Cognitive Abilities in Human Echolocation

The human ability to echolocate differs between individuals. Blind perform significantly better then sighted. There is very limited research on psychological factors underlying this ability. This study is based on earlier research by Schenkman and Nilsson (2010). The research questions in the present study were whether blind individuals perform better then sighted on general cognitive tasks, if people who perform well on echolocation tasks, also perform well on general cognitive tasks, and is there a correlation between performance on echolocation tasks and general cognitive tasks? Participants were 8 blind (5 female and 3 men) and 4 sighted (3 female and 1 male). Range of age was 36 – 65 years. Cognitive test used were Digit Span, California Verbal Learning Test and an auditiv reaction time test. The blind performed significantly better than the sighted on learning over trials. There was significant difference in focused attention, working memory and learning over trials between individuals who performed well on echolocation tasks and the rest of the sample. There was a positive correlation between learning over trials and individuals ability to echolocate. The conclusion of this report is that blind individuals perform better on learning over trials and that people who perform well on echolocation tasks are superior in the cognitive abilities focused attention, working memory and learning over trials.