We investigated the role of visual experience and visual imagery in the processing of two-dimensional (2-D) tactile patterns. The performance of early-blind (EB), late-blind (LB), and blindfolded sighted (S) adults in the recognition of 2-D raised-line patterns was compared. We also examined whether recognition of 2-D tactile patterns depends on the type of memory strategy (eg spatial, visuo-spatial, verbal, and kinesthetic) used by EB, LB, and S participants to perform the task. Significant between-group differences in the recognition performance have not been found despite significant between-group differences in self-reported memory strategies. Recognition performance does not vary significantly with the strategy, but correlates positively with visuo-spatial imagery abilities in the S participants. These findings may be taken to suggest that the difficulties some blind people experience with tactile pictures are not due to difficulties in processing 2-D tactile patterns.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BailesS MLambertR M, 1986“Cognitive aspects of haptic form recognition by blind and sighted subjects”British Journal of Psychology77451–458
2.
BehrmannMEwellC, 2003“Expertise in tactile pattern recognition”Psychological Science14480–486
3.
CaddeoPFornaraFNenciAPiroldiA, 2006“Wayfinding tasks in visually impaired people: The role of tactile maps”Cognitive Processing7168–169
4.
CornoldiCCortesiAPretiD, 1991“Individual differences in the capacity limitation of visuo-spatial short-term memory: Research on sighted and totally congenitally blind people”Memory & Cognition19459–468
5.
CornoldiCDe BeniRRoncariSRomanoS, 1989“The effects of imagery instructions on total congenital blind recall”European Journal of Cognitive Psychology1321–331
6.
CornoldiCTintiCMammarellaI CReA MVarottoD, 2009“Memory for an imagined pathway and strategy effects in sighted and in totally congenitally blind individuals”Acta Psychologica13011–16
7.
D'AnguilliAKennedyJ MHellerM A, 1998“Blind children recognizing tactile pictures respond like sighted given guidance in exploration”Scandinavian Journal of Psychology39187–190
8.
DenisM, 2008“Assessing the symbolic distance effect in mental images constructed from verbal descriptions: A study of individual differences in the mental comparison of distances”Acta Psychologica127197–210
9.
ErikssonY, 1998Tactile Pictures: Pictorial Representations for the Blind (Gothenburg: Gothenburg University Press)
10.
EspinozaM AOchaitaE, 1998“Using tactile maps to improve the practical spatial knowledge of adults who are blind”Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness92339–345
11.
GoodmanL AKruskalW H, 1954“Measures of association for cross classifications”Journal of the American Statistical Association49732–764
12.
GrierJ B, 1971“Nonparametric indexes for sensitivity and bias: Computing formulas”Psychological Bulletin75424–429
13.
HellerM A, 1989“Picture and pattern perception in the sighted and blind: the advantage of the late blind”Perception18379–389
14.
HellerM A, 2002“Tactile picture perception in sighted and blind people”Behavioural Brain Research13565–68
15.
HellerM ABrackettD DScroggsESteffenHHeatherlyKSalikS, 2002“Tangible pictures: Viewpoint effects and linear perspective in visually impaired people”Perception31747–769
16.
HellerM ACalcaterraJ ABursonL LTylerL A, 1996“Tactual picture identification by blind and sighted people: Effects of providing categorical information”Perception & Psychophysics58310–323
17.
HellerM AMcCarthyMClarkA, 2005“Pattern perception and pictures for the blind”Psicologia26161–171
18.
HollinsM, 1985“Styles of mental imagery in blind adults”Neuropsychologia23561–566
19.
JehoelSUngarSMcCallumDRowellJ, 2005“An evaluation of substrates for tactile maps and diagrams: Scanning speed and user preferences”Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness9985–95
20.
KennedyJ M, 1993Drawing and the Blind (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press)
21.
KennedyJ MBaiJ, 2002“Haptic pictures: Fit judgments predict identification, recognition memory, and confidence”Perception311013–1026
22.
KennedyJ MDomanderR, 1986“Postures in twin figures: Reactions by the blind and the sighted”International Journal of Rehabilitation Research963–66
23.
KennedyJ MGabiasP, 1985“Metaphoric devices in drawings of motion mean the same to the blind and sighted”Perception14189–195
24.
KlatzkyR LLoomisJ MLedermanS JWakeHFujitaN, 1993“Haptic identification of objects and their depictions”Perception & Psychophysics54170–178
25.
LedermanS JKlatzkyR LChatawayCSummersC, 1990“Visual mediation and the haptic recognition of two-dimensional pictures of common objects”Perception & Psychophysics4754–64
26.
LikertRQuashaW H, 1941Revised Minnesota Paper Form Board (New York: The Psychological Corporation)
27.
LoomisJ MKlatzkyR LLedermanS J, 1991“Similarity of tactual and visual picture recognition with limited field of view”Perception20167–177
28.
MillarS, 1975“Visual experience or translation rules? Drawing the human figure by blind and sighted children”Perception4363–371
29.
MurdockB B, 1962“The serial position effect of free recall”Journal of Experimental Psychology64482–488
30.
PicardDMonnierC, 2009“Short-term memory for spatial configurations in the tactile modality: A comparison with vision”Memory17789–801
31.
PostmaAZuidhoekSNoordzijM LKappersA M, 2007“Differences between early-blind, late-blind and blindfolded-sighted people in haptic spatial-configuration learning and resulting memory traces”Perception361253–1265
32.
RichardFVaz-CernigliaCPortalierS, 2004“Evolution des procédures d'exploration haptique chez des sujets voyants, aveugles tardifs et aveugles précoces”Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée54227–236
33.
RichardsonA, 1969Mental Imagery (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul)
34.
RussierS, 1999“Haptic discrimination of two-dimensional raised-line shapes by blind and sighted adults”Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness93421–426
35.
ShapiroS SWilkM B, 1965“An analysis of variance test for normality”Biometrika52591–611
36.
SiegelS, 1956Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (New York: McGraw-Hill)
37.
SymmonsMRichardsonB, 2000“Raised-line drawings are spontaneously explored with a single finger”Perception26621–626
38.
ThompsonL JChronicleE P, 2006“Beyond visual conventions: Rethinking the design of tactile diagrams”British Journal of Visual Impairment2476–82
39.
ThompsonL JChronicleE PCollinsA F, 2003“The role of pictorial convention in haptic picture perception”Perception32887–893
40.
ThompsonL JChronicleE PCollinsA F, 2006“From 3-D objects to 2-D pictures: Enhancing 2-D tactile picture design from knowledge of 3-D haptic object recognition”European Psychologist11110–118
41.
UngarSBladesMSpencerC, 1993“The role of tactile maps in mobility training”British Journal of Visual Impairment1159–61
42.
VanlierdeAWanet-DefalqueM C, 2004“Abilities and strategies of blind and sighted subjects in visuo-spatial imagery”Acta Psychologica116205–222
43.
WijntjesM W Avan LienenTVerstijnenI MKappersA M L, 2008a“Look what I have felt: Unidentified haptic line drawings are identified after sketching”Acta Psychologica128255–263
44.
WijntjesM W Avan LienenTVerstijnenI MKappersA M L, 2008b“The influence of picture size on recognition and exploratory behaviour in raised-line drawings”Perception37602–614
