Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:11:44 BST CiteULike: talkingpoints's Spencer http://www.citeulike.org/user/talkingpoints/author/Spencer CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/talkingpoints/article/388148 <i>Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 18, No. 3. (September 1998), pp. 277-287.</i><br /><br />This paper reports two experiments which compared the effectiveness of different methods for introducing blind and visually impaired people to the spatial layout of urban environments. In Experiment 1, 30 blind and visually impaired adults learnt a long and complex route through an area of central Madrid (Spain) either by direct experience or by a combination of direct experience and a tactile map or a combination of direct experience and a verbal description of the area. Performance on measures of practical spatial knowledge and of representational spatial knowledge was significantly better in participants in the tactile map condition. In Experiment 2, participants learnt a similar route in an area of Sheffield (Britain) using either just a tactile map or by direct experience. No significant difference was found between the two conditions using the same measures as in Experiment 1. Comparing Methods for Introducing Blind and Visually Impaired People to Unfamiliar Urban Environments Angeles Espinosa Simon Ungar Esperanza Ochaita Mark Blades Christopher Spencer doi:10.1006/jevp.1998.0097 Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 18, No. 3. (September 1998), pp. 277-287. 2005-11-11T14:08:49-00:00 1998 Journal of Environmental Psychology 18 3 277 287 navigation spatial-information visual-impairment wayfinding