The Sensitive Period for Tactile Remapping Does Not Include Early Infancy.

Abstract

Visual input during development seems crucial in tactile spatial perception, given that late, but not congenitally, blind people are impaired when skin-based and tactile external representations are in conflict (when crossing the limbs). To test whether there is a sensitive period during which visual input is necessary, 14 children (age=7.95) and a teenager (LM; age=17.38) deprived of early vision by cataracts, and whose sight was restored during the first 5months and at age 7, respectively, were tested. Tactile localization with arms crossed and uncrossed was measured. Children showed a crossing effect indistinguishable from a control group (Ns=28, age=8.24), whereas LM showed no crossing effect (Ns controls=14, age=20.78). This demonstrates a sensitive period which, critically, does not include early infancy.