eprintid: 3094
rev_number: 6
eprint_status: archive
userid: 69
dir: disk0/00/00/30/94
datestamp: 2016-02-19 13:01:31
lastmod: 2016-09-13 09:59:05
status_changed: 2016-02-19 13:01:31
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Cattaneo, Zaira
creators_name: Vecchi, Tomaso
creators_name: Cornoldi, Cesare
creators_name: Mammarella, Irene
creators_name: Bonino, Daniela
creators_name: Ricciardi, Emiliano
creators_name: Pietrini, Pietro
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: emiliano.ricciardi@imtlucca.it
creators_id: pietro.pietrini@imtlucca.it
title: Imagery and spatial processes in blindness and visual impairment
ispublished: pub
subjects: RC0321
divisions: CSA
full_text_status: none
keywords: Imagery; Visuo-spatial processes; Supramodal processes; Blindness; Visual impairments
note: Special section: The European Workshop in Imagery and Cognition: Neurocognition and Visual Imagery
abstract: The objective of this review is to examine and evaluate recent findings on cognitive functioning (in particular imagery processes) in individuals with congenital visual impairments, including total blindness, low-vision and monocular vision. As one might expect, the performance of blind individuals in many behaviours and tasks requiring imagery can be inferior to that of sighted subjects; however, surprisingly often this is not the case. Interestingly, there is evidence that the blind often employ different cognitive mechanisms than sighted subjects, suggesting that compensatory mechanisms can overcome the limitations of sight loss. Taken together, these studies suggest that the nature of perceptual input on which we commonly rely strongly affects the organization of our mental processes. We also review recent neuroimaging studies on the neural correlates of sensory perception and mental imagery in visually impaired individuals that have cast light on the plastic functional reorganization mechanisms associated with visual deprivation.
date: 2008
date_type: published
publication: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
volume: 32
number: 8
publisher: Elsevier
pagerange: 1346 - 1360
id_number: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.05.002
refereed: TRUE
issn: 0149-7634
official_url: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763408000638
citation:   Cattaneo, Zaira and Vecchi, Tomaso and Cornoldi, Cesare and Mammarella, Irene and Bonino, Daniela and Ricciardi, Emiliano and Pietrini, Pietro  Imagery and spatial processes in blindness and visual impairment.  Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 32 (8).  1346 - 1360.  ISSN 0149-7634      (2008)