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Multisensory spatial perception in visually impaired infants

2021; Elsevier BV; Volume: 31; Issue: 22 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.cub.2021.09.011

1879-0445

Monica Gori, Claudio Campus, Sabrina Signorini, Eleonora Rivara, Andrew J. Bremner,

Visual perception and processing mechanisms

Congenitally blind infants are not only deprived of visual input but also of visual influences on the intact senses. The important role that vision plays in the early development of multisensory spatial perception1Azañón E. Camacho K. Morales M. Longo M.R. The Sensitive Period for Tactile Remapping Does Not Include Early Infancy.Child Dev. 2018; 89: 1394-1404Crossref PubMed Scopus (14) Google Scholar, 2Röder B. Rösler F. Spence C. Early vision impairs tactile perception in the blind.Curr. Biol. 2004; 14: 121-124Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (262) Google Scholar, 3Begum Ali J. Spence C. Bremner A.J. Human infants' ability to perceive touch in external space develops postnatally.Curr. Biol. 2015; 25: R978-R979Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (37) Google Scholar, 4Thomas R.L. Misra R. Akkunt E. Ho C. Spence C. Bremner A.J. Sensitivity to auditory-tactile colocation in early infancy.Dev. 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Bull. 1997; 121: 20-42Crossref PubMed Scopus (335) Google Scholar But investigations of early development are needed to clarify how visually impaired infants' spatial hearing and touch support their emerging ability to make sense of their body and the outside world. We compared sighted (S) and severely visually impaired (SVI) infants' responses to auditory and tactile stimuli presented on their hands. No statistically reliable differences in the direction or latency of responses to auditory stimuli emerged, but significant group differences emerged in responses to tactile and audiotactile stimuli. The visually impaired infants showed attenuated audiotactile spatial integration and interference, weighted more tactile than auditory cues when the two were presented in conflict, and showed a more limited influence of representations of the external layout of the body on tactile spatial perception.20Heed T. Azañón E. Using time to investigate space: a review of tactile temporal order judgments as a window onto spatial processing in touch.Front. Psychol. 2014; 5: 76Crossref PubMed Scopus (81) Google Scholar These findings uncover a distinct phenotype of multisensory spatial perception in early postnatal visual deprivation. Importantly, evidence of audiotactile spatial integration in visually impaired infants, albeit to a lesser degree than in sighted infants, signals the potential of multisensory rehabilitation methods in early development.Video abstracthttps://www.cell.com/cms/asset/84d5262b-8aed-4f24-8a4e-52f0c547fc95/mmc3.mp4Loading ...(mp4, 12.25 MB) Download video