Construction of cognitive maps of unknown spaces using a multi-sensory virtual environment for people who are blind

Lahav, Orly; Mioduser, David

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2007.04.003

Cited by 74 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Research on construction of cognitive maps (Tversky, 1992) found that one approach humans use to remember items is categorization. We found similar results in our previous research (Lahav & Mioduser, 2008) on the construction of cognitive maps in VEs and real spaces by people who are blind.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Most of these variables have been defined in our previous research (Lahav & Mioduser, 2008). Three groups of dependent variables, the cognitive map, the strategies and process of the exploration task, and the VE orientation task performance, were defined as follows.…”

Section: Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current work, which was done in collaboration with The Carroll Center for the Blind (CCB), is part of a larger research effort comprising the design, development, and evaluation of a VE system for blind users (Lahav & Mioduser, 2008;Lahav, Schloerb, & Srinivasan, 2012). CCB is a private nonprofit agency serving persons of all ages who are blind or visually impaired.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Virtual Environment System in Support of a Traditional Orientation and Mobility Rehabilitation Program for People Who Are Blind

Lahav

Schloerb

Srinivasan

2013

Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BlindAid, a virtual environment system developed in part for orientation and mobility training of newly, adventitiously, and congenitally blind persons, allows interaction with different virtual structures and objects via auditory and haptic feedback. This research examined whether and how the system might help people who are blind develop orientation and mobility skills within a traditional rehabilitation program. Nine clients at The Carroll Center for the Blind (Newton, MA) explored VEs and performed virtual orientation tasks in addition to their traditional orientation and mobility training. The virtual training gave the participants additional time to learn systematic exploration and orientation strategies and their performance was evaluated using qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings supply strong evidence that practicing with the BlindAid system does enhance traditional orientation and mobility training in these areas.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Virtual Environment System in Support of a Traditional Orientation and Mobility Rehabilitation Program for People Who Are Blind

Lahav

Schloerb

Srinivasan

2013

Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In such cases, useful supplementary, prior information can be obtained from tactile maps. The sense of touch has been shown to be effective for exploring maps of real (Picard et al 2009) and virtual (Lahav and Mioduser 2008) environments. The representation of space through maps is particularly important for and preserved in visually impaired and blind individuals (Fortin et al 2008;Loomis et al 1993;Thinus-Blanc and Gaunet 1997).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile exploration of virtual objects for blind and sighted people: the role of beta 1 EEG band in sensory substitution and supramodal mental mapping

Campus

Brayda

Carli

et al. 2012

Journal of Neurophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The neural correlates of exploration and cognitive mapping in blindness remain elusive. The role of visuo-spatial pathways in blind vs. sighted subjects is still under debate. In this preliminary study, we investigate, as a possible estimation of the activity in the visuo-spatial pathways, the EEG patterns of blind and blindfolded-sighted subjects during the active tactile construction of cognitive maps from virtual objects compared with rest and passive tactile stimulation. Ten blind and ten matched, blindfolded-sighted subjects participated in the study. Events were defined as moments when the finger was only stimulated (passive stimulation) or the contour of a virtual object was touched (during active exploration). Event-related spectral power and coherence perturbations were evaluated within the beta 1 band (14–18 Hz). They were then related to a subjective cognitive-load estimation required by the explorations [namely, perceived levels of difficulty (PLD)]. We found complementary cues for sensory substitution and spatial processing in both groups: both blind and sighted subjects showed, while exploring, late power decreases and early power increases, potentially associated with motor programming and touch, respectively. The latter involved occipital areas only for blind subjects (long-term plasticity) and only during active exploration, thus supporting tactile-to-visual sensory substitution. In both groups, coherences emerged among the fronto-central, centro-parietal, and occipito-temporal derivations associated with visuo-spatial processing. This seems in accordance with mental map construction involving spatial processing, sensory-motor processing, and working memory. The observed involvement of the occipital regions suggests that a substitution process also occurs in sighted subjects. Only during explorations did coherence correlate positively with PLD for both groups and in derivations, which can be related to visuo-spatial processing, supporting the existence of supramodal spatial processing independently of vision capabilities.

show abstract

“…Another way to help them to be more autonomous is to train them virtually, to then apply the knowledge attained in the real world [1]. In the studies carried out by Lahav and Mioduser [6] the user's achievement regarding their cognitive representation of the virtually navigated space that they attain, and their ability to apply this representation in carrying out tasks in a real space are examined. The results show the success of the experience, in which the users are able to construct a mental map and then apply it to the real world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Model to Develop Videogames for Orientation and Mobility

Sánchez

Guerrero

Sáenz

et al. 2010

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. There is a real need to have systems for people with visual disabilities to be able to improve their orientation and mobility skills, and especially for children to be able to improve their autonomy into the future. However, these systems must be designed according to available objectives, methodologies and resources, as well as by taking the interests and ways of interacting of the end users into account. This work presents a model for the development of videogame-based applications, which includes differing levels of abstraction and different stages in the design and development of systems that allow for the improvement of orientation and mobility skills for people with visual disability. The feasibility of the model was studied by modeling two videogames for children with visual disabilities.

show abstract

Construction of cognitive maps of unknown spaces using a multi-sensory virtual environment for people who are blind

Cited by 74 publications

References 15 publications

Virtual Environment System in Support of a Traditional Orientation and Mobility Rehabilitation Program for People Who Are Blind

Virtual Environment System in Support of a Traditional Orientation and Mobility Rehabilitation Program for People Who Are Blind

Tactile exploration of virtual objects for blind and sighted people: the role of beta 1 EEG band in sensory substitution and supramodal mental mapping

A Model to Develop Videogames for Orientation and Mobility

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About