Courses at the postsecondary level continue to rely heavily on visual material that is accessible only to fully or partially sighted students. Tactile graphics work for many pedagogical purposes, but in some cases are insufficient; other information and concepts may be better conveyed through haptic exploration of 3D printed objects. However,…

Twelve blind students (12 to 24 years old) explored haptically the spatial relations among objects on a table top and were then asked to walk all the paths connecting the objects in a large scale environment. The students deduced the overall arrangement of locations from any point in the large scale environment fairly accurately. (CL)

In their specialized schooling, blind children are now frequently presented with raised line figures and maps. However, there is still much to do in evaluating the cognitive effects of training using these displays. The purpose of this research is to determine if the level of expertise in the haptic exploration, and the perception of the raised…

An approach to the transcription of visual art into tactile form is described, with regard to the effects of relief, texture, and picture context. The impact of such pictures on the blind user's understanding of spatial relationships, distance, and perspective and as a stimulus for creative artwork is discussed. (Author/DB)

Eighty-eight children (either totally blind or with residual vision) estimated directions between landmarks in a large scale layout of objects. Children experienced the layout either directly by walking around it or indirectly by examining a tactile map. Use of tactile maps considerably facilitated the performance of the blind children. (Author/DB)

This study evaluated the effects of three instructional methods (direct experience, cartographic representation (tactile map), and verbal description) on the spatial knowledge of 30 adults with blindness. Results indicated that participants' practical spatial knowledge was better when they learned with a tactile map than in either of the other…

The question regarding visual imagery and visual perception remain an open issue. Many studies have tried to understand if the two processes share the same mechanisms or if they are independent, using different neural substrates. Most research has been directed towards the need of activation of primary visual areas during imagery. Here we review…

This article reviews recent research on perception of tangible pictures in sighted and blind people. Haptic picture naming accuracy is dependent upon familiarity and access to semantic memory, just as in visual recognition. Performance is high when haptic picture recognition tasks do not depend upon semantic memory. Viewpoint matters for the ease…