Introduction: This work investigates if simple two-dimensional (2D) tactile shapes can facilitate encoding, retention, and retrieval of associated information in the form of one-word labels. It also questions the need for the resemblance of tactile graphics with respective visual referents. Methods: Four experiments were conducted using recall…

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine whether individuals with congenital blindness make more recognizable drawings of known objects that are furniture sized (table, man, tree) rather than hand sized (egg, coconut, banana; Hypothesis 1). We also investigated whether knowledge that the tactile drawings had been produced by people who…

In the analysis of ability structure and loss of vision, 228 blind persons (153 male, 75 female) heterogenous in respect to chronological age, sex, degree of blindness, age at onset, and duration, were compared to sighted controls. A test battery was administered which included tests for verbal comprehension, mental arithmetic, spatial ability,…

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…

Does repetition blindness represent a failure of perception or of memory? In Experiment 1, participants viewed rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sentences. When critical words (C1 and C2) were orthographically similar, C2 was frequently omitted from serial report; however, repetition priming for C2 on a postsentence lexical decision task was…

This research tested the hypothesis that grouping has adverse effects on the recall of tactual shapes but facilitates the recall of tactual letters on the assumption that this depends on different processes. A further question was the relation of grouping to letter recall span (set-size).

The hypothesis that letters can be matched on the basis of tactual physical features was tested in three experiments with blind Braille-reading children. (Editor)

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…

A new psychological test battery was designed to provide a much-needed comprehensive tool for assessing the perceptual and cognitive abilities of visually handicapped children in using active touch. The test materials consist of raised-line, raised-dot, raised-surface shapes and displays, and familiar and novel 3-D objects. The research used 20…