Blind Vision: The Neuroscience of Visual Impairment

Abstract

This book is about the effects that blindness and, more generally, different types of visual defi cit exert on the development and functioning of the human cognitive system. There are a number of critical questions that can be addressed through the investigation of the nature of mental representations in congenitally and late visually impaired individuals. First of all, data can shed light on the relationship between visual perception, imagery, and working memory, clarifying the extent to which mental imagery (and more generally, the development of the cognitive system) depends upon normally functioning vision. Studying intersensory mechanisms in the blind may also help disentangle the functional and neural relationships between vision and the other senses, and may clarify whether and how “ supramodal ” mechanisms are affected by the absence of one sensory modality: Is vision necessary for the development of supramodal representations of objects (and space) and for normal intersensory interactions? Furthermore, studying both the totally blind and severely (but not totally) visually impaired individuals helps to shed light on which specifi c aspects of visual experience (e.g., binocularity, visual acuity, visual fi eld) are critical for a correct cognitive development and/or for specific cognitive mechanisms.