The role of vision on perceptual space representation

Project Information

MYSpace

Grant agreement ID: 948349

DOI

10.3030/948349

Project closed

EC signature date 16 November 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 31 December 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 500 000,00

EU contribution

€ 1 500 000,00

Coordinated by

FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - MYSpace (The role of vision on perceptual space representation)

Reporting period: 2025-07-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The brain can integrate sensory signals to improve our precision in response to external input and produce optimal actions. Integrated spatial representations between sensory modalities are crucial to interact with objects and others. The visual experience has a key role for integrating sensory signals in a coherent spatial frame. How space representation develops when vision is absent, as in the case of blind infants, is still unclear.
MYSpace identifies the specific developmental periods when visual experience is crucial in establishing multisensory associations between vision and other senses. Blind and sighted infants, children, and adolescents take part into longitudinal and cross-sectional studies to identify deviation from the typical developmental trajectories of spatial skills.
Specifically, MYSpace focuses on developing audio and tactile multisensory spatial representations, crucial modalities to interact with objects and others. As an outcome, MYSpace aims to provide a new methodology to restore the integrated spatial representations of blind infants through multisensory (MS) training.
Advanced methods in psychophysics and neuroscience (high-density EEG and MRI), modeling, and high-resolution motion tracking analysis are used to investigate:
- the role of vision on the development of independent (Obj. 1) and MS (Obj. 2) audio and tactile spatial representations at the behavioral and cortical levels;
- the visual cortex involvement in the spatial processing when vision is absent (Obj. 3);
- the benefit of MS training to recover spatial impairments (Obj. 4).
By elucidating these aspects, the project bridges a gap in the knowledge of spatial representations and determines how visual experiences shape their development. It also provides a new methodology to restore the coherent spatial representations of blind infants.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

MYSpace aims to identify critical periods for the development and possible recovery of multimodal spatial representations in sighted and blind children, and to clarify the role of vision in these processes. During the reporting period, the project addressed its objectives through behavioral, neurophysiological, methodological, and translational studies. For Objective 1, we investigated auditory and tactile spatial processing across infancy and childhood, showing that vision is crucial for the development of tactile remapping into external space, whereas auditory spatial coding is less dependent on vision early in life. This was supported by evidence of early multisensory spatial perception in visually impaired infants [1], EEG findings showing that only sighted infants display neural signatures of external-space tactile remapping [2], and behavioral studies confirming the importance of visual experience for the maturation of body-centred and allocentric spatial coding [3].
For Objectives 2 and 3, we examined how visual experience shapes multisensory integration and its neural correlates. Results showed that multisensory spatial integration follows different developmental trajectories in blind and sighted children, with blindness affecting audio-tactile integration, spatial-temporal coupling, body representation, and the interaction between somatosensory and motor systems [4–7].We found that blindness alters the developmental trajectory of sleep-related neural activity, with atypical spindle maturation linked to perceptual and motor outcomes [8]. We also showed that congenital visual impairment affects early goal-directed action, leading to longer pick-up times and different reach-to-grasp strategies [9], and further demonstrated its influence on auditory context dependency [10] and on the role of sound in disambiguating visual perception [11].
For Objective 4, the project generated important translational outputs, including the Proof of Concept iReach, a new multisensory device for assessing and training emerging sensorimotor abilities in infants with visual impairments [12]. Together with new methodological tools and the project’s theoretical synthesis on spatial development with and without vision [13], these outputs represent a key exploitation pathway of MYSpace.
Overall, MYSpace demonstrated the key role of vision in early development, identified relevant windows for intervention, and generated both major scientific outputs and innovative tools for clinical translation.

[1] Gori et al., Current Biology (2021) Multisensory Spatial Perception in Visually Impaired Infants
[2] Gori et al., iScience (2025) Vision drives the neural construction of a two-stage hierarchy of spatial processing in infancy
[3] Bollini et al., Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (2021); Bollini et al., JEP: Human Perception and Performance (2023)
[4] Casado-Palacios et al., Brain Sciences (2025) Cross-Modal Interactions and Movement-Related Tactile Gating: The Role of Vision
[5] Coelho et al., Neuroscience (2024) Hand and Foot Overestimation in Visually Impaired Human Adults
[6] Tonelli et al., Developmental Science (2026) The Development of Audio-Tactile Spatial Integration: Unraveling Vision’s Contribution
[7] Amadeo et al., Journal of Neuroscience (2026) Space Impacts Temporal Processing via a Visual-Dependent Spatially Organized Neural Architecture
[8] Vitali et al., NeuroImage (2024) Blindness Affects the Developmental Trajectory of the Sleeping Brain
[9] Petri et al., Developmental Science (2025) Impact of Congenital Visual Impairment on Early-Life Exploration
[10] Tonelli et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2025) The Influence of Blindness on Auditory Context Dependency
[11] Gori et al., Current Biology (2024) Disambiguating Vision with Sound
[12] Gori et al., Frontiers in Psychology (2025) iReach: New Multisensory Technology for Early Intervention in Infants with Visual Impairments
[13] Gori, Amadeo & Bremner, Nature Reviews Psychology (2026) The development of spatial perception with and without visual experience

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

MYSpace is an innovative project that explores how auditory and tactile spatial representations develop and integrate in sighted and blind children, and how these processes relate to body-centred spatial coding. By combining cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with psychophysics, neurophysiology, and multisensory modeling, the project aims to identify critical developmental windows and opportunities for recovery. It also lays the methodological foundation for multisensory rehabilitation in blind infants. More broadly, MYSpace opens a new research area linking child development, blindness, cortical reorganization, and rehabilitation, grounded in extensive experience in psychology and technology for children with visual impairment.
These neuroscientific findings of MYSpace are helpful for i) Creating a new, innovative, user-centered rehabilitation and sensory substitution technology based on MS feedback. ii) The development of new products by small companies, which improves the competitiveness of the European industry. iii) Rehabilitation to improve impaired spatial representations for individuals with visual and motor impairments.

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