Mental imagery and visual deficits

Journal title RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA
Author/s Giulia Santoro
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/1 Language Italian
Pages 15 P. 173-187 File size 194 KB
DOI 10.3280/RIP2014-001010
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Empirical evidence confirmed that blind subjects can create a mental image of what they have never seen, or have only seen before having blindness; and that they also can create mental representations that allow to move and orient themselves in space. The present study tried to analyze the differences between blind and partially sighted people, who were able to take advantage of visual stimulation, although greatly reduced. The data confirm that blind and visually impaired individuals, compared with controls paired by age and gender, can mentally represent a space or an object, without seeing the stimuli, through other sensorial inputs. Both the stimulus conditions and the content of the image influence the possibility that imaging can be activated properly.

Keywords: Mental imagery, spatial representation, blindness, visual impairment.

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Giulia Santoro, Immagine mentale e deficit visivi in "RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA " 1/2014, pp 173-187, DOI: 10.3280/RIP2014-001010