Action video game play and transfer of navigation and spatial cognition skills in adolescents who are blind
Open accessAbstract
For individuals who are blind, navigating independently in an unfamiliar environment represents a considerable challenge. Inspired by the rising popularity of video games, we have developed a novel approach to train navigation and spatial cognition skills in adolescents who are blind. Audio-based Environment Simulator (AbES) is a software application that allows for the virtual exploration of an existing building set in an action video game metaphor. Using this ludic-based approach to learning, we investigated the ability and efficacy of adolescents with early onset blindness to acquire spatial information gained from the exploration of a target virtual indoor environment. Following game play, participants were assessed on their ability to transfer and mentally manipulate acquired spatial information on a set of navigation tasks carried out in the real environment. Success in transfer of navigation skill performance was markedly high suggesting that interacting with AbES leads to the generation of an accurate spatial mental representation. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between success in game play and navigation task performance. The role of virtual environments and gaming in the development of mental spatial representations is also discussed. We conclude that this game based learning approach can facilitate the transfer of spatial knowledge and further, can be used by individuals who are blind for the purposes of navigation in real-world environments.
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Similar transfer paradigms have proven effective for supporting accurate navigation in large physical indoor layouts after learning in the corresponding virtual space using verbal and auditory interfaces.
“Similar transfer paradigms have proven effective for supporting accurate navigation in large physical indoor layouts after learning in the corresponding virtual space using verbal and auditory interfaces (Giudice and Tietz, 2008; Giudice et al., 2010; Connors et al., 2014).”
From Cognitive Mapping Without Vision: Comparing Wayfinding Performance After Learning From Digital Touchscreen-Based Multimodal Maps vs. Embossed Tactile Overlays (2020) · cites this paper as Connors et al., 2014
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Navigating without vision: principles of blind spatial cognition
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“Similar transfer paradigms have proven effective for supporting accurate navigation in large physical indoor layouts after learning in the corresponding virtual space using verbal and auditory interfaces (Giudice and Tietz, 2008; Giudice et al., 2010; Connors et al., 2014).”
Background
- Authors
- Connors, E. C., Chrastil, E. R., Sánchez, J., & Merabet, L. B.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (US)
- Boston University (US)
- University of Chile (CL)
- Corresponding author
- Merabet, Lotfi B.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014-03-11
- Volume
- 8
- Pages
- 133-133
- ISSN
- 1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3949101
- OpenAlex
- W2165574020
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 7.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Eye Institute (R01EY019924, EY019924)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Keywords
- action video games, blind adolescents, spatial cognition, navigation skills, transfer of learning, game-based learning, virtual worlds, independent navigation
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