Spatial Learning with Multiple Sensory Modalities

描述(由申请人提供)：这项研究的目的是调查视觉、低视力和盲人参与者群体之间的空间学习和导航。一般假说认为，从个体感觉通道学到的空间信息会导致通道间共同的空间表征的形成。实验一和实验二确定了一些已知的视觉知觉偏差是否也在触觉学习中表现出来。这项工作代表了第一次努力直接比较视觉和触觉地图学习，并调查作为视觉状态函数的表现。实验三使用跨通道学习范式来评估视觉学习、触觉学习和空间语言学习之间是否形成了功能等同的空间表征。这是第一次通过三种感觉模式直接比较环境学习和信息匹配环境的同类研究。这项研究的最终结果将大大增加我们对感官之间的空间学习的理解，并在一定程度上达到空间表征之间存在的功能对等。这些实验结果也将有利于盲人导航系统的发展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of this research is to investigate spatial learning and navigation within and across sensory modalities, between sighted, low vision and blind participant groups. The general hypothesis posits that spatial information learned from individual sensory modalities leads to the formation of a common spatial representation across modalities. Experiment I and II establish if some of the perceptual biases known for vision also manifest in tactile learning. This work represents the first effort to directly compare visual and tactile map learning and to investigate performance as a function of visual status. Experiment III uses a cross-modal learning paradigm to assess if functionally equivalent spatial representations are formed between learning with vision, touch, and spatial language. This is the first study of its kind to directly compare environmental learning with information matched environments across three sensory modalities. The final outcome of this research will significantly add to our understanding of spatial learning between the senses and speak to the extent of functional equivalence that exists across spatial representations. The results of these experiments will also benefit the development of navigation systems for the blind.