----- Original Message ----- Navigation with a sensory substitution device in congenitally blind individuals.
Abstract.Vision allows for obstacle detection and avoidance. The compensatory mechanisms involved in maintaining these functions in blind people using their remaining intact senses are poorly understood. We investigated the ability of congenitally blind participants to detect and avoid obstacles using the tongue display unit, a sensory substitution device that uses the tongue as a portal to the brain. We found that congenitally blind were better than sighted control participants in detecting and avoiding obstacles using the tongue display unit. Obstacles size and avoidance strategy had a significant effect on performance: large obstacles
were better detected than small ones and step-around obstacles were betteravoided than step-over ones. These data extend our earlier findings that when
using a sensory substitution device, blind participants outperform sighted controls not only in a virtual navigation task but also during effective navigation within a human-sized obstacle course. By Chebat, Daniel-Robert; Schneider, Fabien C.; Kupers, Ron; Ptito, Maurice. Neuroreport., POST AUTHOR CORRECTIONS, 28 March 2011 doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3283462def Source URLs: http://journals.lww.com/neuroreport/Abstract/publishahead/Navigation_with_a_sensory_substitution_device_in.99627.aspx http://journals.lww.com/neuroreport/Fulltext/publishahead/Exocytosis_and_mobility_of_histamine_vesicles.99629.aspx ---------- To send a message to the list, send any message to blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ---------- To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to blindza-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line --- The 'homepage' for this list is at http://www.blindza.co.za
