Focusing primarily on learning disabled children, the article briefly reviews the literature related to perceptual skills required in reading acquisition and the validity of current perceptual measures to tap these task-related perceptual abilities, and proposes an informal task-related measure to overcome the drawbacks of more formal measures of…

Based on studies and clinical findings, two techniques for testing infant vision are described: near-retinoscopy (used to assess the refractive state of infants and young children) and a fast preferential looking procedure (used to assess the acuity of infants up to one year of age). (DLS)

In order to shed light on the needs of children with cortical visual impairments, normal visual development of infants is described. Infant preferences for motion, faces, and black-and-white patterns are explained. Colors useful in stimulating vision development and the time needed for exposure to visual stimuli are discussed. (CR)

This paper reviews the literature on visual literacy over the past 25 years. The following areas of visual literacy are reviewed: theoretical foundations of visual literacy; establishing a research agenda; visual vocabulary; visual learning/visual teaching; visual thinking; visual-verbal relationship; and visible language. (Contains 158…

Highlighting current literature concerning infants' ability to perceive motion, this paper discusses the sensory apparatus that makes motion perception possible. Reviews of the physiology, anatomy, and sensory capabilities of the infant's visual system, as well as a discussion of the neural physiological mechanisms that govern the visual system,…

Results from studies of language identification in noise and of word identification from tachistoscopic presentation clearly indicate that contextual information can be used to facilitate word identification under inadequate stimulus conditions. But these results do not provide strong evidence that such an interaction is occurring during normal…

Gestalt theory deals with the act of thinking and the construction of concepts in a situated manner, and, therefore, could be used to study how meaning is extracted from a visual display. Using the Gestalt framework of form cues and their usage patterns in the perception of, and learning from, visual media, researchers could study frame, line…

Despite external changes such as those of magnitudes, the functional properties of the visual system also improve with increased age. According to Jean Piaget's centration/decentration theory, the process of perceptual development might continue until adulthood and even after. However, perceptual development should not be understood in all of its…

A review of the ophthalmologic, optometric, and psychological literature relating to the assumption that a relationship exists between reading failure and perceptual ability has found no evidence to support this assumption. (CL)

Discusses the value of making students visually literate. Stresses the technique of visual rehearsal and offers suggestions for incorporating visual rehearsal activities into the classroom. (FL)

Examines visual cognitive processes having to do with perception, the assimilation of new information, and learning by analogy, and identifies instructional strategies to control each process. Discussion of relationships between visual learning and instruction includes implications for research and design. An extensive bibliography is provided.…

Examines the differences in visual and pictorial conventions between people in less technologically developed countries and those in the industrialized European sphere. The implications of these differences are assessed in light of cultural factors rooted in both geographic location and level of technological development. (MER)

Discusses the effects on oculomotor behavior of variations of the physical attributes of text and similar effects from physical word cues processed in the reader's parafoveal vision. (HOD)

In the impress method, the teacher sits behind the student, reads a selection of material, and points to each word as s/he reads it. The student repeats what the teacher says and follows the teacher's finger. The objective is to cover as much material as possible at a normal pace. Comprehension is not required. Research studies are reviewed. (JN)

Focuses on investigations of infant sensation and perception over the past 25 years. Describes the knowledge base concerning the sensory and perceptual world of the infant in the mid-1960s. Methodological highlights in the study of vision and audition are covered. (RJC)