title: Early but not late blindness leads to enhanced arithmetic and working memory abilities.
abstract: Behavioural and neurophysiological evidence suggest that vision plays an important role in the emergence and development of arithmetic abilities. However, how visual deprivation impacts on the development of arithmetic processing remains poorly understood. We compared the performances of early (EB), late blind (LB) and sighted control (SC) individuals during various arithmetic tasks involving addition, subtraction and multiplication of various complexities. We also assessed working memory (WM) performances to determine if they relate to a blind person's arithmetic capacities. Results showed that EB participants performed better than LB and SC in arithmetic tasks, especially in conditions in which verbal routines and WM abilities are needed. Moreover, EB participants also showed higher WM abilities. Together, our findings demonstrate that the absence of developmental vision does not prevent the development of refined arithmetic skills and can even trigger the refinement of these abilities in specific tasks.
authors: Institut de Recherche en Sciences Psychologiques, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Electronic address: valerie.dormal@uclouvain.be.
authors: Valérie
authors: V
authors: Dormal
authors: Institut de Recherche en Sciences Psychologiques, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors: Virginie
authors: V
authors: Crollen
authors: Institut de Recherche en Sciences Psychologiques, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Baumans
authors: Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (CERNEC), Université de Montréal, Canada.
authors: Franco
authors: F
authors: Lepore
authors: Institut de Recherche en Sciences Psychologiques, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Centre for Mind/Brain Science, University of Trento, Italy.
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Collignon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001766:Blindness / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Arithmetic abilities; Blindness; Working memory