The structure of spatial representation in congenitally and adventitiously blind 11-year-old children was examined by means of pointing, map-drawing, and spatial reasoning on two simple routes over repeated trials. Although all the children learned how to travel each route successfully after only one trial, three out of four of the congenitally blind children showed a complete lack of spatial understanding, as evinced by “egocentric” or “self-referent” spatial coding strategies, whereas all the adventitiously blind subjects exhibited appropriate externally referent spatial strategies compatible with convential two-dimensional maps. The role of previous visual experience in the encoding and decoding of spatial material in memory is discussed.
A number of psychological variables bearing on the process of adjustment to acquired visual loss are examined conceptually and empirically in an attempt to clarify their relationships and to develop a testable model of adjustment which might enable rehabilitation specialists to identify clients with special problems, evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs, and determine the role of psychological factors in the context of skill acquisition. The model presented offers an alternative to existing psychodynamic models in that it is in principle a testable one. Preliminary analysis of data has resulted in the devising of a questionnaire tentatively called the Nottingham Adjustment Scale, which practitioners and researchers are encouraged to use.
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