CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 120Tactile and Sensory InteractionsMultisensory perception and integrationMotor Control and Adaptation

Tactile acuity in the blind: A closer look reveals superiority over the sighted in some but not all cutaneous tasks

Alary, Flamine, Duquette, Marco, Goldstein, Rachel, Elaine Chapman, C., Voss, Patrice, La Buissonnière-Ariza, Valérie, Lepore, Franco·2009·Neuropsychologia
DOI 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.03.014
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that blind subjects may outperform the sighted on certain tactile discrimination tasks. We recently showed that blind subjects outperformed the sighted in a haptic 2D-angle discrimination task. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of the same blind (n=16) and sighted (n=17, G1) subjects in three tactile discrimination tasks dependent solely on cutaneous inputs from the fingertip of the index finger, D2. A second group of sighted subjects (n=30, G2) were also tested. Texture discrimination thresholds were 0.62 (G1)-0.80 mm (G2) for the sighted subjects, and 0.64 mm for the blind (standard, 2mm spatial period). Grating orientation thresholds were 0.99 (G1)-1.12 mm (G2) for the sighted subjects, and 0.96 mm for the blind. Finally, vibrotactile frequency discrimination thresholds (100 Hz standard) were 19.5 (G2) and 20.0 Hz (G1) for the sighted, and 16.5 Hz for the blind subjects. There were no significant differences in performance between the blind and the sighted subjects for the grating orientation or vibrotactile frequency discrimination tasks. In contrast, blind subjects outperformed the sighted for the texture discrimination task (G2 only), possibly reflecting the fact that the raised dot surfaces were similar to the dots forming Braille characters (all were fluent Braille readers).

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.03.014

Cites

44 of 44 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Blind participants outperformed the sighted on a texture discrimination task.

    “For example, Alary et al. (2009) found no difference in tactile grating orientation discrimination or vibration frequency judgment between blind and sighted participants, while blind participants outperformed the sighted on a texture discrimination task.”

    From Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1 (2016) · cites this paper as Alary et al. (2009)

  • Alary et al. (2009) found no difference in vibration frequency judgment between blind and sighted participants.

    “For example, Alary et al. (2009) found no difference in tactile grating orientation discrimination or vibration frequency judgment between blind and sighted participants, while blind participants outperformed the sighted on a texture discrimination task.”

    From Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1 (2016) · cites this paper as Alary et al. (2009)

  • Alary et al. (2009) found no difference in tactile grating orientation discrimination between blind and sighted participants.

    “For example, Alary et al. (2009) found no difference in tactile grating orientation discrimination or vibration frequency judgment between blind and sighted participants, while blind participants outperformed the sighted on a texture discrimination task.”

    From Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1 (2016) · cites this paper as Alary et al. (2009)

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Alary, F., Duquette, M., Goldstein, R., Elaine Chapman, C., Voss, P., La Buissonnière-Ariza, V., & Lepore, F.
Affiliations
Université de Montréal (CA)
ORCID
Voss, Patrice
Venue
Neuropsychologia
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2009-08
Volume
47
Issue
10
Pages
2037-2043
ISSN
0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.03.014
OpenAlex
W2009408475
Cited by
120
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 7
FWCI
4.37
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Canada Research Chairs
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
Keywords
tactile acuity, blindness, tactile discrimination, texture discrimination, fingertip, Braille, haptic perception, skin sensation
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Blindness, Discrimination, Psychological, Female, Fingers, Humans, Light, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Orientation, Photic Stimulation, Psychophysics, Reaction Time, Sensory Thresholds, Skin, Touch, Vibration, Signal Detection, Psychological, Age of Onset, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review