Imagery and Memory in the Blind: A Review

Ernest, Carole H.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4676-3_10

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…) increasing the tendency or ability to employ visual imagery (see Ernest, 1987). As such, the present findings suggest that the ability to recode haptic spatial input into visuospatial images could be an important tool for improving the allocentric representations required in certain haptic spatial tasks.…”

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confidence: 52%

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Haptic orientation perception benefits from visual experience: Evidence from early-blind, late-blind, and sighted people

Postma

Zuidhoek

Noordzij

et al. 2008

Perception & Psychophysics

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Our haptic sense provides us with essential information about the spatial layout of peripersonal space-that is, the size, shape, position, and orientation of things within reach. Remarkably, haptic perception of basic spatial properties such as line length (Lanca & Bryant, 1995;Marks & Armstrong, 1996), path length (Lederman, Klatzky, & Barber, 1985), and orientation (see, e.g., Appelle & Countryman, 1986;Gentaz & Hatwell, 1998, 1999Kappers, 1999;Zuidhoek, Visser, Bredero, & Postma, 2004) is susceptible to marked distortions, at least in blindfolded sighted individuals. Interestingly, the distortions in haptic perception of orientation appear to be both systematic over multiple locations and consistent over different tasks-for example, the setting of a test bar either parallel or collinear with a reference bar, or the pointing of a bar toward a marker (Kappers, 1999(Kappers, , 2002Kappers & Koenderink, 1999). In the present study, we set out to investigate the nature of these systematic errors further by comparing blind participants to sighted controls.Kappers (2003) argued that setting two bars parallel to each other in a plane on the basis of touch alone typically recruits a mixture of egocentric (viz., hand-centered) and allocentric reference frames. The effect of the former is indicated by large, systematic errors-that is, clockwise with test bars to the right and counterclockwise with test bars to the left of the reference bar (see, e.g., Kappers, 1999Kappers, , 2003Kappers & Koenderink, 1999;Zuidhoek, Kappers, van der Lubbe, & Postma, 2003, Zuidhoek et al., 2004). An egocentric reference frame presupposes coding of the locations and spatial orientations of items in the outside world with respect to a part of one's body, such as the hands, the midsagittal plane (Zuidhoek, Kappers, & Postma, 2005), the body as a whole (Heller, Calcaterra, Green, & Barnette, 1999), or a subjective gravitational frame (Luyat, Gentaz, Corte, & Guerraz, 2001). In an allocentric reference frame, spatial information is encoded with respect to external landmarks in the outside world, such as when taking into account the available surrounding background information (Millar, 1988(Millar, , 1994Thinus-Blanc & Gaunet, 1997). The first phase of haptic processing might almost obligatorily involve the employment of an ego-or bodycentered reference frame. It should be noted that in the Early-blind, late-blind, and blindfolded sighted participants were presented with two haptic allocentric spatial tasks: a parallel-setting task, in an immediate and a 10-sec delay condition, and a task in which the orientation of a single bar was judged verbally. With respect to deviation size, the data suggest that mental visual processing filled a beneficial role in both tasks. In the parallel-setting task, the early blind performed more variably and showed no improvement with delay, whereas the late blind did improve, but less than the sighted did. In the verbal judgment task, both early-and late-blind participants displayed larger deviations than the sig...

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confidence: 52%

“…Ernest (1987) argued that among the sighted, strategies "are primarily visual and externally derived; in the blind they are predominantly auditory, kinesthetic, and based on internal cues. Indeed the strategies of the blind may be generalized as selfreferent."…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Haptic orientation perception benefits from visual experience: Evidence from early-blind, late-blind, and sighted people

Postma

Zuidhoek

Noordzij

et al. 2008

Perception & Psychophysics

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“…Walshe, Russell and Imanaka (1980) found no relationship between vividness as assessed by the MIQ and memory for distance and location information. Investigation of the relationship between vividness and other objective tests such as mental rotation have also failed consistently to find any significant relationship (Dean & Morris, 1991;Ernest, 1977;Poltrock & Brown, 1984). It is important to note that most of these studies used the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) (Marks, 1973), which requires respondents to generate but not necessarily transform visual images.…”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The demand characteristics of these questionnaires are very low and it is also likely subjects, max assess characteristics of images according to different criteria. Indeed, Berger and Gaunitz (1979) and Ernest (1977) both reported that vividness scales are known to be affected by response bias, while Cohen and Saslona (1990) and McKelvie (1994) suggest that `overconfidence' on the part of subjects may introduce considerable artifact into the data. Of equal importance is the fact that it is almost impossible to ensure that subjects comply with the experimental instructions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Psychophysiological correlates of dynamic imagery

Williams

Rippon

Stone³

et al. 1995

British J of Psychology

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Brain Electrical Activity Maps were recorded from 20 subjects whilst performing: (a) the Vandenberg & Kuse Mental Rotation Test (MRT) and: (b) the Isaac, Marks & Russell Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire (VMIQ), and under control conditions. Subjects were classified as good or poor imagers, first on the basis of their VMIQ scores, and secondly on their MRT scores. Alpha, beta 1 and beta 2 at different cortical regions were compared between groups and between task performance and control conditions. During MRT significant reductions in alpha amplitude were found over both right and left parietal areas and over the left frontal region. In beta 1 non‐significant trends in the same direction were observed in the same regions found to be significant in alpha. Non‐significant trends in beta 2 were observed over the right parietal and frontal regions. No differences in amplitude at any frequency band were found between good and poor VMIQ scorers but subjects with high MRT scores showed greater alpha amplitude at many sites in the parietal, parieto‐occipital and frontal areas than subjects with low MRT scores. During VMIQ testing the VMIQ high imagers showed a non‐significant trend towards higher alpha amplitude at frontal regions and some scattered parietal and occipital sites and significantly higher levels of beta 2 in the left frontal region. However, no differences were found between imagery and control conditions. The results confirm the involvement of motor as well as spatial processes in dynamic imagery.

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“…By doing this, we connected two fields of research-namely, mental imagery and blindness. The connection between these two fields has been amply documented (e.g., Cornoldi & Vecchi, 2000;De Beni & Cornoldi, 1988;Ernest, 1987;Kaski, 2002;Marmor & Zaback, 1976;Zimler & Keenan, 1983). Here, we extended this effort of connecting the two fields of research by using a method that seemed likely to provide a useful new perspective on this domain-namely, the image-scanning paradigm.…”

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confidence: 99%