Research has suggested that perception and action are independent (see M. A. Goodale & A. Haffenden, 1998). The authors used the Ebbinghaus illusion to test this hypothesis in 2 experiments. Verbal reports of perceived size were compared with maximum grip aperture during grasping (Experiment 1) and manual reports of perceived size (Experiment 2).…

Two experiments were conducted with 80 college students to examine factors associated with the crossmodal facilitation of learning Braille symbols when the visual modality is utilized. In Experiment 1 subjects using the haptic mode were informed of both the structure of the braille cell and the range of dot numerosity of the symbols to be…

A STUDY OF PERCEPTION USED A SAMPLE OF 325 CEREBRAL PALSIED CHILDREN (211 WERE SPASTIC, 114 WERE ATHETOID) AND 110 NORMAL CHILDREN. ALL CHILDREN WERE BETWEEN SIX AND 16 YEARS OF AGE AND OF NORMAL INTELLIGENCE. TO INVESTIGATE PERCEPTUAL DISTURBANCES, SIX TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED--THE TACTUAL MOTOR TEST, THE SYRACUSE VISUAL FIGURE BACKGROUND TEST…

GRADES OR AGES: Four-, five-, and six-year olds. SUBJECT MATTER: Sensory experiences, including tactile, auditory, and visual. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: The guide is divided into three sections, one for each of the above sensory areas. Each section lists materials and describes activities; illustrations are interspersed. The guide is…

Students were classed as field dependent or field independent using Witkin's Rod and Frame and the Embedded Figures Test. In addition, each of the 269 grade 8 subjects performed Uznadze's set tasks. The number of trials required for excitation and extinction in the haptic and visual modality were noted. The field-dependent-independent groups,…

Simultaneous and successive visual and tactual shape discrimination were examined in this study which replicated with modifications an earlier study. When ceiling effects were precluded, data support the conclusion that children often find it more difficult to discriminate shapes by touch than by vision. (GO)

The study examined the ability of five deaf-blind subjects to receive fingerspelled materials through the tactual sense, and of six deaf subjects to receive fingerspelling through the visual sense. Results found highly accurate tactual reception at normal rates and suggested that rates for visual reception are limited by the rate of manual…

The developmental change from global toward dimensional classifications, usually observed in vision, was investigated in haptics with stimuli varying according to their size and roughness. Results indicated that, although more overall similarity classifications were observed in children than in adults, this kind of classification was never…

This study assessed the effects of multi-sensory training on the understanding of the alphabetic principle in kindergarten children from low socio-economic status families. Two interventions were compared, called HVAM (visual and haptic exploration of letters) and VAM (visual exploration of letters). The interventions were conducted by either…

Recent research indicates that by 4.5 months, infants use shape and size information as the basis for individuating objects but that it is not until 11.5 months that they use color information for this purpose. The present experiments investigated the extent to which infants' sensitivity to color information could be increased through select…

Lowenfeld (1945) developed a series of six instruments which could be used to identify perceptual abilities. For this study, the visually oriented person was defined as the objective viewer of the environment, while the haptic person was defined as a person who uses the eyes only when forced to do so and relates to his environment subjectively. He…

A THEORY OF TEACHING SEVERELY HANDICAPPED READERS TO READ BY MODALITY BLOCKING OR NONVISUAL ATK, THE AUDITORY-KINESTHETIC-TACTILE METHOD, RATHER THAN BY STRENGTHENING ALL SENSORY MODALITIES IS REPORTED. INDIVIDUALS WHO SPEAK ADEQUATELY BUT WHO READ INADEQUATELY SUFFER INTERFERENCE FROM THE VISUAL INPUT SYSTEM IN THE LEARNING OF READING. IF THE…

Two groups of continuing education students were tested using three of Viktor Lowenfeld's tests of visual-haptic perception. The scores from the three tests were added to yield a score which identified an individual's location on Lowenfeld's visual-haptic continuum. The investigation also uncovered scoring problems with two of the tests which had…