Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2026
14:32
Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Human figure representation by blind children
The Journal of General Psychology
|January 1, 1980
Summary
Visual experience is crucial for accurately representing the human figure. Congenitally blind children
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human figure representation
Background:
- Understanding the role of sensory experience in cognitive development.
- Investigating the formation of internalized body representations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the contribution of visual experience to children's ability to model the human figure.
- To compare the human figure representations of congenitally blind and sighted children.
Main Methods:
- Nine congenitally blind children and nine sighted children modeled the human figure using plasticene.
- Performance was assessed based on the presence, placement, and proportion of body parts.
Main Results:
- Sighted children performed significantly more accurately than congenitally blind children in modeling the human figure.
- Blind children's representations were impoverished and distorted compared to sighted children's, even when blindfolded.
Conclusions:
- Visual experience is essential for the accurate internalization of a human body representation.
- Tactile-kinesthetic information alone is insufficient to fully compensate for the absence of visual input in this process.
Related Concept Videos
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.
02:07Blind Procedures
Ideally, the people who observe and record the children’s behavior are unaware of who was assigned to the experimental or control group, in order to control for experimenter bias. Experimenter bias refers to the possibility that a researcher’s expectations might skew the results of the study. Remember, conducting an experiment requires a lot of planning, and the people involved in the research project have a vested interest in supporting their hypotheses. If the observers knew which child was...
01:24Prosopagnosia
Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is the inability to recognize faces. In severe cases, individuals with prosopagnosia may not recognize close family members, including parents and spouses, by their faces. For instance, someone with prosopagnosia might walk past their child in a crowd, only realizing their mistake upon noticing their child's distinctive backpack or favorite jacket. Prosopagnosia specifically impairs facial recognition, while the recognition of other objects or...