Spatial Coding of Individuals With Visual Impairments

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the ability of children and adolescents with visual impairments to code and represent near space. Moreover, it examines the impact of the strategies they use and individual differences in their performance. A total of 30 individuals with visual impairments up to the age of 18 were given eight different object patterns in different arrays and were asked to code and represent each of them. The results revealed better performances by those who use an allocentric approach during spatial coding and those with residual vision. In fact, allocentric strategies were more prevalent in coding near space than egocentric ones. Moreover, the ability of participants to move independently was positively correlated with their ability to use the most effective haptic strategies. These findings suggest that children and adolescents with visual impairments are capable of using allocentric reference and providing a different perspective to the currently dominant one.

Cognitive map formation through haptic and visual exploration of tactile city-like maps

“…On the item placement task, the advantage of vision becomes especially clear on the most complex map. Decreased performance with increasing complexity is in line with earlier results 36 . Here, participants made more errors recalling object position when there were more objects present, and thus complexity increased.…”

“…Research on cognitive map formation from haptic input investigated several spatial aspects, such as recall or reproduction of particular routes 18 , 24 , 25 , 33 or wayfinding by directly holding and using a tactile map 18 , 34 . Furthermore, some studies use configurations of tactile objects and tested the formed mental representations by asking questions about the layout or recalling object locations 35 , 36 . Reproduction of map configurations has also been used to study cognitive maps 22 , 27 , 37 , 38 , as well as estimation of distances between learned haptic locations 12 , 13 , 35 , 39 , 40 .…”

Feasibility of Orientation and Mobility Services for Young Children with Vision Impairment using Teleintervention

“…Much research demonstrates that young children with B/VI learn about their world in a tactual, experiential manner through independent movement that increases their allocentric understanding of body awareness and literacy referents (Papadopoulos, Koustriava, & Kartasidou, 2012). Logistic regression data for adults with B/VI show a strong correlation between independent travel skills and future employment (McDonnall, 2011).…”

Comparison of three orientation and mobility aids for individuals with blindness: Verbal description, audio-tactile map and audio-haptic map

“…Tactile aids seem to necessitate extended Braille labelling (for a review see Jacobson, 1998), while the abundance of the information and the complex graphics require greater memory load (Ungar, Blades & Spencer, 1993) which influences spatial coding and representation (Papadopoulos, Koustriava & Kartasidou, 2012).…”