Measuring by Memory

A group of Otago University researchers have proven that blind people are consistently more accurate in estimating the size of familiar objects – such as a loaf of bread – with their hands than their sighted counterparts. “Surprisingly, in over one hundred participants with normal vision, a marked overestimation in object size was demonstrated,” says study co-author Elizabeth A. Franz. “[This suggests] that the visual-memory representations in sighted individuals might not be accurate after all.” The study’s findings were published in the January 2005 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society.