Abstract
Several reports indicate that spatial perception in blind individuals can be impaired as the lack of visual experience severely affects the development of multisensory spatial correspondences. Despite the growing interest in the development of technological devices to support blind people in their daily lives, very few studies have assessed the benefit of interventions that help to refine sensorimotor perception. In the present study, we directly investigated the impact of a short audio-motor training on auditory and proprioceptive spatial perception in blind individuals. Our findings indicate that auditory and proprioceptive spatial capabilities can be enhanced through interventions designed to foster sensorimotor perception in the form of audio-motor correspondences, demonstrating the importance of the early introduction of sensorimotor training in therapeutic intervention for blind individuals.
Highlights
Recent evidence suggests that some spatial capabilities in blind individuals may be delayed or compromised (Pasqualotto and Proulx, 2012; Gori et al, 2013; Voss et al, 2015; Cuturi et al, 2016)
In order to investigate whether sighted and blind individuals differ in their auditory and proprioceptive spatial representations, we compared the performance of sighted and blind participants at the pre-training session in auditory and proprioceptive domains separately both for Matching Error (ME) and variability variables
Despite the pivotal role of multisensory contingencies in the development of spatial perception, to date very few studies have investigated the effect of training based on audiomotor contingency on spatial competence in blind individuals
Summary
Recent evidence suggests that some spatial capabilities in blind individuals may be delayed or compromised (Pasqualotto and Proulx, 2012; Gori et al, 2013; Voss et al, 2015; Cuturi et al, 2016) This has been associated with the reduced accessibility to multisensory experiences caused by the lack of vision during the first years of life when plasticity is maximal and the critical period for the development of spatial representation can develop (Putzar et al, 2007; Cappagli et al, 2017b). Given the risk of developing spatial deficits due to the lack of vision, specific training to improve spatial skills would be fundamental for individuals with a visual disability Despite their potential usefulness for rehabilitation purposes, the benefit of interventions based on sensorimotor contingencies, such as audio-motor correspondence, has been barely studied in the blind population.
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