Tactile Scanning and Memory for a Spatial Display By Blind Students

Abstract

A primary purpose of maps is to convey information about space and spatial relationships. This study was an attempt to determine whether specific training in scanning a tactile display would enable blind students to more effectively organize the spatial relationships presented than would students not so trained.Thirty-six braille students in grades 4 to 12 were asked to inspect a tactile display consisting of 9 removable symbols. After inspection, the 9 symbols were removed and the students were asked to replace the parts in their correct location. There were 2 groups: a control group that received no training and an experimental group that was trained to systematically search the display using a vertical search technique.The results showed that the students in the lower grade levels benefited most from the training and were superior to the control group in the same grades. However, training interfered with the performance of the students in the upper grade levels (10 to 12), with the control group performing better than the experimental group. Apparently, training is most effective before strong habits have been established.A primary purpose of diagrams and maps is to convey information about space and spatial relationships. For the blind student, the major modality for obtaining information about spatial relationships is the tactual-kinesthetic sense. Consequently, tactile diagrams and maps are potentially important educational tools in educating blind students about the nature of their environment. However, the tactual-kinesthetic sense is less adequate than vision in acquiring information from displays, primarily because of its piecemeal, fragmentary, and serial nature. This, in part, could account for the difficulty many blind students have in reading and using tactile diagrams and maps.The present study focused on the scanning behavior of blind students and the effect of this behavior on their memory of a tactile display. Previous research (Berl~, 1973; Berld & Murr, 1974) has shown that scanning a tactile display with a vertical search pattern was an effective way of locating symbols on a display. The present study attempted to determine whether specific training in the use of a vertical search technique would enable blind students to more effectively remember the spatial relationships presented on a tactile dis-

Coding of spatial location information: An automatic process?

“…With respect to the effect of training subjects with the use of effortful encoding strategies, there is one study concerned with this question which used a blind subject population. In this study, Berla (1981) studied whether specific training in scanning a tactile display would enable blind students of various grade levels to organize the spatial relation presented more effectively than untrained students would. The experimental group learned to systematically search the display, using a vertical search technique.…”

Improved access to museum collections without vision: How museum visitors with very low or no vision perceive and process tactile–auditory pictures

“…Indeed, these participants were now exploring the tactile picture as they would a text page (cf. Berlá, 1981; Berlá & Butterfield, 1977; Berlá et al, 1976; Berlá & Murr, 1975; Cornoldi et al, 2009; Graven, 2018; Millar, 1977, 1984, 1985, 1987a, 1987b, 1994, 1997, 2008; Millar & Al-Attar, 2003, 2004; Nolan & Kederis, 1969; Nolan & Morris, 1971; Postma et al, 2007; Ungar et al, 1995).…”

“…The participants were asked to describe how they explored each tactile picture, what attracted their attention and to describe each thing, what they found the most important and why, what they did not find interesting – just ‘scanned over’ – and why; to comment on the amount of details, and to explain where they would have wanted the audio-description and what they would have used the audio-description for (Supplemental Appendix 1; cf. Argyropoulos & Kanari, 2015; Berlá, 1981; Berlá & Butterfield, 1977; Berlá, Butterfield, & Murr, 1976; Berlá & Murr, 1975; Candin, 2003; Cornoldi, Tinti, Mammarella, Re, & Varotto, 2009; Graven, 2018; Heller, 1989; Heller, Kennedy, & Joyner, 1995; Holmes, Hughes, & Jansson, 1998; Jehoel et al, 2006; Millar, 1994, 2008; Millar & Al-Attar, 2003, 2004; Postma, Zuidhoek, Noordzij, & Kappers, 2007; Rowell & Ungar, 2003; Tompson & Cronicle, 2006; Tompson, Cronicle, & Collins, 2003; Ungar, Blades, & Spencer, 1995; Wijntjes & Kappers, 2007).…”

“…Finally, the participants were asked about all audio-description trigger points whether consistency in where they are placed in relation to each element is important (or not, for example, because they would recognise them anyway from one tactile picture and/or element to another), and to explain why (Supplemental Appendix 1; cf. One-on-one sessions 1–6; Group session 7-8, and Berlá, 1981; Berlá & Butterfield, 1977; Berlá et al, 1976; Berlá & Murr, 1975; Cornoldi et al, 2009; Cryer et al, 2011; Graven, 2015, 2016a, 2016b, 2018; Millar, 1977, 1984, 1985, 1987a, 1987b, 1997, 2008; Millar & Al-Attar, 2003, 2004; Nolan & Kederis, 1969; Nolan & Morris, 1971; Postma et al, 2007; Rowell & Ungar, 2003; Ungar et al, 1995; Watanabe & Oouchi, 2003).…”

How individuals who are blind locate targets

“…Previous research on the process of locating two-dimensional (2D) tactile information bifurcates, each branch focussing on either Phase 1 or Phase 2 of the location process. One branch investigated the ability to recognise a target shape (e.g., a country) from a mass of intersecting lines or textures on a map, including the preliminary scan, the inspection of the target shape, and/or the search strategy (e.g., distinctive features, scanning behaviour, and line tracing [cf., for example, Berlá, 1981; Berlá & Butterfield, 1977; Berlá, Butterfield, & Murr, 1976; Berlá & Murr, 1975]). This branch is focused on the ability to recognise a target shape, not on the ability to discover its position on a map: it is focused on Phase 1 of the location process – detecting and identifying the target.…”