Age at Onset of Blindness and Development of Space Concepts: From Topological to Projective Space

Abstract

Age at onset of blindness does not seem to be the critical factor in children's masters of space concepts. Although only half the subjects of this study successfully completed Piagetian tasks of projected space, congenitally and adventitiously blind subjects were equally able to do so. Neither was performance age-related: success and failure rates were distributed evenly over the 6-to-12 age span. One-third of the subjects exhibited atypical spatial development, mastering relative positions of left and right before mirror-image orientation.