Bilateral mirror symmetry, especially vertical symmetry, is a powerful phenomenon in spatial organization of visual shapes. However, the causes of vertical symmetry salience in visual perception are not completely clear. Here we investigated whether the perceptual salience of vertical symmetry depends on visual experience by testing a group of congenitally blind individuals in a memory task in which either horizontal or vertical symmetry was used as an incidental feature. Both blind and sighted subjects remembered more accurately configurations that were symmetrical compared to those that were not. Critically, whereas sighted subjects displayed a higher level of facilitation by vertical than horizontal symmetry, no such difference was found in the blind. This suggests that the perceptual salience of the vertical dimension is visually based

Cattaneo, Z., Fantino, M., Silvanto, J., Tinti, C., Pascual Leone, A., Vecchi, T. (2010). Symmetry perception in the blind. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA, 134(3), 398-402 [10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.04.002].

Symmetry perception in the blind

CATTANEO, ZAIRA
;
2010

Abstract

Bilateral mirror symmetry, especially vertical symmetry, is a powerful phenomenon in spatial organization of visual shapes. However, the causes of vertical symmetry salience in visual perception are not completely clear. Here we investigated whether the perceptual salience of vertical symmetry depends on visual experience by testing a group of congenitally blind individuals in a memory task in which either horizontal or vertical symmetry was used as an incidental feature. Both blind and sighted subjects remembered more accurately configurations that were symmetrical compared to those that were not. Critically, whereas sighted subjects displayed a higher level of facilitation by vertical than horizontal symmetry, no such difference was found in the blind. This suggests that the perceptual salience of the vertical dimension is visually based
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Bilateral mirror symmetry; Blindness; Haptic; Short-term memory;
English
2010
134
3
398
402
none
Cattaneo, Z., Fantino, M., Silvanto, J., Tinti, C., Pascual Leone, A., Vecchi, T. (2010). Symmetry perception in the blind. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA, 134(3), 398-402 [10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.04.002].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/13728
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