Senna Irene, Piller Sophia, Martolini Chiara, Cocchi Elena, Gori Monica, Ernst Marc O
Applied Cognitive Psychology, Faculty for Computer Science, Engineering, and Psychology, Ulm University, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK.
iScience. 2024 Feb 9;27(3):109167. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109167. eCollection 2024 Mar 15.
Spatial cognition and mobility are typically impaired in congenitally blind individuals, as vision usually calibrates space perception by providing the most accurate distal spatial cues. We have previously shown that sight restoration from congenital bilateral cataracts guides the development of more accurate space perception, even when cataract removal occurs years after birth. However, late cataract-treated individuals do not usually reach the performance levels of the typically sighted population. Here, we developed a brief multisensory training that associated audiovisual feedback with body movements. Late cataract-treated participants quickly improved their space representation and mobility, performing as well as typically sighted controls in most tasks. Their improvement was comparable with that of a group of blind participants, who underwent training coupling their movements with auditory feedback alone. These findings suggest that spatial cognition can be enhanced by a training program that strengthens the association between bodily movements and their sensory feedback (either auditory or audiovisual).
空间认知和行动能力在先天性失明个体中通常会受损，因为视觉通常通过提供最准确的远距离空间线索来校准空间感知。我们之前已经表明，先天性双侧白内障患者视力恢复后，即使白内障摘除手术在出生数年之后进行，也能引导更准确的空间感知的发展。然而，接受白内障治疗较晚的个体通常无法达到正常视力人群的表现水平。在此，我们开发了一种简短的多感官训练，将视听反馈与身体动作联系起来。接受白内障治疗较晚的参与者迅速改善了他们的空间表征和行动能力，在大多数任务中的表现与正常视力的对照组相当。他们的改善程度与一组仅接受将动作与听觉反馈相结合训练的盲人参与者相当。这些发现表明，通过加强身体动作与其感官反馈（听觉或视听）之间关联的训练计划，可以增强空间认知能力。
