ABSTRACT
In this chapter we introduce the idea that the developmental effects of restricted visual experience have often been regarded in terms of a distinction between deficit and compensation models. We attempt to provide a framework for considering those models in terms of different roles of experience in development. Then we consider what circumstances, at the behavioral or neural levels, might lead to compensatory patterns of development. These circumstances or conditions are simply that the compensatory processes be useful for some functionally important activities and that the processes exploit sensory/perceptual abilities that are not typically well developed due to lack of need. It is important not to regard a developmental compensatory process as purposefully driven but rather as something that emerges from functionally driven activities. This overall framework is applied to our research on various aspects of spatial hearing in persons with and without visual impairments.
