We highlight the results of those studies that have investigated the plastic reorganization processes that occur within the human brain as a consequence of visual deprivation, as well as how these processes give rise to behaviorally observable changes in the perceptual processing of auditory and tactile information. We review the evidence showing…

Five experiments investigated the ability to discriminate between musical timbres based on vibrotactile stimulation alone. Participants made same/different judgments on pairs of complex waveforms presented sequentially to the back through voice coils embedded in a conforming chair. Discrimination between cello, piano, and trombone tones matched…

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Montessori education which is offered to upskill the attention gathering skill of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In total fifteen pre-schooler participants, six girls and nine boys who are diagnosed with ADHD (7 of the children with ADHD, 8 with only AD), joined to this…

Purpose: Somatosensory information associated with speech articulatory movements affects the perception of speech sounds and vice versa, suggesting an intimate linkage between speech production and perception systems. However, it is unclear which cortical processes are involved in the interaction between speech sounds and orofacial somatosensory…

This paper presents new data extracted from the National Survey of Jazz Instrumentalists and Vocalists. The survey was administered to 209 professional jazz musicians who resided and performed in Australia during 2009-2010. Presented here are five statistically significant characteristics which differentiate vocalists' experiences from other jazz…

Accurately aligning to a crosswalk is an important component of safe street crossing for pedestrians who are blind. Six alignment cues were evaluated in a simulated crosswalk environment in which the angle of the crosswalk was not always in line with the slope of the ramp. The effectiveness of each cue is reported and implications are discussed.…

The relations between reading, auditory, speech, phonological and tactile spatial processing are investigated in a Dutch speaking sample of blind braille readers as compared to sighted print readers. Performance is assessed in blind and sighted children and adults. Regarding phonological ability, braille readers perform equally well compared to…

Computer technology provides spaces and locales for language learning. However, learning style preference and demographic variables may affect the effectiveness of technology use for a desired goal. Adapting Reid's pioneering Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ), this study investigated the relations of university students'…

This study explored some of the intricate connections between the cognitions (beliefs, knowledge, perceptions, attitudes) and pedagogical practices of five English language teachers, specifically in relation to pronunciation-oriented techniques. Integral to the study was the use of semistructured interviews, classroom observations, and stimulated…

This article describes the organic chemistry of five compounds that are directly associated with the Christmas season. These substances and related materials are presented within the framework of the five senses: silver fulminate (sound), alpha-pinene (sight), sodium acetate (touch), tryptophan (taste), and gingerol (smell). Connections with the…

Similar to many sighted children who struggle with learning to read, a proportion of blind children have specific difficulties related to reading braille which cannot be easily explained. A lot of research has been conducted to investigate the perceptual and cognitive processes behind (impairments in) print reading. Very few studies, however, have…

This study implemented tactile interfaces with audio representations to convey spatial information on topographic maps. Two sound variables, pitch and duration, were incorporated with contour lines to represent various aspects of topographic features such as elevation, slope, profile, and landform. The effect of one sound variable (pitch) vs. a…

When learning object function, infants must detect relations among features--for example, that squeezing is associated with squeaking or that objects with wheels roll. Previously, Perone and Oakes (2006) found 10-month-old infants were sensitive to relations between object appearances and actions, but not to relations between appearances and…

Previous studies have reported that congenitally blind children without any additional impairment reveal a developmental delay of at least 4 years in perspective taking based on testing first-order false-belief tasks. These authors interpret this delay as a sign of autism-like behavior. However, the delay may be caused by testing blind children…

Bat/ball contact produces visual (the ball leaving the bat), auditory (the "crack" of the bat), and tactile (bat vibration) feedback about the success of the swing. We used a batting simulation to investigate how college baseball players use visual, tactile, and auditory feedback. In Experiment 1, swing accuracy (i.e., the lateral separation…