TY - JOUR
T1 - Auditory spatial concepts in blind football experts
AU - Velten, Marcella C.C.
AU - Ugrinowitsch, Herbert
AU - Portes, Leonardo L.
AU - Hermann, Thomas
AU - Bläsing, Bettina
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - Objectives: We compared the spatial concepts given to sounds' directions by blind football players with both blind non-athletes and sighted individuals. Method: Participants verbally described the directions of sounds around them by using predefined spatial concept labels, under two blocked conditions: 1) facing front, 2) pointing with the hand towards the stimulus. Results: Blind football players categorized the directions more precisely (i.e., they used simple labels for describing the cardinal directions and combined labels for the intermediate ones) than the other groups, and their categorization was less sensitive to the response conditions than blind non-athletes. Sighted participants' categorization was similar to previous studies, in which the front and back regions were generally more precisely described than the sides, where simple labels were often used for describing directions around the absolute left and right. Conclusions: The differences in conceptual categorization of sound directions are a) in sighted individuals, influenced by the representation of the visual space b) in blind individuals, influenced by the level of expertise in action and locomotion based on non-visual information, which can be increased by auditive stimulation provided by blind football training.
AB - Objectives: We compared the spatial concepts given to sounds' directions by blind football players with both blind non-athletes and sighted individuals. Method: Participants verbally described the directions of sounds around them by using predefined spatial concept labels, under two blocked conditions: 1) facing front, 2) pointing with the hand towards the stimulus. Results: Blind football players categorized the directions more precisely (i.e., they used simple labels for describing the cardinal directions and combined labels for the intermediate ones) than the other groups, and their categorization was less sensitive to the response conditions than blind non-athletes. Sighted participants' categorization was similar to previous studies, in which the front and back regions were generally more precisely described than the sides, where simple labels were often used for describing directions around the absolute left and right. Conclusions: The differences in conceptual categorization of sound directions are a) in sighted individuals, influenced by the representation of the visual space b) in blind individuals, influenced by the level of expertise in action and locomotion based on non-visual information, which can be increased by auditive stimulation provided by blind football training.
KW - Auditory space
KW - Blind
KW - Blind football
KW - Spatial cognition
KW - Spatial concepts
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84940121959&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychsport.2015.08.010
DO - 10.1016/j.psychsport.2015.08.010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84940121959
SN - 1469-0292
VL - 22
SP - 218
EP - 228
JO - Psychology of Sport and Exercise
JF - Psychology of Sport and Exercise
ER -