The Spatial Cognition of Blind Pedestrians

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine what blind pedestrians learn and remember about a space as their experience with it accumulates. Two independent variables, practice and visual status, were assessed in terms of their effect on pedestrians’ memories of objects along a route, and of the route itself. Results showed similar abilities of blind and sighted pedestrians to learn routes, but significant differences in their memorial representations of objects. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for perceptual and cognitive processes employed by blind and sighted pedestrians.