Does heightened perceptual encoding in blind individuals extend to word learning?

Abstract

Blind participants tend to encode sensory details of encounters with stimuli they will later recall or recollect, whereas sighted individuals tend to abstract meaning from sensory information when encoding memories. Here we ask whether blind individuals' use of perceptual in addition to semantic encoding extends to a task-word learning-whose purpose amounts to semantically encoding the word and definition. After studying the definitions of spoken or written words, blind braille readers (n = 23) and sighted print readers (n = 20) re-encountered each word and indicated whether it was previously presented in the same modality. Analyses showed blind participants had better recall of modality even for words they had read (i.e., processed tactually), indicating their use of perceptual encoding may be automatically deployed in situations where it is unnecessary for the task. We recommend further research on individual differences in perceptual encoding within and across groups and its potential costs and benefits.