Assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test
Past research investigating the spatial abilities of visually impaired people, provided conflicting results. There is thus an urgent need to develop standardized tests for the evaluation of spatial cognition when vision is absent or disrupted. To this aim, we developed a haptic version of the Kohs B...
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doaj-3138b3dc67b7494398857a1c92f1e8f72021-03-18T04:42:51ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Behavioral Sciences2666-51822020-11-011100004Assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design TestGiorgia Bertonati0Alessia Tonelli1Luigi F. Cuturi2Walter Setti3Monica Gori4DIBRIS Department, Università di Genova, Genova, Italy; U-VIP, Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via E. Melen 83, Genova 16163, ItalyU-VIP, Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via E. Melen 83, Genova 16163, Italy; Department of Translational Research and New technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Università di Pisa, Pisa, ItalyU-VIP, Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via E. Melen 83, Genova 16163, ItalyU-VIP, Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via E. Melen 83, Genova 16163, ItalyU-VIP, Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via E. Melen 83, Genova 16163, Italy; Corresponding author.Past research investigating the spatial abilities of visually impaired people, provided conflicting results. There is thus an urgent need to develop standardized tests for the evaluation of spatial cognition when vision is absent or disrupted. To this aim, we developed a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test and investigated the spatial non-verbal reasoning of early blind, late blind and sighted individuals. Participants reproduced 3D printed haptic configurations by assembling blocks with different textures, within a time limit. Results showed that early blind individuals reproduced fewer haptic designs than the other two groups correctly. Instead, the assembling time of the correct responses was similar among all groups. Moreover, blindness duration (in years) did not seem to affect the correctness of the performance: no significant correlation between the two variables was observed for early and late blind participants. Since only early blind individuals display difficulties in mentally representing the haptic configurations and manipulating multiple spatial information, we conclude that early visual deprivation may affect spatial reasoning capabilities. The present study adds new insights on the role of visual experience in the development of spatial skills and represents a first step in the adaptation of standardized tests for the assessment of spatial cognitive abilities in visually impaired people.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518220300048Late blindEarly blindVisual experienceSpatial cognitionHapticKohs Block Design Test |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Giorgia Bertonati Alessia Tonelli Luigi F. Cuturi Walter Setti Monica Gori |
spellingShingle |
Giorgia Bertonati Alessia Tonelli Luigi F. Cuturi Walter Setti Monica Gori Assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test Current Research in Behavioral Sciences Late blind Early blind Visual experience Spatial cognition Haptic Kohs Block Design Test |
author_facet |
Giorgia Bertonati Alessia Tonelli Luigi F. Cuturi Walter Setti Monica Gori |
author_sort |
Giorgia Bertonati |
title |
Assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test |
title_short |
Assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test |
title_full |
Assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test |
title_fullStr |
Assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test |
title_sort |
assessment of spatial reasoning in blind individuals using a haptic version of the kohs block design test |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Current Research in Behavioral Sciences |
issn |
2666-5182 |
publishDate |
2020-11-01 |
description |
Past research investigating the spatial abilities of visually impaired people, provided conflicting results. There is thus an urgent need to develop standardized tests for the evaluation of spatial cognition when vision is absent or disrupted. To this aim, we developed a haptic version of the Kohs Block Design Test and investigated the spatial non-verbal reasoning of early blind, late blind and sighted individuals. Participants reproduced 3D printed haptic configurations by assembling blocks with different textures, within a time limit. Results showed that early blind individuals reproduced fewer haptic designs than the other two groups correctly. Instead, the assembling time of the correct responses was similar among all groups. Moreover, blindness duration (in years) did not seem to affect the correctness of the performance: no significant correlation between the two variables was observed for early and late blind participants. Since only early blind individuals display difficulties in mentally representing the haptic configurations and manipulating multiple spatial information, we conclude that early visual deprivation may affect spatial reasoning capabilities. The present study adds new insights on the role of visual experience in the development of spatial skills and represents a first step in the adaptation of standardized tests for the assessment of spatial cognitive abilities in visually impaired people. |
topic |
Late blind Early blind Visual experience Spatial cognition Haptic Kohs Block Design Test |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518220300048 |
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