Changes in the Spatial Distribution of Visual Attention after Early Deafness

Abstract

There is much anecdotal suggestion of improved visual skills in congenitally deaf individuals. However, this claim has only been met by mixed results from careful investigations of visual skills in deaf individuals. Psychophysical assessments of visual functions have failed, for the most part, to validate the view of enhanced visual skills after deafness. Only a few studies have shown an advantage for deaf individuals in visual tasks. Interestingly, all of these studies share the requirement that participants process visual information in their peripheral visual field under demanding conditions of attention. This work has led us to propose that congenital auditory deprivation alters the gradient of visual attention from central to peripheral field by enhancing peripheral processing. This hypothesis was tested by adapting a search task from Lavie and colleagues in which the interference from distracting information on the search task provides a measure of attentional resources. These authors have established that during an easy central search for a target, any surplus attention remaining will involuntarily process a peripheral distractor that the subject has been instructed to ignore. Attentional resources can be measured by adjusting the difficulty of the search task to the point at which no surplus resources are available for the distractor. Through modification of this paradigm, central and peripheral attentional resources were compared in deaf and hearing individuals. Deaf individuals possessed greater attentional resources in the periphery but less in the center when compared to hearing individuals. Furthermore, based on results from native hearing signers, it was shown that sign language alone could not be responsible for these changes. We conclude that auditory deprivation from birth leads to compensatory changes within the visual system that enhance attentional processing of the peripheral visual field.

Effect of action video games on the spatial distribution of visuospatial attention.

“…Stimuli-All stimuli and procedures were identical to those used in Proksch and Bavelier (2002). Stimuli were presented on a 21-in.…”

Sensibilidade ao contraste de crianças surdas e ouvintes para grades senoidais em condições mesópicas

“…Isto porque os estudos foram realizados com pressupostos teóricos e metodológicos tão diferentes que inviabilizam qualquer comparação. Os mesmos vão desde aqueles que não encontraram alterações sensoriais com o paradigma da detecção de sinais (Bross, 1979a(Bross, , 1979bBross & Sauerwein, 1980) e a FSC em adultos , até aqueles que encontraram melhoras (Bavelier & Neville, 2002;Bosworth & Dobkins, 1999Neville & Lawson, 1987;Proksch & Bavelier, 2002;Sladen, Tharpe, Ashmead, Grantham, & Chun, 2005) ou prejuízos em tarefas envolvendo atenção visual (Erden et al, 2004;Stivalet et al, 1998).…”

“…Por fim, a maior parte dos estudos na literatura utiliza condições fotópicas, ou seja, níveis altos de luminância Neville & Lawson, 1987;Proksch & Bavelier, 2002;Sladen et al, 2005), enquanto o presente estudo utilizou níveis baixos de luminância (condições mesópicas). É importante ressaltar que existem pelo menos duas vias paralelas com estruturas e funções diferentes envolvidas no processamento visual de objetos e contraste: a via visual parvocelular (P), que é especializada no processamento de freqüências espaciais médias e altas ou detalhes finos e opera em níveis altos luminância, e a via visual magnocelular (M), que é especializada no processamento de freqüências espaciais baixas e opera em níveis baixos de luminância (Benedek, Benedek, Kéri, & Janáky, 2003;Neville & Bavelier, 1999).…”

“…Pesquisas, comparando o desempenho de participantes ouvintes e surdos em tarefas visuais cognitivas, relatam um aumento da atenção no campo visual perifé-rico relacionado à privação auditiva (Bavelier, Dye, & Hauser, 2006;Bavelier & Neville, 2002;Bavelier et al, 2001;Bavelier et al, 2000;Bosworth & Dobkins, 2002;Neville & Lawson, 1987;Proksch & Bavelier, 2002). Enquanto outras, relacionando busca visual e atenção, mostram que os participantes surdos apresentam prejuízos no processamento visual comparados aos ouvintes (Erden, Otman, & Tunay, 2004;Stivalet, Moreno, Richard, Barraud, & Raphel, 1998).…”

Age and Attentional Capacity

“…It is not clear whether the reduced driving capability of older adults was due to a decreased attentional capacity. In this paper, we adapted a paradigm developed by Green & Bavelier (2003) and Proksch & Bavelier (2002) to assess the extent of attention capacity of young and older drivers. We compared performance between younger and older non-video-game players in the task.…”