Spatial Learning with Multiple Sensory Modalities

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的目的是在正常、低视力和失明的参与者群体中，研究不同感官模式下的空间学习和导航。一般假设认为，从单个感觉模态中学习到的空间信息导致了跨模态的共同空间表征的形成。实验一和实验二确定了一些已知的视觉感知偏差是否也体现在触觉学习中。这项工作代表了第一次直接比较视觉和触觉地图学习的努力，并研究了视觉状态的功能。实验三使用跨模态学习范式来评估视觉、触觉和空间语言学习之间是否形成了功能等效的空间表征。这是同类研究中第一个直接比较环境学习与信息匹配环境的三种感官模式。这项研究的最终结果将大大增加我们对感官之间空间学习的理解，并在空间表征中存在功能对等的程度上说话。这些实验的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.