Piaget's 3-mountains task with impossible options: Sighted, blindfolded, early and late blind participants.

Abstract

In Piaget's 3-mountains task, 3D objects - a cube, cone and sphere - sit on a square tabletop. They are portrayed in 2D pictures as elevations (projections to the sides) such as one with a square on the left, a triangle in the middle and a circle on the right. Three objects offer six elevations, of which four are possible and two impossible. The possibles are elevations from the sides of the table - front, left, right and rear. In the impossibles, an object in the corner of the table is shown in the middle of an elevation. Sighted, sighted-blindfolded, early- and late-blind adults judged the elevations as to side of the table or impossible. The results suggest similar spatial abilities across groups. The impossible options had mid-range accuracy for all groups, with reaction times like possible options. The sighted and blind participants may consider possible and impossible options sequentially, one item at a time.