Cross-Modal Transfer of Sequential Visual and Haptic Shape Information by Clumsy Children

The ability of clumsy children aged 9 to 13 years to transfer sequential shape information between the haptic and visual modalities was examined in a matching-to-sample task. In both modalities, spatiotemporal integration of information relevant for shape was involved and transfer was examined between them by using intramodal transfer scores as covariates. The responses of clumsy children were not different from those of nonclumsy children of similar age, sex, and intelligence in the cross-modal condition involving matching of a haptic standard to a visual shape. However, when matching a visual standard to a haptic shape they were consistently both faster and less accurate. It was concluded that a specific visual-to-haptic translation process possibly involving poor visual memory for shape distinguishes clumsy children from their nonclumsy peers.