A Sensitive Period for Automaticity Rather than Ability: Automatic Visuospatial Coding of Touch Requires Visual Experience in Early Life
4 affiliations
- 1Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology University of Hamburg Hamburg Germany
- 2Department of Psychology Tufts University Medford Massachusetts USA
- 3Department of Medicine and Optometry Linnaeus University, Sweden
- 4Child Sight Institute, Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center LV Prasad Eye Institute Hyderabad India
Abstract
Early visual experience can profoundly shape tactile perception. Sighted and late blind but not congenitally blind humans automatically link touch to a visuospatial reference frame—evidenced by a tendency to assign tactile stimuli to the wrong hand when the hands are crossed. Here, we tested for a sensitive period during which visual experience irrevocably shapes the automaticity of visuospatial coding of touch. To this aim, tactile spatiotemporal perception was measured in individuals who had been temporarily blind due to bilateral dense cataracts that were either congenital or developed in childhood. Participants reported the location of the first of two successive tactile stimuli—one on each hand—resting their arms in a crossed or uncrossed position. In Experiment 1, only tactile stimulus pairs were presented (unimodal context). In Experiment 2, pairs of tactile stimuli were interleaved with tactile‐auditory and auditory pairs (crossmodal context). In the unimodal context, individuals with restored congenital cataracts—reminiscent of those with congenital blindness—did not exhibit the typical impairment with crossed hands, confirming irrevocable effects of early vision on tactile perception. In stark contrast, in the crossmodal context, hand crossing markedly impaired their tactile judgments. Here, individuals with restored congenital cataracts performed similarly to typically‐sighted individuals. Thus, the genuine ability to code touch visuospatially did not depend on early vision. Participants with restored childhood‐onset cataracts and typically‐sighted participants showed comparable crossing effects in both contexts. In sum, the present study reveals that the automaticity rather than the ability to code touch visuospatially requires early visual experience.
Related
- Enrichment of In Utero Rhythmic Experience Promotes Postnatal Visuospatial Attention
- Does experience modulate automatic imitation? A new look
- Motor automaticity in natural keyboard typing
- Visuospatial features influencing the evaluation of two-body interactions
- A puzzling situation: How cooperation and social observation influence visuospatial problem-solving
BibTeX
@article{badde2026sensitive,
title = {{A Sensitive Period for Automaticity Rather than Ability: Automatic Visuospatial Coding of Touch Requires Visual Experience in Early Life}},
author = {Stephanie Badde and Suddha Sourav and Kabilan Pitchaimuthu and Bhavana Kolli and Waqar Khan and Ramesh Kekunnaya and Brigitte Röder},
journal = {Developmental Science},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1111/desc.70300},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70300},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A Sensitive Period for Automaticity Rather than Ability: Automatic Visuospatial Coding of Touch Requires Visual Experience in Early Life
AU - Stephanie Badde
AU - Suddha Sourav
AU - Kabilan Pitchaimuthu
AU - Bhavana Kolli
AU - Waqar Khan
AU - Ramesh Kekunnaya
AU - Brigitte Röder
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/03
JO - Developmental Science
DO - 10.1111/desc.70300
UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70300
AB - Early visual experience can profoundly shape tactile perception. Sighted and late blind but not congenitally blind humans automatically link touch to a visuospatial reference frame—evidenced by a tendency to assign tactile stimuli to the wrong hand when the hands are crossed. Here, we tested for a sensitive period during which visual experience irrevocably shapes the automaticity of visuospatial coding of touch. To this aim, tactile spatiotemporal perception was measured in individuals who had been temporarily blind due to bilateral dense cataracts that were either congenital or developed in childhood. Participants reported the location of the first of two successive tactile stimuli—one on each hand—resting their arms in a crossed or uncrossed position. In Experiment 1, only tactile stimulus pairs were presented (unimodal context). In Experiment 2, pairs of tactile stimuli were interleaved with tactile‐auditory and auditory pairs (crossmodal context). In the unimodal context, individuals with restored congenital cataracts—reminiscent of those with congenital blindness—did not exhibit the typical impairment with crossed hands, confirming irrevocable effects of early vision on tactile perception. In stark contrast, in the crossmodal context, hand crossing markedly impaired their tactile judgments. Here, individuals with restored congenital cataracts performed similarly to typically‐sighted individuals. Thus, the genuine ability to code touch visuospatially did not depend on early vision. Participants with restored childhood‐onset cataracts and typically‐sighted participants showed comparable crossing effects in both contexts. In sum, the present study reveals that the automaticity rather than the ability to code touch visuospatially requires early visual experience.
SN - 1363-755X
SN - 1467-7687
ER -