The Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology (BPN) laboratory of the University of Hamburg, Germany in collaboration with the Child Sight Institute at LVPEI Hyderabad conducted a research to understand the different aspects of brain function in children who are blind due to congenital cataract when operated beyond the critical age. The findings from this study which were recently published in the Journal Psychological Science highlighted the relation between vision and behavioural psychology. This will help in the visual and neurological rehabilitation of such children.
The study found that associations between shapes and sounds might rely on childhood vision. Unlike typically sighted participants, participants who were blind since birth did not show a systematic sound-shape association for touched shapes. Moreover, persons who were blind since birth, or suffered from a period of very low vision in childhood, did not show a systematic association between shapes and sounds, even after vision restoration and a long period of recovery. The results indicate a long sensitive period for the development of sound-shape associations.