In the past years, many studies and researches demonstrated the pivotal role of vision in the generation of spatial representations. The latter are particularly useful to orient ourselves in the surrounding environment and carry out movements and actions. Visual experience is crucial for integrating sensory signals in a coherent configuration, taking into account the body position changes in space. However, when vision is absent, as in congenitally blind individuals, how the space representation develops is still unclear. 

MySpace aims to identify the functional specificity of the critical periods for the development (and recovering) of an integrated multi-modal space representation. By elucidating these aspects, the project will fill a fundamental gap in the knowledge of audio, tactile, and multisensory spatial representations by determining how visual experience shapes them during development. As an outcome, MYSpace will provide a new rehabilitative methodology to improve the impaired spatial and motor skills in blind infants.