Auvray Malika, Hanneton Sylvain, O'Regan J Kevin
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK.
Perception. 2007;36(3):416-30. doi: 10.1068/p5631.
We investigated to what extent participants can acquire the mastery of an auditory-substitution-of-vision device ('The vOICe') using dynamic tasks in a three-dimensional environment. After extensive training, participants took part in four experiments. In the first experiment we explored locomotion and localisation abilities. Participants, blindfolded and equipped with the device, had to localise a target by moving a hand-held camera, walk towards the target, and point at it. In the second experiment, we studied the localisation ability in a constrained pointing task. In the third experiment we explored participants' ability to recognise natural objects via their auditory rendering. In the fourth experiment we tested the ability of participants to discriminate objects belonging to the same category. We analysed participants' performance from both an objective and a subjective point of view. The results showed that participants, through sensorimotor interactions with the perceptual scene while using the hand-held camera, were able to make use of the auditory stimulation to obtain the information necessary for locomotor guidance, localisation, and pointing, as well as for object recognition. Furthermore, analysis from a subjective perspective yielded insights into participants' qualitative experience and into the strategies they used to master the device, and thus to pass from a kind of deductive reasoning to a form of immediate apprehension of what is being perceived.
我们研究了参与者在三维环境中通过动态任务掌握视觉听觉替代设备（“The vOICe”）的程度。经过广泛训练后，参与者参加了四项实验。在第一个实验中，我们探索了移动和定位能力。参与者蒙上眼睛并配备该设备，必须通过移动手持摄像头来定位目标，朝着目标行走并指向它。在第二个实验中，我们研究了受限指向任务中的定位能力。在第三个实验中，我们探索了参与者通过听觉呈现识别自然物体的能力。在第四个实验中，我们测试了参与者区分同一类物体的能力。我们从客观和主观两个角度分析了参与者的表现。结果表明，参与者在使用手持摄像头与感知场景进行感觉运动交互时，能够利用听觉刺激获取运动引导、定位、指向以及物体识别所需的信息。此外，主观角度的分析揭示了参与者的定性体验以及他们掌握该设备所使用的策略，从而从一种演绎推理转变为对所感知事物的直接理解形式。
