The influence of visual experience on the ability to form spatial mental models based on route and survey descriptions

Noordzij, Matthijs Leendert; Zuidhoek, Sander; Postma, Albert

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2005.05.006

Cited by 111 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…when the data are processed from the bottom and, more importantly, in a sequential manner. Conversely, our blind participants' worse performance compared with sighted people in the survey condition is consistent with the results of other studies showing that blind people have more difficulty processing global, simultaneous information (Noordzij et al, 2006;Raz, Striem, Pundak, Orlov, & Zohary, 2007;Ruotolo et al, 2012;Vecchi, Tinti, & Cornoldi, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Rieser, Guth, & Hill, 1986). Moreover, research on the influence of blindness on the efficient use of route and survey descriptions suggests that, in the construction of spatial mental models, blind people are facilitated by route descriptions, whereas the sighted are more efficient when they receive survey descriptions of the environment (Noordzij & Postma, 2005;Noordzij et al, 2006). Conversely, results of other studies have challenged the causal relationship between visual experience and survey representational skills (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…Noordzij & Postma, 2005;Noordzij et al, 2006) reporting that it is easier for blind people to create a spatial mental model when information about the environment is learned from a route perspective, i.e. when the data are processed from the bottom and, more importantly, in a sequential manner.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Noordzij, Zuidhoeka, & Postma, 2006;Steyvers & Kooijman, 2009) have wondered whether blind people can use both types of representation, and whether they can form well-organized spatial maps of an environment on the basis of a survey description. Without the aid of vision, the perceptual modalities that remain available are essentially egocentric, based on proprioceptive and kinesthetic information (Cattaneo et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial representations in blind people: The role of strategies and mobility skills

et al. 2013

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The role of vision in the construction of spatial representations has been the object of numerous studies and heated debate. The core question of whether visual experience is necessary to form spatial representations has found different, often contradictory answers. The present paper examines mental images generated from verbal descriptions of spatial environments. Previous evidence had shown that blind individuals have difficulty remembering information about spatial environments.By testing a group of congenitally blind people, we replicated this result and found that it is also present when the overall mental model of the environment is assessed. This was not always the case, however, but appeared to correlate with some blind participants' lower use of a mental imagery strategy and preference for a verbal rehearsal strategy, which was adopted particularly by blind people with more limited mobility skills. The more independent blind people who used a mental imagery strategy performed as well as sighted participants, suggesting that the difficulty blind people may have in processing spatial descriptions is not due to the absence of vision per se, but could be the consequence of both, their using less efficient verbal strategies and having poor mobility skills.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial representations in blind people: The role of strategies and mobility skills

et al. 2013

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“…The latter included haptic parallel setting of two bars, spatial test comprehension (Noordzij et al 2006), a mental imagery test battery (Noordzij et al 2007), and the WAIS. All tasks were conducted during a single session which lasted about a day.…”

Section: General Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences between Early-Blind, Late-Blind, and Blindfolded-Sighted People in Haptic Spatial-Configuration Learning and Resulting Memory Traces

et al. 2007

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The roles of visual and haptic experience in different aspects of haptic processing of objects in peripersonal space are examined. In three trials, early-blind, late-blind, and blindfolded-sighted individuals had to match ten shapes haptically to the cut-outs in a board as fast as possible. Both blind groups were much faster than the sighted in all three trials. All three groups improved considerably from trial to trial. In particular, the sighted group showed a strong improvement from the first to the second trial. While superiority of the blind remained for speeded matching after rotation of the stimulus frame, coordinate positional-memory scores in a non-speeded free-recall trial showed no significant differences between the groups. Moreover, when assessed with a verbal response, categorical spatial-memory appeared strongest in the late-blind group. The role of haptic and visual experience thus appears to depend on the task aspect tested.

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The role of recipient perspective in giving and following wayfinding directions

Haney

Seanor

2007

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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We examined how recipient perspective and descriptive features affect direction giving and following during wayfinding. In Experiment 1, participants provided directions from starting locations to destinations for fictional recipients driving through a town (route perspective) or looking at a map of the town (survey perspective). As expected, participants included left-right and landmarks more frequently when addressing a person driving in the town and cardinal descriptors more frequently when addressing a person looking at a map. In Experiment 2, participants rated the effectiveness of directions. Effective directions contained significantly more left-right references than did less effective directions. In Experiment 3, participants followed the best-and worst-rated directions. Unexpectedly, they navigated significantly faster when following the worst-rated directions. In Experiment 4, participants gave wayfinding directions for destinations in a familiar town. Again, direction features depended on recipient perspective, highlighting the dynamic nature of wayfinding processes.

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The influence of visual experience on the ability to form spatial mental models based on route and survey descriptions

Cited by 111 publications

References 36 publications

Spatial representations in blind people: The role of strategies and mobility skills

Spatial representations in blind people: The role of strategies and mobility skills

Differences between Early-Blind, Late-Blind, and Blindfolded-Sighted People in Haptic Spatial-Configuration Learning and Resulting Memory Traces

The role of recipient perspective in giving and following wayfinding directions

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