Sasaki M
Shinrigaku Kenkyu. 1981 Dec;52(5):281-8.
The function of visual imagery and the effect of input modality in spatial transformation task was examined in 24 blind and 18 sighted students. Early blind, late blind and blind-folded sighted persons were presented with the information about four objects which were placed randomly on a board. They identified those objects haptically (with touch and movement) or verbally. After a practice session with one object, the subjects were told to locate the position of the other three objects (simple reconstruction trials) and then, to imagine that he/she had moved to a position behind the other object and to make similar evaluation of the imagined position (perspective transformation trials). These groups were well matched in simple reconstruction. But on perspective transformation trials, a highly significant interaction between sight status and input modality was found. Input modality affected the blinds only. Their error rate was significantly higher than the sighted persons in verbal input condition. In haptically input condition, the blind did not differ from the sighted. These results suggest visual imagery plays a major role when there are few or no perceptual cues in which to evaluate a situation.
研究人员对24名盲人学生和18名视力正常的学生进行了视觉表象功能以及输入方式在空间转换任务中的作用的研究。向先天失明、后天失明和蒙眼的视力正常者呈现了随机放置在一块板子上的四个物体的信息。他们通过触觉（触摸和移动）或口头方式识别这些物体。在对一个物体进行练习后，受试者被要求确定其他三个物体的位置（简单重建试验），然后，想象自己移动到另一个物体后面的位置，并对想象的位置进行类似的评估（视角转换试验）。这些组在简单重建方面匹配良好。但在视角转换试验中，发现视力状况和输入方式之间存在高度显著的交互作用。输入方式仅对盲人有影响。在言语输入条件下，他们的错误率显著高于视力正常者。在触觉输入条件下，盲人与视力正常者没有差异。这些结果表明，当几乎没有或没有感知线索来评估一种情况时，视觉表象起着主要作用。
