It is a common misconception that balance isn't a sense, but Daredevil's balance centers give him equilibrium on par with Spider-Man.

Radar Sense

Daredevil can also sense the proximity and arrangement of objects about himself. According to one theory, Daredevil's "radar sense" functions via his brain's generation of energy within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The signal emanates from sending regions of his brain, after which it travels outward, bounces off objects around him, and returns to receiving regions of his brain. Another theory is that this sense functions more closely to sonar in which Daredevil hears the faint echoes of sounds as they bounce off nearby objects. His sense may operate by a combination of these techniques or by other, unknown means. In any event, via this ability, Daredevil synthesizes a very close analogue of three-dimensional human sight. After he lost the Radar, Matt's instructor Stick retaught him his Radar/Senses through special training. Stick told Matt the radiation gave him a "free ride" but now he must develop it like everyone else. Its resolution is not very fine, probably on the order of several feet at a distance of one hundred feet. By repositioning his head and adding input from his other senses, Daredevil is able to resolve the image of an average flagpole (three-inch cylinder) at a distance of over eighty feet.

Telepathy Due to Stick's training Daredevil has displayed minor telepathic abilities.

Abilities

Gifted Intellect

Matt has a high IQ; he's an accomplished strategist as well as an expert in interrogation, disguise, medicine, science and detective work.

Expert Detective

Daredevil has shown to be an expert detective using his intellect to figure out complex problems and hyper-senses to find clues and evidence to crime scenes.

Expert Tracker

With the aide of his hyper-senses Matt is able to track objects and people from miles away with ease.

Interrogation Expert

Matt uses many different interrogation methods to extract information from criminals. His knowledge of criminology and torture is unerring and often overwhelming.

Professional Lawyer

He is a skilled lawyer, specializing in criminal justice.

Master Acrobat

Daredevil is classed superb-Olympic athlete, gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist due to constant training and exercise. His reflexes and agility are equally remarkable and are on par with the finest human athletes.

Weapons Proficiency

Thanks to his martial arts training, Matt is proficient in wielding various different weapons. Since Ninjutsu is the only identified discipline that teaches weapons, it would indicate he is trained in the use of most Japanese-themed melee weaponry.

Expert Marksman

He is very accurate in throwing most projectile-like weaponry along with his sticks.

Expert Stick Fighter

Matt is an expert in wielding all types of stick weapons which include staffs, batons, nunchaku, and paired short sticks.

Master Martial Artist

Daredevil has also been trained in the ninja arts by Stick, a master and member of the secret order The Chaste. Nick Fury, former director of S.H.I.E.L.D, commented that there are only a handful of individuals that know what Matt Murdock knows, referring to the Chaste. Stick helped Daredevil control his powers and taught him valuable fighting techniques with stealth, vanishing, to even life-energy(chi/ki)control. Matt is well educated in the functioning of the human body as well as martial arts techniques that target pressure points enabling him to paralyze limbs of an individual's body or the entire body altogether. He's disabled eye sight, speech, induced pain, and even has knowledge of pressure points inducing death. Daredevil's fighting style blends Boxing with Ninjutsu, Judo and Aikijujutsu, but he may have been exposed to additional disciplines to varying degrees by Stick to compliment Matt's strengths as he has been seen employing other sophistocated techniques such as jumping and ground-level kicks and jumping takedowns. His skills have proven sufficient to enable him to defeat or stalemate some of the greatest fighters on Earth. He has fought opponents such as the Black Panther, Taskmaster, Sabretooth, and Wolverine to standstills, even impaling Wolverine with a sword while the mutant was in a feral state due to brainwashing by the terrorists known as Hydra.

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Daredevil (Matt Murdock) - Super Powers - Superhero Database

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Superhuman Sense of Touch Daredevil's sense of touch is so acute that his finger can feel the faint impressions of ink on a printed page, allowing him to read by touch. The rest of his skin is equally sensitive, enabling him by concentration to feel minute temperature and pressure changes in the atmosphere around him.

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Superhuman Hearing Possible, Experiments Suggest

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Superhuman Hearing Possible, Experiments Suggest

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Superhuman Hearing Possible, Experiments Suggest

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Vibrating the ear bones could create shortcuts for sounds to enter the brain, thus boosting hearing, new experiments show.

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The Real Science of Daredevil: Science Friction Ep 45

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The Real Science of Daredevil: Science Friction Ep 45

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The Real Science of Daredevil: Science Friction Ep 45