par Kolinsky, Régine 
;Verhaeghe, Arlette
Référence Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 1, 2, page (57-64)
Publication Publié, 2017
;Verhaeghe, ArletteRéférence Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 1, 2, page (57-64)
Publication Publié, 2017
Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | The present study examined whether a beneficial effect on enantiomorphy (namely, the ability to discriminate lateral mirror images) can begained by practicing extra-curricular activities that require making mirror-image discrimination on nonsymbolic materials. In particular, we examined whether lacemaking triggers enantiomorphy in unschooled illiterate adult women. To this aim, two groups of illiterate women were presented with a ‘‘same-different’’ comparison task in which they had to discriminate enantiomorphic nonlinguistic geometric shapes presented either simultaneously or sequentially. One group included lacemakers, the other not. Across presentation modes, lacemakers clearly outperformed non-lacemakers, who struggled at considering mirror images as being different. Thus, the present data confirm former work (e.g., Kolinsky et al., J Exp Psychol Gen 140(2):1–30, 2011) in showing that illiterate people are quite poor at discriminating enantiomorphs. In addition, they show that literacy acquisition is not the only factor able to improve mirror-image discrimination: Other activities requiring such discrimination have a similar impact, even if they do not involve symbols and are extracurricular. Thus, the positive impact that acquisition of the Latin alphabet has on enantiomorphy, though remarkable and quite strong, is just an example among others of the influence that cultural activities may have on visual processing |
