The Cognitive Science Program, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition & Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzeliya, Israel.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jun 7;11(1):11944. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-88595-9.
Can humans extend and augment their natural perceptions during adulthood? Here, we address this fascinating question by investigating the extent to which it is possible to successfully augment visual spatial perception to include the backward spatial field (a region where humans are naturally blind) via other sensory modalities (i.e., audition). We thus developed a sensory-substitution algorithm, the "Topo-Speech" which conveys identity of objects through language, and their exact locations via vocal-sound manipulations, namely two key features of visual spatial perception. Using two different groups of blindfolded sighted participants, we tested the efficacy of this algorithm to successfully convey location of objects in the forward or backward spatial fields following ~ 10 min of training. Results showed that blindfolded sighted adults successfully used the Topo-Speech to locate objects on a 3 × 3 grid either positioned in front of them (forward condition), or behind their back (backward condition). Crucially, performances in the two conditions were entirely comparable. This suggests that novel spatial sensory information conveyed via our existing sensory systems can be successfully encoded to extend/augment human perceptions. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to spatial perception, sensory augmentation and sensory rehabilitation.
人类在成年后能否扩展和增强其自然感知？在这里，我们通过研究通过其他感觉模式（即听觉）成功增强视觉空间感知以包括后向空间场（人类自然失明的区域）的程度来解决这个有趣的问题。因此，我们开发了一种感觉替代算法，即“Topo-Speech”，它通过语言传达物体的身份，并通过声音操纵传达其确切位置，即视觉空间感知的两个关键特征。使用两组蒙住眼睛的视力正常的参与者，我们测试了该算法在经过约 10 分钟的训练后成功传达前向或后向空间场中物体位置的效果。结果表明，蒙住眼睛的视力正常的成年人成功地使用 Topo-Speech 定位他们面前（前向条件）或背后（后向条件）的 3×3 网格上的物体。至关重要的是，两种条件下的表现完全可比。这表明，通过我们现有的感觉系统传达的新的空间感觉信息可以被成功地编码，以扩展/增强人类的感知。这些结果的意义将在空间感知、感觉增强和感觉康复方面进行讨论。
