Susanna Millar - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Susanna Millar

British Journal of Visual Impairment, 2005

A new psychological test battery was designed to provide a much-needed comprehensive tool for ass... more A new psychological test battery was designed to provide a much-needed comprehensive tool for assessing the perceptual and cognitive abilities of visually handicapped children in using active touch. The test materials consist of raised-line, raised-dot, raised-surface shapes and displays, and familiar and novel 3-D objects. The research used 20 sub-tests, ranging from tactual discrimination, systematic scanning and shape coding to short-term and longer-term memory tasks. The research sample consisted of 119 participants. Fifty-nine were blind and visually impaired schoolchildren, aged from 3 to 16 years (the total visually handicapped population of the region), and 60 sighted school children, matched to them on age, gender and social class, living in the Madrid region (capital and province). The dual aim here is to report the reliability, validity and relation to age and visual status of the subtests, and to use the data to refine and shorten the test battery further for more general use.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1985

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994


The study reports systematic distance errors in reading raised-line maps by touch, and how they c... more The study reports systematic distance errors in reading raised-line maps by touch, and how they can be reduced. We show that T-shaped road junctions produce the typical error due to overestimating the length of the bisecting road compared to the bisected road. The error was not reduced when the target location was marked initially by a symbol. However, it was eliminated by instructions to use both hands concurrently to scan the route relative to an external square frame surrounding the map layout and to the body midline. Road junctions, which resemble 'Mü ller-Lyer' con gurations, produced a signi cant overestimation of the length of a road that ended in diverging side roads relative to underestimatinga road section with converging side roads. Spatial anchor cues from landmarks along the route, either alone or in conjunction with the spatial frame instructions, eliminated the illusion equally. We discuss theoretical implications, and the use of map frames and landmarks as spatial guides to improve map use by touch.

This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairme... more This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairment, the experimental evidence on which models are based, and methods of education and remediation. It is argued that experimental findings always need fine-tuning to be adapted to individual circumstances and needs. Equally, practical procedures are based on tacit assumptions which need to be scrutinised explicitly, so

European Journal of Psychology of Education, 1997

This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairme... more This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairment, the experimental evidence on which models are based, and methods of education and remediation. It is argued that experimental findings always need fine-tuning to be adapted to individual circumstances and needs. Equally, practical procedures are based on tacit assumptions which need to be scrutinised explicitly, so

British Journal of Psychology, 1972

... delay, for children; Cashdan, 1968; Garvill & Molander, 1969, for adults). ... But so far... more ... delay, for children; Cashdan, 1968; Garvill & Molander, 1969, for adults). ... But so far there is little experimental evidence to show whether or how these operate to change cross-modal performance. The present study Page 2. 272 SUSANNA MILLAR ...

British Journal of Visual Impairment, 2005

A new psychological test battery was designed to provide a much-needed comprehensive tool for ass... more A new psychological test battery was designed to provide a much-needed comprehensive tool for assessing the perceptual and cognitive abilities of visually handicapped children in using active touch. The test materials consist of raised-line, raised-dot, raised-surface shapes and displays, and familiar and novel 3-D objects. The research used 20 sub-tests, ranging from tactual discrimination, systematic scanning and shape coding to short-term and longer-term memory tasks. The research sample consisted of 119 participants. Fifty-nine were blind and visually impaired schoolchildren, aged from 3 to 16 years (the total visually handicapped population of the region), and 60 sighted school children, matched to them on age, gender and social class, living in the Madrid region (capital and province). The dual aim here is to report the reliability, validity and relation to age and visual status of the subtests, and to use the data to refine and shorten the test battery further for more general use.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1985

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994

Understanding and Representing SpaceTheory and Evidence from Studies with Blind and Sighted Children, 1994


The study reports systematic distance errors in reading raised-line maps by touch, and how they c... more The study reports systematic distance errors in reading raised-line maps by touch, and how they can be reduced. We show that T-shaped road junctions produce the typical error due to overestimating the length of the bisecting road compared to the bisected road. The error was not reduced when the target location was marked initially by a symbol. However, it was eliminated by instructions to use both hands concurrently to scan the route relative to an external square frame surrounding the map layout and to the body midline. Road junctions, which resemble 'Mü ller-Lyer' con gurations, produced a signi cant overestimation of the length of a road that ended in diverging side roads relative to underestimatinga road section with converging side roads. Spatial anchor cues from landmarks along the route, either alone or in conjunction with the spatial frame instructions, eliminated the illusion equally. We discuss theoretical implications, and the use of map frames and landmarks as spatial guides to improve map use by touch.

This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairme... more This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairment, the experimental evidence on which models are based, and methods of education and remediation. It is argued that experimental findings always need fine-tuning to be adapted to individual circumstances and needs. Equally, practical procedures are based on tacit assumptions which need to be scrutinised explicitly, so

European Journal of Psychology of Education, 1997

This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairme... more This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairment, the experimental evidence on which models are based, and methods of education and remediation. It is argued that experimental findings always need fine-tuning to be adapted to individual circumstances and needs. Equally, practical procedures are based on tacit assumptions which need to be scrutinised explicitly, so

British Journal of Psychology, 1972

... delay, for children; Cashdan, 1968; Garvill & Molander, 1969, for adults). ... But so far... more ... delay, for children; Cashdan, 1968; Garvill & Molander, 1969, for adults). ... But so far there is little experimental evidence to show whether or how these operate to change cross-modal performance. The present study Page 2. 272 SUSANNA MILLAR ...