Institute of Psychology (IPSY) and Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université Catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Institute of Psychology (IPSY) and Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université Catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Cognition. 2021 Nov;216:104861. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104861. Epub 2021 Jul 29.
Geometry intuitions seem to be rooted in a non-verbal system that humans possess since early age. However, the mechanisms underlying the comprehension of basic geometric concepts remain elusive. Some authors have suggested that the starting point of geometry development could be found in the visual perception of specific features in our environment, thus conferring to vision a foundational role in the acquisition of geometric skills. To examine this assumption, a test probing intuitive understanding of basic geometric concepts was presented to congenitally blind children and adults. Participants had to detect the intruder among four different shapes, from which three instantiated a specific geometrical concept and one (the intruder) violated it. Although they performed above the chance level, the blind presented poorer performance than the sighted participants who did the task in the visual modality (i.e., with the eyes open), but performed equally well than the sighted who did the task in the tactile modality (i.e., with a blindfold). We therefore provide evidence that geometric abilities are impacted by the lack of vision.
几何直觉似乎根植于人类自幼年就拥有的非言语系统中。然而，理解基本几何概念的机制仍然难以捉摸。一些作者认为，几何发展的起点可以在我们环境中对特定特征的视觉感知中找到，从而使视觉在获得几何技能方面具有基础性作用。为了检验这一假设，我们向先天性失明的儿童和成人呈现了一项测试，以探究他们对基本几何概念的直观理解。参与者必须从四个不同的形状中找出闯入者，其中三个形状体现了特定的几何概念，而一个（闯入者）违反了该概念。尽管他们的表现超过了随机水平，但与在视觉模式（即睁开眼睛）下完成任务的视力正常参与者相比，失明者的表现较差，但与在触觉模式（即蒙住眼睛）下完成任务的视力正常者表现相当。因此，我们提供的证据表明，视力缺失会影响几何能力。
