The study involving 96 undergraduates with no previous experience with braille investigated variables (such as size of the braille symbols) affecting the learning of braille. Data were analyzed in terms of the number of correct responses, item difficulty, and error patterns. Visual Ss did better than haptic Ss on the regular bralle items but not…

In order to determine whether tactile perception is a useful predictor of academic performance, 50 control and 42 brain impaired (epileptic) children (ages 9-14 years) were examined. (Author/PHR)

Investigates whether tactual habituation without the assistance of vision occurs in four- to six-month-old infants. Additionally tests the relevance of a habituation/reaction to novelty procedure in the tactual modality. Results show clearly that tactual habituation occurs in such infants, just as visual habituation does. (Author/RH)

Newborn cardiac activity was analyzed in the context of the orienting response before and after a feeding, while sleeping and awake. Newborns tended to respond to stimuli with less variability when tested before feeding. The newborn's cardiac response to stimuli in different modalities is affected by arousal state and feeding condition. (ST)

Noting that blind children perceive through their four senses other than vision, the author advocates their learning by tactual perception. (CB)

Initial research is reported on development of a tangible graphics (a display with raised symbols for reading by hand rather than by eye) system and its evaluation by 20 blind adults. Results suggested that tangible graphs are a viable source of spatial information for blind readers. (Author/MC)

Investigates the development of lateralization of cerebral function for touch and assesses whether deaf children's lateralization pattern for this sensory system shows any deviations from that of normal children. Three groups of right-handed subjects voluntarily participated in a unimodal haptic matching task: hearing adults, hearing children, and…

The article describes the development, evaluation, and testing of a kit which includes tools and information for facilitating the construction of readable tactile graphic displays for communicating information to the blind. (Author/SW)

Using plastic letters and capitalizing on tactile cues can help reading disabled students sort out perceptual confusions. Three case studies depict the tactile approach's value in teaching reading and spelling as well as in promoting generalization. (CL)

Responsivity to graded tactile stimuli was examined in human newborns in successive epochs of active and quiet sleep. Heart rate and behavior were both used as response indices. (Author/SS)

Explores the possibility of multimodal bivariate thematic maps by utilizing auditory and haptic (sense of touch) displays. Measured completion time of tasks and the recall (retention) rate in two experiments, and findings confirmed the possibility of using auditory and haptic displays in geographic information systems (GIS). (Author/LRW)