The Role of Vision in the Corsi Block-Tapping Task: Evidence From Blind and Sighted People

作者：Ruggiero Gennaro^*; Iachini Tina

来源：Neuropsychology, 2010, 24(5): 674-679.

DOI：10.1037/a0019594

• Corsi task
• blindness
• serial-spatial memory span
• forward/backward span
• haptic perception

Objective: This study aims at adapting the Corsi Block-Tapping task to measure serial-spatial memory in blind people and at clarifying the role of visual experience in the task. Method: Congenitally blind, adventitiously blind, and blindfolded sighted people were compared on a version of the Corsi board that allowed the haptic perception of block positions (Haptic-Corsi). Participants placed their fingers on the blocks that the experimenter moved upward according to sequences of increasing length. Afterward, participants reproduced the sequences in forward/backward order. Results: The results showed a significant interaction between groups and forward/backward span: F(2, 58) = 5.74, MSE = .39, p < .01. eta(2) = .16. In forward order the memory span was higher in adventitiously blind participants than blindfolded sighted (p < .05) but not congenitally blind participants. In backward order, there were no significant differences. Conclusions: The good performance of blind people, especially adventitiously ones, was interpreted as evidence that sequential haptic inputs were organized spatially. The possible cognitive processes underlying the performance were discussed.

• 出版日期2010-9