the haptic recognition of geometrical shapes in congenitally blind and blindfolded adolescents is there a haptic prototype effect几何形状的触觉识别先天失明,被蒙上眼睛的青少年有触觉原型效应.pdfVIP

The Haptic Recognition of Geometrical Shapes in Congenitally Blind and Blindfolded Adolescents: Is There a Haptic Prototype Effect? 1 ´ 2 1 1 Anne Theurel , Stephanie Frileux , Yvette Hatwell , Edouard Gentaz * ´ ` ´ 1 Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition (UMR CNRS 5105), Universite Pierre Mendes-France, Grenoble, France, 2 Institut National Superieur de Formation et de ´ ´ Recherche pour l’Education des Jeunes Handicapes et les Enseignements Adaptes (INS HEA), Suresnes, France Abstract Background: It has been shown that visual geometrical shape categories (rectangle and triangle) are graded structures organized around a prototype as demonstrated by perception and production tasks in adults as well as in children. The visual prototypical shapes are better recognized than other exemplars of the categories. Their existence could emerge from early exposure to these prototypical shapes that are present in our visual environment. The present study examined the role of visual experience in the existence of prototypical shapes by comparing the haptic recognition of geometrical shapes in congenitally blind and blindfolded adolescents. Methodology/Principal Findings: To determine whether the existence of a prototype effect (higher recognition of prototypical shapes than non prototypical shapes) depended on visual experience, congenitally blind and blindfolded sighted adolescents were asked to recognize in the haptic modality three categories of correct shapes (square, rectangle, triangle) varying in o