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Overvliet KE, Postma A, Röder B. Child development and the role of visual experience in the use of spatial and non-spatial features in haptic object perception. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 242:105885. [PMID: 38471382 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Revised: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
Previous work has suggested a different developmental timeline and role of visual experience for the use of spatial and non-spatial features in haptic object recognition. To investigate this conjecture, we used a haptic ambiguous odd-one-out task in which one object needed to be selected as being different from two other objects. The odd-one-out could be selected based on four characteristics: size, shape (spatial), texture, and weight (non-spatial). We tested sighted children from 4 to 12 years of age; congenitally blind, late blind, and adult participants with low vision; and normally sighted adults. Given the protracted developmental time course for spatial perception, we expected a shift from a preference for non-spatial features toward spatial features during typical development. Due to the dominant influence of vision for spatial perception, we expected congenitally blind adults to show a similar preference for non-spatial features as the youngest children. The results confirmed our first hypothesis; the 4-year-olds demonstrated a lower dominance for spatial features for object classification compared with older children and sighted adults. In contrast, our second hypothesis was not confirmed; congenitally blind adults' preferred categorization criteria were indistinguishable from those of sighted controls. These findings suggest an early development, but late maturation, of spatial processing in haptic object recognition independent of visual experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krista E Overvliet
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany; Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Albert Postma
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany; LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad 500 034, India
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2
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Voice Navigation Created by VIP Improves Spatial Performance in People with Impaired Vision. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19074138. [PMID: 35409820 PMCID: PMC8998656 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19074138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The difficulty associated with spatial navigation is one of the main obstacles to independent living for visually impaired people. With a lack of visual feedback, visually impaired people must identify information from the external environment through other sense organs. This study employed an observational survey to assess voice navigation version A, created by visually impaired people, and voice navigation version B, created by non-visually impaired people. Thirty-two simulated visually impaired people were assigned to conduct task assessments of voice navigation version A and version B. For mission 1, the mean completion rate is 0.988 ± 0.049 (version A); the mean error rate is 0.125 ± 0.182 (version A). For mission 2, the mean completion rate is 0.953 ± 0.148 (version A); the mean error rate is 0.094 ± 0.198 (version A). The assessment results concluded that version A has a higher completion rate (p = 0.001) and a lower error rate (p = 0.001). In the assessment of subjective satisfaction, all the indicators regarding the impression of navigation directives in version A were significantly superior to those indicators in version B. It appears that version A has a different logic of framing than version B. In future applications, a voice navigation version shall be built, according to the way visually impaired people think, because it will facilitate the direction guide when there is a lack of visual feedback.
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3
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Martolini C, Cappagli G, Saligari E, Gori M, Signorini S. Allocentric spatial perception through vision and touch in sighted and blind children. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 210:105195. [PMID: 34098165 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 05/03/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Vision and touch play a critical role in spatial development, facilitating the acquisition of allocentric and egocentric frames of reference, respectively. Previous works have shown that children's ability to adopt an allocentric frame of reference might be impaired by the absence of visual experience during growth. In the current work, we investigated whether visual deprivation also impairs the ability to shift from egocentric to allocentric frames of reference in a switching-perspective task performed in the visual and haptic domains. Children with and without visual impairments from 6 to 13 years of age were asked to visually (only sighted children) or haptically (blindfolded sighted children and blind children) explore and reproduce a spatial configuration of coins by assuming either an egocentric perspective or an allocentric perspective. Results indicated that temporary visual deprivation impaired the ability of blindfolded sighted children to switch from egocentric to allocentric perspective more in the haptic domain than in the visual domain. Moreover, results on visually impaired children indicated that blindness did not impair allocentric spatial coding in the haptic domain but rather affected the ability to rely on haptic egocentric cues in the switching-perspective task. Finally, our findings suggested that the total absence of vision might impair the development of an egocentric perspective in case of body midline-crossing targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Martolini
- Unit for Visually Impaired People, Center for Human Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16152 Genoa, Italy.
| | - Giulia Cappagli
- Unit for Visually Impaired People, Center for Human Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16152 Genoa, Italy.
| | - Elena Saligari
- Center of Child NeuroOphthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Monica Gori
- Unit for Visually Impaired People, Center for Human Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16152 Genoa, Italy.
| | - Sabrina Signorini
- Center of Child NeuroOphthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
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Rogge AK, Hamacher D, Cappagli G, Kuhne L, Hötting K, Zech A, Gori M, Röder B. Balance, gait, and navigation performance are related to physical exercise in blind and visually impaired children and adolescents. Exp Brain Res 2021; 239:1111-1123. [PMID: 33550429 PMCID: PMC8068618 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-021-06038-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Self-motion perception used for locomotion and navigation requires the integration of visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive input. In the absence of vision, postural stability and locomotor tasks become more difficult. Previous research has suggested that in visually deprived children, postural stability and levels of physical activity are overall lower than in sighted controls. Here we hypothesized that visually impaired and blind children and adolescents differ from sighted controls in postural stability and gait parameters, and that physically active individuals outperform sedentary peers in postural stability and gait parameters as well as in navigation performance. Fourteen blind and visually impaired children and adolescents (8-18 years of age) and 14 matched sighted individuals took part. Assessments included postural sway, single-leg stance time, parameters of gait variability and stability, self-reported physical activity, and navigation performance. Postural sway was larger and single-leg stance time was lower in blind and visually impaired participants than in blindfolded sighted individuals. Physical activity was higher in the sighted group. No differences between the group of blind and visually impaired and blindfolded sighted participants were observed for gait parameters and navigation performance. Higher levels of physical activity were related to lower postural sway, longer single-leg stance time, higher gait stability, and superior navigation performance in blind and visually impaired participants. The present data suggest that physical activity may enhance postural stability and gait parameters, and thereby promote navigation performance in blind and visually impaired children and adolescents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Kathrin Rogge
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany. .,Max Planck School of Cognition, Max-Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Daniel Hamacher
- Institute of Sport Science, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.,Friedrich Schiller University, Statistics and Methods in Sports, Jena, Germany
| | - Giulia Cappagli
- Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, U-VIP, Genoa, Italy
| | - Laura Kuhne
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Kirsten Hötting
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Astrid Zech
- Institute of Sport Science, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
| | - Monica Gori
- Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, U-VIP, Genoa, Italy
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany
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Aprile G, Cappagli G, Morelli F, Gori M, Signorini S. Standardized and Experimental Tools to Assess Spatial Cognition in Visually Impaired Children: A Mini-Review. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:562589. [PMID: 33041760 PMCID: PMC7525087 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.562589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The acquisition of spatial cognition is essential for both everyday functioning (e.g., navigation) and more specific goals (e.g., mathematics), therefore being able to assess and monitor spatial cognition from the first years of life would be essential to predict developmental outcomes and timely intervene whenever spatial development is compromised. Several shreds of evidence have indicated that spatial development can be compromised in the case of development with atypical sensory experience such as blindness. Despite the massive importance of spatial abilities for the development of psychomotor competencies across childhood, only a few standardized and experimental methods have been developed to assess them in visually impaired children. In this review, we will give a short overview of current formal (standardized) and informal (experimental) methods to assess spatial cognition in visually impaired children, demonstrating that very few validated tools have been proposed to date. The main contribution of this current work is to highlight the need of ad hoc studies to create and validate clinical measures to assess spatial cognition in visually impaired individuals and address potential future developments in this area of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giorgia Aprile
- Centre of Child Neurophthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Giulia Cappagli
- Centre of Child Neurophthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Federica Morelli
- Centre of Child Neurophthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Monica Gori
- Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Sabrina Signorini
- Centre of Child Neurophthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
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Ungar S, Blades M, Spencer C. Teaching Visually Impaired Children to Make Distance Judgments from a Tactile Map. JOURNAL OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT & BLINDNESS 2020. [DOI: 10.1177/0145482x9709100209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
This article reports on two experiments that investigated 59 children's ability to estimate distances from a map. In Experiment 1, totally blind children, children with residual vision, and sighted children were given a map showing the position of three objects on a path, two of which were present on the actual path. The children were asked to use the map to work out the position of the third object. The visually impaired children performed less well than did the sighted children, and an analysis of the children's strategies indicated that the majority of visually impaired children did not know an effective way to work out distances from the map. In Experiment 2, the visually impaired children were given a brief training in how to calculate distances from a map and then they were retested. After training, the children's performance improved.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Ungar
- Department of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cow-cadden Road, Glasgow G4 OBA, Scotland
| | - M. Blades
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - C. Spencer
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
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7
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Martolini C, Cappagli G, Luparia A, Signorini S, Gori M. The Impact of Vision Loss on Allocentric Spatial Coding. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:565. [PMID: 32612500 PMCID: PMC7308590 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Several works have demonstrated that visual experience plays a critical role in the development of allocentric spatial coding. Indeed, while children with a typical development start to code space by relying on allocentric landmarks from the first year of life, blind children remain anchored to an egocentric perspective until late adolescence. Nonetheless, little is known about when and how visually impaired children acquire the ability to switch from an egocentric to an allocentric frame of reference across childhood. This work aims to investigate whether visual experience is necessary to shift from bodily to external frames of reference. Children with visual impairment and normally sighted controls between 4 and 9 years of age were asked to solve a visual switching-perspective task requiring them to assume an egocentric or an allocentric perspective depending on the task condition. We hypothesize that, if visual experience is necessary for allocentric spatial coding, then visually impaired children would have been impaired to switch from egocentric to allocentric perspectives. Results support this hypothesis, confirming a developmental delay in the ability to update spatial coordinates in visually impaired children. It suggests a pivotal role of vision in shaping allocentric spatial coding across development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Martolini
- Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy.,Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
| | - Giulia Cappagli
- Center of Child Neuro-Ophthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Antonella Luparia
- Center of Child Neuro-Ophthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Sabrina Signorini
- Center of Child Neuro-Ophthalmology, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Monica Gori
- Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy
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8
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Espinosa M, Ochaíta E. Using Tactile Maps to Improve the Practical Spatial Knowledge of Adults who are Blind. JOURNAL OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT & BLINDNESS 2019. [DOI: 10.1177/0145482x9809200512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
This study evaluated the effects of three instructional methods—direct experience, cartographic representation, and verbal description—on the spatial knowledge of 30 adults who are blind. During four sessions, the participants learned a large, complex route in Madrid that included eight landmarks. In the first session, the experimenter guided the participants along the route, and in the subsequent sessions, the participants guided the experimenter. The results showed that the participants’ practical spatial knowledge was better when they learned the route with a tactile map than in either of the two other conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- M.A. Espinosa
- Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Autonomous University of Madrid, Cantoblanco, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - E. Ochaíta
- Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Autonomous University of Madrid
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9
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Blades M, Lippa Y, Golledge RG, Jacobson RD, Kitchin RM. The Effect of Spatial Tasks on Visually Impaired Peoples’ Wayfinding Abilities. JOURNAL OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT & BLINDNESS 2019. [DOI: 10.1177/0145482x0209600604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Thirty-eight people with visual impairments learned a 483-meter novel route through a university campus in four groups: verbalization, modeling, pointing, and control. The performance of all four groups improved with greater experience of the route, but the modeling group improved more than did the control group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Blades
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TP, England
| | - Yvonne Lippa
- Department of Geography, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
| | - Reginald G. Golledge
- Department of Geography, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
| | - R. Daniel Jacobson
- Department of Geography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
| | - Robert M. Kitchin
- Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland
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10
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Bouaziz S, Russier S, Magnan A. The Copying of Complex Geometric Drawings by Sighted and Visually Impaired Children. JOURNAL OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT & BLINDNESS 2019. [DOI: 10.1177/0145482x0509901204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Serge Bouaziz
- Institut de Psychologie, Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université Lumière Lyon 2, 5 Avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676 BRON Cedex, France
| | - Sandrine Russier
- Formation et Insertion pour Déficients Visuels, 52 rue Colombier, 69007 Lyon, France
| | - Annie Magnan
- Institut de Psychologie, Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université Lumière Lyon 2
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11
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Tinti C, Adenzato M, Tamietto M, Cornoldi C. Visual Experience is not Necessary for Efficient Survey Spatial Cognition: Evidence from Blindness. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 59:1306-28. [PMID: 16769626 DOI: 10.1080/17470210500214275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated whether the lack of visual experience affects the ability to create spatial inferential representations of the survey type. We compared the performance of persons with congenital blindness and that of blindfolded sighted persons on four survey representation-based tasks (Experiment 1). Results showed that persons with blindness performed better than blindfolded sighted controls. We repeated the same tests introducing a third group of persons with late blindness (Experiment 2). This last group performed better than blindfolded sighted participants, whereas differences between participants with late and congenital blindness were nonsignificant. The present findings are compatible with results of other studies, which found that when visual perception is lacking, skill in gathering environmental spatial information provided by nonvisual modalities may contribute to a proper spatial encoding. It is concluded that, although it cannot be asserted that total lack of visual experience incurs no cost, our findings are further evidence that visual experience is not a necessary condition for the development of spatial inferential complex representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla Tinti
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
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12
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Cognitive maps of individuals with blindness for familiar and unfamiliar spaces: Construction through audio-tactile maps and walked experience. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.04.057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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13
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Papadopoulos KS. A school programme contributes to the environmental knowledge of blind people. BRITISH JOURNAL OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 2016. [DOI: 10.1177/0264619604050046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The knowledge visually-impaired people have of the space around them is a subject of great interest to the scientific community. This article describes a school programme and the effect it had on the environmental knowledge of the school where it was carried out. A group of sighted students chose as a project to construct, with the author’s help, a tactile-visual model of the area around the school. The model was constructed entirely by the students in the group. This was followed by a study to investigate the environmental knowledge of the area represented in the model of, primarily, the visually-impaired students and, secondarily, of the sighted students. The first stage involved an investigation of the area before a reading of the model, and the second stage involved a repetition of the investigation after the students had studied the model. The article presents an analysis and comparison of the results of the two stages, together with a number of conclusions concerning the environmental knowledge of visually-impaired people.
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Schmidt S, Tinti C, Fantino M, Mammarella IC, Cornoldi C. Spatial representations in blind people: the role of strategies and mobility skills. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2013; 142:43-50. [PMID: 23232334 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2012] [Revised: 11/16/2012] [Accepted: 11/18/2012] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of vision in the construction of spatial representations has been the object of numerous studies and heated debate. The core question of whether visual experience is necessary to form spatial representations has found different, often contradictory answers. The present paper examines mental images generated from verbal descriptions of spatial environments. Previous evidence had shown that blind individuals have difficulty remembering information about spatial environments. By testing a group of congenitally blind people, we replicated this result and found that it is also present when the overall mental model of the environment is assessed. This was not always the case, however, but appeared to correlate with some blind participants' lower use of a mental imagery strategy and preference for a verbal rehearsal strategy, which was adopted particularly by blind people with more limited mobility skills. The more independent blind people who used a mental imagery strategy performed as well as sighted participants, suggesting that the difficulty blind people may have in processing spatial descriptions is not due to the absence of vision per se, but could be the consequence of both, their using less efficient verbal strategies and having poor mobility skills.
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Papadopoulos K, Koustriava E. The impact of vision in spatial coding. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2011; 32:2084-2091. [PMID: 21985992 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.07.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2011] [Accepted: 07/25/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this study is to examine the performance in coding and representing of near-space in relation to vision status (blindness vs. normal vision) and sensory modality (touch vs. vision). Forty-eight children and teenagers participated. Sixteen of the participants were totally blind or had only light perception, 16 were blindfolded sighted individuals, and 16 were non-blindfolded sighted individuals. Participants were given eight different object patterns in different arrays and were asked to code and represent each of them. The results suggest that vision influences performance in spatial coding and spatial representation of near space. However, there was no statistically significant difference between participants with blindness who used the most effective haptic strategy and blindfolded sighted participants. Thus, the significance of haptic strategies is highlighted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Konstantinos Papadopoulos
- Department of Educational and Social Policy, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia St, PO Box 1591, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece.
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16
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Coluccia E, Mammarella IC, Cornoldi C. Centred Egocentric, Decentred Egocentric, and Allocentric Spatial Representations in the Peripersonal Space of Congenital Total Blindness. Perception 2009; 38:679-93. [DOI: 10.1068/p5942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The distinction between different spatial representations in the peripersonal space was examined in two experiments by requiring sighted blindfolded and blind participants to remember the locations of objects haptically explored. In experiment 1, object relocation took place from either the same position as learning—with the same (centred egocentric condition) or 90°-rotated (rotated egocentric condition) object array—or from a position different from the learning position (allocentric condition). Results revealed that, in both sighted and blind people, distance errors were higher in the allocentric and rotated conditions than in the centred egocentric condition, and that blind participants made more distance errors than sighted subjects only in the allocentric condition. Experiment 2 repeated rotated egocentric and allocentric conditions, while the centred egocentric condition was replaced by a decentred egocentric condition in which object relocation took place from the same position as learning (egocentric) but started from a decentred point. The decentred egocentric condition was found to remain significantly different from the rotated condition, but not from the allocentric condition. Moreover, blind participants performed less well in the allocentric condition, but were specifically impaired. Overall, our results confirm that different types of spatial constraints and representations, including the decentred egocentric one, can be distinguished in the peripersonal space and that blind people are as efficient as sighted in the egocentric and rotated conditions, but they encounter difficulties in recalling locations also in the peripersonal space, especially when an allocentric condition is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuele Coluccia
- Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa, Corso Vittorio Emanuele 292, I 80135 Naples, Italy
| | - Irene C Mammarella
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Universita degli Studi di Padova, via Venezia 8, I 35131 Padua, Italy
| | - Cesare Cornoldi
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Universita degli Studi di Padova, via Venezia 8, I 35131 Padua, Italy
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17
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Castronovo J, Seron X. Semantic numerical representation in blind subjects: the role of vision in the spatial format of the mental number line. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2007; 60:101-19. [PMID: 17162510 DOI: 10.1080/17470210600598635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Does vision play a role in the elaboration of the semantic representation of small and large numerosities, notably in its spatial format? To investigate this issue, we decided to compare in the auditory modality the performance of congenitally and early blind people with that of a sighted control group, in two number comparison tasks (to 5 and to 55) and in one parity judgement task. Blind and sighted participants presented exactly the same distance and SNARC (Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes) effects, indicating that they share the same semantic numerical representation. In consequence, our results suggest that the spatial dimension of the numerical representation is not necessarily attributable to the visual modality and that the absence of vision does not preclude the elaboration of this representation for 1-digit (Experiment 1) and 2-digit numerosities (Experiment 2). Moreover, as classical semantic numerical effects were observed in the auditory modality, the postulate of the amodal nature of the mental number line for both small and large magnitudes was reinforced.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Castronovo
- Unité de Neurosciences Cognitives (NESC), UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
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19
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Lewis V, Collis G, Shadlock R, Potts M, Norgate S, Lewis V, Shadlock R, Potts M, Norgate S, Collis G. New methods for studying blind children's understanding of familiar space. BRITISH JOURNAL OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 2002. [DOI: 10.1177/026461960202000104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Vicky Lewis
- Centre for Childhood Development and Learning Faculty of Education and Language Studies The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
| | - Ros Shadlock
- Centre for Childhood Development and Learning Faculty of Education and Language Studies The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
| | - Michelle Potts
- Centre for Childhood Development and Learning Faculty of Education and Language Studies The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
| | - Sarah Norgate
- Centre for Childhood Development and Learning Faculty of Education and Language Studies The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
| | - Glyn Collis
- Department of Psychology University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL
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