Perceptual Enhancement in the Early Blind?

Abstract

An experiment designed to measure Ss’ ability to detect small targets using self-generated sonar signals revealed that a group of six Ss blind from birth were significantly (.05 level) superior to eight adventitiously blind and eight sighted Ss. Subsequent tests of auditory localization ability and evidence from a tactile immediate memory test similarly favored the early-blind. A rationale is offered interpreting these results in terms of possible differential opportunities to develop auditory and tactile perceptual skills during infancy. The tradition that a kindly Providence is sure to compensate the blind by a quickening of their other senses goes back, like the popular belief in palmistry and astrology, to a hoary antiquity and shows a vitality which keeps it alive for the modern Sunday newspaper and for the fireside anecdote [Hayes, 1933, p. 22].