Kalia Amy, Hopkins Rose, Jin David, Yazzolino Lindsay, Verma Svena, Merabet Lotfi, Phillips Flip, Sinha Pawan
Multisens Res. 2014;27(2):111-25. doi: 10.1163/22134808-00002450.
Graphical information, such as illustrations, graphs, and diagrams, are an essential complement to text for conveying knowledge about the world. Although graphics can be communicated well via the visual modality, conveying this information via touch has proven to be challenging. The lack of easily comprehensible tactile graphics poses a problem for the blind. In this paper, we advance a hypothesis for the limited effectiveness of tactile graphics. The hypothesis contends that conventional graphics that rely upon embossings on two-dimensional surfaces do not allow the deployment of tactile exploratory procedures that are crucial for assessing global shape. Besides potentially accounting for some of the shortcomings of current approaches, this hypothesis also serves a prescriptive purpose by suggesting a different strategy for conveying graphical information via touch, one based on cutouts. We describe experiments demonstrating the greater effectiveness of this approach for conveying shape and identity information. These results hold the potential for creating more comprehensible tactile drawings for the visually impaired while also providing insights into shape estimation processes in the tactile modality.
图形信息，如图例、图表和示意图，是文字在传达关于世界的知识方面必不可少的补充。尽管图形可以通过视觉模态得到很好的传达，但事实证明，通过触觉来传达这些信息具有挑战性。缺乏易于理解的触觉图形给盲人带来了问题。在本文中，我们提出了一个关于触觉图形效果有限的假设。该假设认为，依赖于二维表面压纹的传统图形不允许采用对评估整体形状至关重要的触觉探索程序。除了可能解释当前方法的一些缺点外，这个假设还具有规范性作用，它通过建议一种基于剪裁的不同策略来通过触觉传达图形信息。我们描述了实验，证明了这种方法在传达形状和身份信息方面更有效。这些结果有可能为视障人士创建更易于理解的触觉绘图，同时也为触觉模态中的形状估计过程提供见解。
