The effect of visuo-haptic exploration on the development of the geometric cross-sectioning ability.

Cross-sectioning is a shape understanding task where the participants must infer and interpret the spatial features of three-dimensional (3D) solids by depicting their internal two-dimensional (2D) arrangement. An increasing body of research provides evidence of the crucial role of sensorimotor experience in acquiring these complex geometrical concepts. Here, we focused on how cross-sectioning ability emerges in young children and the influence of multisensory visuo-haptic experience in geometrical learning through two experiments. In Experiment 1, we compared the 3D printed version of the Santa Barbara Solids Test (SBST) with its classical paper version; in Experiment 2, we contrasted the children's performance in the SBST before and after the visual or visuo-haptic experience. In Experiment 1, we did not identify an advantage in visualizing 3D shapes over the classical 2D paper test. In contrast, in Experiment 2, we found that children who had the experience of a combination of visual and tactile information during the exploration phase improved their performance in the SBST compared with children who were limited to visual exploration. Our study demonstrates how practicing novel multisensory strategies improves children's understanding of complex geometrical concepts. This outcome highlights the importance of introducing multisensory experience in educational training and the need to make way for developing new technologies that could improve learning abilities in children.

The RT-Chair: a Novel Motion Simulator to Measure Vestibular Perception.

Vestibular perception is useful to maintain heading direction and successful spatial navigation. In this study, we present a novel equipment capable of delivering both rotational and translational movements, namely the RT-Chair. The system comprises two motors and it is controlled by the user via MATLAB. To validate the measurability of vestibular perception with the RT-chair, we ran a threshold measurement experiment with healthy participants. Our results show thresholds comparable to previous literature, thus confirming the validity of the system to measure vestibular perception.