Bio-introscopy

Term for eyeless sight or "skin vision" used by parapsychologists in Russia. Among the more famous individuals demonstrating this faculty were Rosa Kuleshova (1955-78) and Tania Bykovskaia. Kuleshova was only five years old when the first newspaper coverage of her abilities appeared. She was later tested by the Nizhne-Tagil Pedagogical Institiute, which found her abilities unusual but not paranormal. Bykovskaia was tested by a commission from Kuban Medical Institute in Krasnodar, which reported on her ability to distinguish the colors of two balls hidden from sight.

In 1965 at the Scientific Conference of the Ural Division of the Society of Psychologists in Perm, Dr. S. N. Dobronravov of Sverdlovsk stated that some 72 percent of children had skin sight potential, especially between the ages of seven and twelve years. Dr. Abram Novomeisky of the psychology laboratory at the Nizhne-Tagil Institute experimented with Vasily B., a metallurgist who had been totally blind for seven years, and found that Vasily could distinguish colors by touch and at a distance. As with other subjects, the ability diminished in the diminution or absence of light. Experiments suggested that bright electric light enhanced the faculty of eyeless sight. Another frequently reported observation was that different colors had specific sensations that aided identification. For example, red seemed to burn, orange to warm, yellow less so, green was neutral, light blue cooling, navy blue freezing. Other subjects reported that red had a sticky sensation and blue felt smooth.

(See also Dermo-Optical Perception ; Eyeless Sight ; Jules Romains ; Seeing with the Stomach ; Transposition of the Senses )

Sources:

Ostrander, Sheila, and Lynn Schroeder. Psychic Discoveries behind the Iron Curtain. 1970. Reprint, New York: Bantam Books, 1971.