BACKGROUND The estimation of relative distance is a perceptual task used extensively in everyday life. This important skill suffers from biases that may be more pronounced when estimation is based on haptics. This is especially true for the blind and visually impaired, for which haptic estimation of distances is paramount but not systematically trained. We investigated whether a programmable tactile display, used autonomously, can improve distance discrimination ability in blind and severely visually impaired youngsters between 7 and 22 years-old. METHODS Training consisted of four weekly sessions in which participants were asked to haptically find, on the programmable tactile display, the pairs of squares which were separated by the shortest and longest distance in tactile images with multiple squares. A battery of haptic tests with raised-line drawings was administered before and after training, and scores were compared to those of a control group that did only the haptic battery, without doing the distance discrimination training on the tactile display. RESULTS Both blind and severely impaired youngsters became more accurate and faster at the task during training. In haptic battery results, blind and severely impaired youngsters who used the programmable display improved in three and two tests, respectively. In contrast, in the control groups, the blind control group improved in only one test, and the severely visually impaired in no tests. CONCLUSIONS Distance discrimination skills can be trained equally well in both blind and severely impaired participants. More importantly, autonomous training with the programmable tactile display had generalized effects beyond the trained task. Participants improved not only in the size discrimination test but also in memory span tests. Our study shows that tactile stimulation training that requires minimal human assistance can effectively improve generic spatial skills.

中文翻译：

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通过可编程距离辨别训练增强年轻视障人士的一般空间技能：病例对照研究。

背景技术相对距离的估计是日常生活中广泛使用的感知任务。这项重要技能存在偏差，当基于触觉进行估计时，这种偏差可能会更加明显。对于盲人和视障人士来说尤其如此，对距离的触觉估计至关重要，但没有经过系统训练。我们研究了自主使用的可编程触觉显示器是否可以提高 7 至 22 岁盲人和严重视力障碍青少年的距离辨别能力。方法 培训包括每周四次的课程，参与者被要求在可编程触觉显示器上通过触觉寻找在具有多个方块的触觉图像中间隔最短和最长距离的方块对。在训练之前和之后进行了一系列带有凸起线图的触觉测试，并将分数与仅进行触觉电池的对照组的分数进行了比较，而没有在触觉显示器上进行距离辨别训练。结果 失明和严重受损的青少年在训练过程中完成任务时变得更加准确和更快。在触觉电池结果中，使用可编程显示器的失明和严重受损的青少年分别在三项和两项测试中得到了改善。相比之下，在对照组中，盲人对照组仅在一项测试中有所改善，而严重视力受损的对照组则没有进行任何测试。结论 盲人和严重受损的参与者的距离辨别技能都可以得到同样好的训练。更重要的是，使用可编程触觉显示器的自主训练具有超出训练任务的普遍效果。参与者不仅在尺寸辨别测试中取得了进步，而且在记忆广度测试中也取得了进步。我们的研究表明，需要最少人工帮助的触觉刺激训练可以有效提高通用空间技能。