title: The impact of vision in spatial coding.
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.
authors: Department of Educational and Social Policy, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia St, PO Box 1591, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece. kpapado@uom.gr
authors: Konstantinos
authors: K
authors: Papadopoulos
authors: Eleni
authors: E
authors: Koustriava
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D001766:Blindness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000503:physiopathology