he relationship between motor processes and cognition in tactile vision substitution
DESCRIPTION
Studies with tactile vision substitution for congenitally blind persons provide an unusual opportunity to observe the acquisition of "visual" spatial concepts in adolescents and adults. Since all aspects of the training are under the experimenter's control, the effects of each component of the process can be studied. In this paper the relationship between motor processes and cognition will be examined; specifically, the effect of placing the "eye" (television camera) under the control of the blind subject. We have noted that as long as the subject can control the movement of the camera, he can perceive in terms of the three-dimensional visual spatial worldof which he is a part. It is possible to change the location and even the orientation of the tactile array (e.g., from the skin of the back to the abdomen), or the motor system controlling camera movement (either hand held, or located on spectacleframes and thus controlled by neck muscles), without compromising accurate spatial orientation.