Psychology of Touch and Blindness

Morton A. Heller is Professor Emeritus and the former chair of the Psychology Department at Eastern Illinois University. He has edited four books on touch and blindness. Dr. Heller has served on the Editorial Board of Perception, and is an action editor for the journal. He has interests in spatial perception and drawing in blind and sighted people, the relationship between the senses of vision and touch, spatial memory, and illusions in touch and vision.Edouard Gentaz is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Geneva and Director of Research at the CNRS Laboratory of Psychology and Neurocognition at Grenoble. His research, which has theoretical and applied dimensions, focuses in particular on the development of sensori-motor and cognitive abilities in typical populations and in blind people. He is the author or co-author of more than 80 articles in refereed journals and several books.

"Written in a clear and to-the-point style, this book brings together the literature on touch, haptics, and blindness. The book will prove to be valuable to people interested in learning about these topics and to people who are interested in the connections among these topics." --James C. Craig, Ph.D., Indiana University "The complexities of touch and blindness are tackled with rigor in this valuable book, including the historical and philosophical roots of touch, its neural bases and other neuroscience issues, the relations between touch and other perceptual modalities, and the development of haptic perception from childhood to the old age. There is not doubt that the book will attract the interest of a broad readership." -- Soledad Ballesteros, Ph.D., Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain"This unique book authoritatively integrates what is known about the psychology of both touch and blindness. Heller and Gentaz, leading experts in the field, present a logical progression of key research papers on each of a series of topics, such as perceptual illusions and tactile interfaces. Despite its scope and rigor, the book is written in an accessible, engaging style that will make readers feel as if they are having an extended conversation with two very knowledgeable friends." --Mark Hollins, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• 1. Introduction: Historical and Philosophical Background. 2. Cognitive Neuroscience of Touch. 3 The Haptic Perception of Objects and their Properties. 4. Illusions. 5. Intermodal Relations. 6. Development of Haptic Perception over the Life-Span. 7. Blindness: General Introduction Pattern Perception, Imagery, Spatial Orientation, and Mobility. 8. Picture Perception and Blind People. 9. Braille and New Technology. 10. Haptics in Learning Reading, Handwriting and Mathematics. 11. Tactile Interfaces and Applications. 12. General Conclusions: Implications of Current Research for Theory and Applications.