Introduction: The inability to read quickly can be a disadvantage throughout life. This study focused on the associations of braille reading fluency and individual factors, such as the age at onset of blindness and number of years reading braille, and the tactile sensitivity of people with early and late blindness. The relationship between reading…

In the absence of visual input, the question arises as to how complex spatial abilities develop and how the brain adapts to the absence of this modality. We explored navigational skills in both early and late blind individuals and structural differences in the hippocampus, a brain region well known to be involved in spatial processing.…

This study compared participants who were congenitally visually impaired and those who became visually impaired later in life in a spatial memory task. The latter showed less efficient visuospatial processes than did the former. However, these differences were of a quantitative nature only, indicating common cognitive mechanisms that can be…

The study examined whether spontaneous variations in the frame of reference occurring over time have a more substantial effect on haptic mental rotation abilities of four blindfolded sighted subjects than of four adventitiously blind subjects. Results indicated the mental rotation functions for the two groups were virtually identical. (Author/DB)

Analysis of questionnaires completed by family members revealed that there was a marked reduction in stated problems immediately after a rehabilitation training program and over a three-and-a-half-year period. Similar benefits were noted for older family members, those receiving shortened programs, and those living with sight loss for many years.…

The structure of spatial representation in four congenitally and three adventitiously blind 11-year-old children was examined by means of pointing, mapping, drawing, and spatial reasoning on two simple routes over repeated trials. (Author)

Performance by congenitally blind, adventitiously blind, and sighted persons on three types of tasks (manipulatory, simple locomotion, and complex locomotion) was assessed. The three groups tended to perform equivalently. Results offer little evidence of a set of spatial processes that rely on past visual experience and are applicable to a broad…

Forty adults with adventitious blindness were administered 12 different Braille discrimination tests representing combinations of standard or enlarged Braille and various amounts of horizontal and vertical spacing. Findings indicated that the most favorable discrimination conditions occurred with standard-sized Braille, with three spaces between…

Benign visual hallucinations ("phantom vision") were examined in 2 studies, involving a total of 443 adventitiously blinded and sight-impaired veterans. In one study, unusual visual events were reported by 38.7 percent, with 30.6 percent reporting complex hallucinations. Causes of the hallucinations and their treatment are discussed.…

The article describes the Fishburne Code tactile labeling system as a practical alternative for those adult blind who are unwilling or unable to learn braille. Instructional materials, teaching methods, and practical applications of the Fishburne Code are noted. (Author/DB)

Meta-analysis of the literature (47 studies) comparing spatial task performance of blind and sighted subjects found that early onset (of blindness) groups generally showed poorer performance than either the late onset or the sighted groups. (Author/DB)

Superior performance by adventitiously blind Ss relative to congenitally blind Ss appeared on tasks where the stimuli were complex, familiar and/or apprehenced with arm's length of the body, but not on tasks where the stimuli were relatively simple, novel, and/or apprehenced only through locomotion. (Author/MC)

An easy-to-use objective method for evaluating a blind person's knowledge about the spatial layout of a locale was used with 10 adventitiously blind adults. Preliminary evidence indicated that the representations of spatial knowledge generated from the scaling procedures are related to the person's mobility performance in that space. (Author)

An adventitiously visually impaired individual examines differences between the neurological, psychological, and educational development of persons blinded either very early in life or much later. (DB)

A study of seven people with congenital blindness, three with adventitious blindness, and four sighted people investigated how people with congenital blindness experience body capability, body expression, and the social and psychological, identity creating aspects of the body and body experience. The value of exercise and body-awareness training…