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A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking
Published on: July 9, 2016
Early visual deprivation does not prevent the emergence of basic numerical abilities in blind children
Virginie Crollen1, Hélène Warusfel2, Marie-Pascale Noël2
1Centre for Mind/Brain Science, University of Trento, Via delle regole 101, 38123, Mattarello (TN), Italy; Institute of Psychology (IPSY) and Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université Catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Insights
Early blindness does not hinder numerical abilities in children. Blind children show comparable or superior numerical skills and outperform sighted peers in verbal working memory, suggesting effective compensatory strategies for numerical development.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Visual experience is often considered foundational for early cognitive development, including numerical abilities.
- Previous studies suggest visual experience is not essential for numerical skills in adults.
- The long-term compensatory strategies employed by congenitally blind children for numerical development remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate basic numerical abilities in blind and sighted children.
- To assess verbal and spatial working memory in both groups.
- To examine the relationship between working memory and mental arithmetic in early blindness.
Main Methods:
- Comparative study design involving blind and sighted children aged 6-13 years.
- Assessment of basic numerical abilities, verbal working memory, and spatial working memory.
- Correlation analysis to explore the relationship between working memory components and mental arithmetic.
Main Results:
- Blind children demonstrated numerical abilities comparable to or exceeding those of sighted children.
- Blind children significantly outperformed sighted children in verbal working memory tasks.
- A stronger correlation between mental arithmetic and the spatial sketchpad was observed in blind children compared to sighted children.
Conclusions:
- Early blindness does not impede the development of fundamental numerical competencies in children.
- Blind children develop effective compensatory strategies, particularly in verbal working memory.
- The interplay between numerical cognition and working memory components is modulated by early visual experience.
Abstract:
Studies involving congenitally blind adults shows that visual experience is not a mandatory prerequisite for the emergence of efficient numerical abilities. It remains however unknown whether blind adults developed lifelong strategies to compensate for the absence of foundations vision would provide in infancy. We therefore assessed basic numerical abilities in blind and sighted children of 6 to 13 years old. We also assessed verbal and spatial working memory abilities and their relationship with mental arithmetic in both groups. Blind children showed similar or better numerical abilities as compared to the sighted. Blind children also outperformed their sighted peers in every task assessing verbal working memory and demonstrated a similar spatial span. The correlation between arithmetic and the spatial sketchpad was stronger in blind relative to sighted children while the correlations between arithmetic and the other two components (the central executive and the phonological loop) were not affected by early visual experience. Our data suggest that early blindness does not impair the development of basic numerical competencies in children but influences the associations between arithmetic and some working memory subcomponents.
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