Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 1, 2026
11:39
Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique
Published on: September 7, 2022
Perception with compensatory devices: from sensory substitution to sensorimotor extension
1Computer Laboratory for Mechanical and Engineering Sciences, CNRS Center for Philosophical Psychology, Department of Philosophy, University of Antwerp.
Cognitive Science
|May 19, 2011
Summary
Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) offer new ways to perceive the world. Research suggests SSD experiences transform perceptual capacities, creating novel interactions rather than simply mimicking existing senses.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Neuroscience
- Perception Studies
Background:
- Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) enable perception through non-traditional sensory modalities.
- The classification of perception acquired via SSDs remains debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the sensory modality of perceptions gained through SSDs.
- To explore whether SSD perception aligns with traditional sensory modality criteria.
- To propose an alternative framework for understanding SSD experiences.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of traditional sensory modality criteria (organ, stimuli, properties, experience).
- Inclusion of additional criteria: behavioral, dedication, and sensorimotor equivalence.
- Comparison of SSDs to other cognitive tools (e.g., calculators, writing).
Main Results:
- Traditional criteria may suggest SSD perception belongs to the substituted modality.
- A novel view posits SSD experiences as transformations or augmentations of perceptual capacities.
- SSDs are reframed as mind-enhancing tools, altering perceptual interaction.
Conclusions:
- Perception via SSDs is not reducible to existing sensory modalities.
- SSDs fundamentally transform and extend human perceptual abilities.
- This perspective highlights novel forms of environmental interaction through sensory substitution.
Related Concept Videos
01:28Perception
Perception is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to organize, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. This process is crucial for understanding and interacting with the world around us. It includes both bottom-up and top-down processing, each playing a distinct role in how we perceive our environment.
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...
01:33Somatosensation
The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
01:11Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System
The somatosensory system is the central and peripheral nervous system component that senses and processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position or proprioception. The process of sensation takes place at three levels:
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...
01:01Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.
01:26Introduction to Special Senses
Sensory receptors play an integral part in comprehending our external and internal environments. They receive diverse stimuli, converting them into the nervous system's electrochemical signals. This conversion occurs as the stimulus alters the sensory neuron's cell membrane potential, instigating the generation of an action potential. This action potential is subsequently transmitted to the central nervous system (CNS), which integrates with other sensory data or higher cognitive functions.
01:31What is a Sensory System?
Sensory systems detect stimuli—such as light and sound waves—and transduce them into neural signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system. In addition to external stimuli detected by the senses, some sensory systems detect internal stimuli—such as the proprioceptors in muscles and tendons that send feedback about limb position.