title: Symmetry perception in the blind.
abstract: Bilateral mirror symmetry, especially vertical symmetry, is a powerful phenomenon in spatial organization of visual shapes. However, the causes of vertical symmetry salience in visual perception are not completely clear. Here we investigated whether the perceptual salience of vertical symmetry depends on visual experience by testing a group of congenitally blind individuals in a memory task in which either horizontal or vertical symmetry was used as an incidental feature. Both blind and sighted subjects remembered more accurately configurations that were symmetrical compared to those that were not. Critically, whereas sighted subjects displayed a higher level of facilitation by vertical than horizontal symmetry, no such difference was found in the blind. This suggests that the perceptual salience of the vertical dimension is visually based.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. zaira.cattaneo@unimib.it
authors.forename: Zaira
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cattaneo
authors.forename: Micaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fantino
authors.forename: Juha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Silvanto
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tinti
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pascual-Leone
authors.forename: Tomaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vecchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001766:Blindness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology