Hand Movements and Braille Reading Efficiency: Data from the Alphabetic Braille and Contracted Braille Study

Wright, Tessa; Wormsley, Diane P.; Kamei-Hannan, Cheryl

doi:10.1177/0145482x0910301008

Cited by 30 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…We show that most sighted adults can learn whole-word braille reading, given the right method and motivation. The pace of braille acquisition in our sighted subjects was comparable to that of blind children learning braille reading in school [ 27 – 29 ]. Thus, our results might suggest that experience-dependent mechanisms largely account for the blind’s mastery in complex tactile tasks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults

et al. 2016

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Blind people are known to have superior perceptual abilities in their remaining senses. Several studies suggest that these enhancements are dependent on the specific experience of blind individuals, who use those remaining senses more than sighted subjects. In line with this view, sighted subjects, when trained, are able to significantly progress in relatively simple tactile tasks. However, the case of complex tactile tasks is less obvious, as some studies suggest that visual deprivation itself could confer large advantages in learning them. It remains unclear to what extent those complex skills, such as braille reading, can be learnt by sighted subjects. Here we enrolled twenty-nine sighted adults, mostly braille teachers and educators, in a 9-month braille reading course. At the beginning of the course, all subjects were naive in tactile braille reading. After the course, almost all were able to read whole braille words at a mean speed of 6 words-per-minute. Subjects with low tactile acuity did not differ significantly in braille reading speed from the rest of the group, indicating that low tactile acuity is not a limiting factor for learning braille, at least at this early stage of learning. Our study shows that most sighted adults can learn whole-word braille reading, given the right method and a considerable amount of motivation. The adult sensorimotor system can thus adapt, to some level, to very complex tactile tasks without visual deprivation. The pace of learning in our group was comparable to congenitally and early blind children learning braille in primary school, which suggests that the blind’s mastery of complex tactile tasks can, to a large extent, be explained by experience-dependent mechanisms.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults

et al. 2016

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“…Reading rates of children who read braille are and have been of major concern in the research literature (e.g., Nolan & Kederis, 1969;Wall Emerson, Holbrook, & D'Andrea, 2009). This research has documented that reading rates of braille readers are approximately half or less of the speed of their age-matched, sighted peers (Lusk & Corn, 2006;Wall Emerson et al, 2009;Wright, Wormsley, & Kamei-Hannan, 2009). Researchers have also described disparities between the reading comprehension ability and chronological age of students who read braille (Dodd & Conn, 2000;Wall Emerson et al, 2009).…”

Section: Braille Readingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other research suggests that reading braille with a twohanded pattern is associated with higher proficiency in reading than reading braille with one hand (Kusajima, 1974;Wright et al, 2009). There may not have been enough participants reading with a one-handed pattern to find a significant association between hand movements and comprehension.…”

Section: Interaction Of Braille and Word Identification Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reading Comprehension for Braille Readers

Savaiano

Compton

Hatton

2014

Current Issues in the Education of Students With Visual Impairments

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“…Later research has confirmed these early notions [26,27] and added many linguistic aspects of the text as possible causes [28, 23, 29–30]. Indeed, linguistic manipulations of the text can have the same effect on reading braille and increase the likelihood of regressive hand movements [31, 17, 32–35]. The kinematic properties of reading hand movements and regressive hand movements are not qualitatively different [36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of modulating braille dot height on reading regressions

et al. 2019

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It is well known that people who read print or braille sometimes make eye or finger movements against the reading direction. The way these regressions are elicited has been studied in detail by manipulating linguistic aspects of the reading material. Actually, it has been shown that reducing the physical intensity or clarity of the visual input signal can also lead to increased regressions during reading. We asked whether the same might be true in the haptic realm while reading braille. We set the height of braille dots at three different levels (high, medium, and low) and asked adult blind, practiced braille readers to read standardized texts without any repetition of content. The results show that setting the braille dot height near the tactile threshold significantly increased the frequency of regressive finger movements. Additionally, at the lowest braille dot height, braille reading speed significantly diminished. These effects did not occur at braille dot heights that were closer to the height of standard braille (medium and high). We tentatively conclude that this effect may be due to a heightened sense of uncertainty elicited by perception near the threshold that seems to be common to the reading process, independent of the sensory input modality. Furthermore, the described effect may be a feature of a brain area that contributes to the reading process mediated by vision as well as touch.

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Hand Movements and Braille Reading Efficiency: Data from the Alphabetic Braille and Contracted Braille Study

Cited by 30 publications

References 7 publications

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults

Braille in the Sighted: Teaching Tactile Reading to Sighted Adults

Reading Comprehension for Braille Readers

Effect of modulating braille dot height on reading regressions

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