Heller M A
Winston-Salem State University, NC 27110.
Perception. 1989;18(1):121-33. doi: 10.1068/p180121.
Sighted, early blind, and late blind subjects attempted to identify numerals or number sequences printed on their palms. The numerals were either upright, or inverted, or rotated perpendicular to the arm axis. Stimulus rotation degraded recognition in the early blind subjects, suggesting the influence of experience with visual frames of reference. Slower rates of presentation with upright number sequences improved recall in both sighted and blind observers. An experiment on tactual-visual braille recognition in the sighted observers showed that tilt degraded pattern identification, but visual guidance of the fingertip and ballpoint minimized this loss. A further experiment was performed to distinguish between visual imagery and visual frame of reference explanations of the visual guidance effect on recognition of rotated braille. Subjects explored upright or tilted braille characters while viewing only a light emitting diode on the exploratory fingertip. Sight of scanning movements did not aid pattern recognition with tilt. The results indicate that the benefits of visual guidance on recognition of tilted patterns were probably due to frame of reference information. It is concluded that spatial reference information may aid tactile memory in the sighted and late blind, since the early blind performed at a lower level in the retention task. It is proposed that visual imagery may only explain the superiority of the sighted and late blind when familiar stimuli are studied.
视力正常者、早期失明者和晚期失明者尝试识别印在他们手掌上的数字或数字序列。这些数字要么是正立的，要么是倒置的，要么是垂直于手臂轴线旋转的。刺激旋转降低了早期失明者的识别能力，这表明视觉参照系经验的影响。正立数字序列较慢的呈现速度提高了视力正常者和失明观察者的回忆能力。一项针对视力正常者的触觉 - 视觉盲文识别实验表明，倾斜会降低图案识别能力，但指尖和圆珠笔的视觉引导将这种损失降到了最低。进行了一项进一步的实验，以区分视觉意象和视觉参照系对旋转盲文识别的视觉引导效果的解释。受试者在仅查看探索性指尖上的发光二极管时探索正立或倾斜的盲文字符。看到扫描动作对倾斜图案的识别没有帮助。结果表明，视觉引导对倾斜图案识别的益处可能归因于参照系信息。得出的结论是，空间参照信息可能有助于视力正常者和晚期失明者的触觉记忆，因为早期失明者在记忆任务中的表现较差。有人提出，只有在研究熟悉的刺激时，视觉意象才能解释视力正常者和晚期失明者的优势。
