Author whose name I am not sure of wrote a book we might add to the
collection. Bound for Canan is a book about the underrground railroad.
At 01:43 PM 3/29/2005, you wrote:
> I found this very interesting, and very logical. > > Cindy > > > > Subject: Fw: Blind people more accurate at judging > > size than sightedpeople > > Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 10:35:04 -0600 > > > > > > > > News-Medical > > Monday, March 28, 2005 > > > > Blind people more accurate at judging size than > > sighted people > > > > By Medical Research News > > > > Close your eyes and imagine a loaf of bread. With > > your eyes still closed, > > estimate with your hands the size of that loaf of > > bread. Do you think your > > mental representation is an accurate one? > > Specifically, how accurately have > > you gauged its size? According to researchers from > > the University of Otago > > in New Zealand, you probably overestimated the > size > > of the bread. That is, > > unless you are blind. > > > > Researchers Melissa Smith, Elizabeth A. Franz, > Susan > > M. Joy, and Kirsty > > Whitehead, of the University of Otago in New > > Zealand, found that "blind > > individuals were more accurate than sighted > > individuals in representing the > > size of familiar objects." > > > > Their findings are presented in the study, > "Superior > > Performance of Blind > > Compared with Sighted Individuals on Bimanual > > Estimations of Object Size," > > in the January 2005 issue of Psychological > Science, > > a journal of the > > American Psychological Society. > > > > This research sought to examine the accuracy of > > memory representations by > > instructing participants to imagine a set of > > familiar objects (e.g., a can > > of soda, a loaf of bread, a carton of eggs) and > then > > demonstrate the size of > > each object with their hands, without being able > to > > see. Participants > > included both sighted individuals (who closed > their > > eyes for the task) and > > blind individuals. > > > > "Surprisingly, in over one hundred participants > with > > normal vision, a marked > > overestimation in object size was demonstrated, > > suggesting that the > > visual-memory representations in sighted > individuals > > might not be accurate > > after all," Franz said. Meanwhile, blind > > participants showed no > > overestimation and were more accurate in > estimating > > object sizes. > > > > The researchers argue that in people who are > blind, > > the memory of familiar > > objects relies only on manual (not visual) > > representations that are based on > > their experiences holding the actual objects. In > > sighted individuals, > > however, memory of familiar objects relies on > > visual-memory representations. > > The authors believe visual representations may be > > inaccurate in size because > > "sighted individuals see objects everyday in > > different orientations and from > > different distances." > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.7 - > Release > > Date: 2/10/2005 > > > > > > > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. > > http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail >
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/
