Synopses & Reviews
There are an estimated four million individuals with low vision in the United States—a problem so significant the federal government established a new set of regulations in 2001 requiring all federal Web sites and federally-owned office equipment to be accessible to the blind. In
Psychophysics of Reading in Normal and Low Vision, author Gordon E. Legge, a leader in the field of low-vision research, discusses the role of vision in reading, focusing on the reading performance of people with normal, healthy vision and people with impaired vision. Legge describes the influence of physical properties of text on reading performance and the implications for information processing in the visual pathways.
Providing an overview of 20 seminal research papers in the field, this book explores:
*different forms of low vision that affect reading;
*text characteristics that optimize reading for those with low vision;
*principles underlying the legibility of text and guidelines for displaying text; and
*special topics, including the role of the magnocellular pathway in reading and dyslexia, Braille reading, and fonts for highway signs.
An accompanying CD contains reprints of the seminal series of articles by Gordon E. Legge and colleagues on the psychophysics of reading in normal and low vision, published between 1985 and 2001.
This volume will be of interest to researchers and professionals in the area of low vision, including graphics engineers, HCI scientists, human factors specialists, low-vision rehabilitation specialists, opthamologists, occupational therapists, special education teachers, as well as cognitive scientists and perceptual psychologists. It is also suitable for advanced students with a background in the topic.
Synopsis
In this book author Gordon E. Legge, a leader in the field of low-vision research, discusses the role of vision in reading, focusing on the reading performance of people with normal, healthy vision and people with impaired vision. Legge describes the inf
About the Author
Gordon E. Legge received a Bachelor's degree in Physics from MIT in 1971, and a Master's degree in Astronomy from Harvard in 1972. In 1976, he obtained his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Harvard. He then spent a postdoctoral year with Fergus Campbell at the Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge University. In 1977, Legge joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota. He is now Chair of the Psychology Department at Minnesota, director of the Minnesota Laboratory for Low-Vision Research, and a professor of psychology and neuroscience. Legge’s research deals with visual perception and cognition. Currently, projects in his lab focus on the roles of vision in reading, object recognition, and spatial navigation. In all of these areas, he has a special interest in the problems encountered by people with low vision. Legge is currently a member of the editorial board of
Journal of Vision, and recently served on the National Advisory Eye Council. He was a member of a National Research Council committee involved with the redesign of U.S. currency bills. One result of the committee’s work is the large-print numerals on the new bills which are helpful to people with low vision.
Table of Contents
Contents: Preface and Acknowledgments.
G.E. Legge, Vision and Reading.
G.E. Legge, Measuring Reading Speed.
G.E. Legge, Visual Mechanisms in Reading.
G.E. Legge, Displaying Text.
J.S. Mansfield, G.E. Legge, The MNREAD Acuity Chart.
J.S. Mansfield, G.E. Legge, Appendix: Print Size Definitions and Conversions.