VISUAL PERCEPTION ABILITIES--INDIVIDUALS WITH SEVERE INTELLECT DISABILITIES

本申请寻求对严重智力残疾者视觉感知技能的五年研究的支持。我们的目标是确定在何种程度上的困难，在知觉影响歧视学习。在上一个赠款期间完成的工作产生了一套有效的综合方法，用于评估和教授难教人群的相同/不同判断。迄今为止所使用的刺激是沿沿着几个维度不同的形式。在目前的项目中，我们问参与者是否能够区分彼此更相似的刺激（即，沿沿着较少维度不同）。如果参与者要对抽象刺激（如印刷字母）做出不同的反应，那么进行这种区分的能力是必不可少的（例如，m对n）或数字。(e.g., 3对8）。为了使这些相对精细的区别，定义刺激差异必须被检测（感知）。然而，直到最近，还不存在分析严重残疾者感知能力的方法学基础。我们的工作确立了这一潜力，并直接导致目前的提案。总的来说，我们未来五年的计划是详细阐述和扩展我们已经开发的程序，以便在严重发育迟缓和语言能力有限的个体中进行第一次真正的视觉感知理解。

This application seeks support for a five-year study of visual perceptual skills in individuals who have severe intellectual disabilities. The goal is to determine the extent to which difficulties in perception affect discrimination learning. Work accomplished during the previous grant period has resulted in an effective, integrated set of methods for assessing and teaching same/different judgements with difficult-to-teach populations. Stimuli used thus far have been forms which differed along several dimensions. In the current project, we ask whether participants are capable of discriminating stimuli that are more similar to one another (i.e., that differ along fewer dimensions). The ability to make such discriminations is essential if participants are to respond differentially to abstract stimuli such as printed letters (e.g., m versus n) or numbers. (e.g., 3 versus 8). To make thee relatively fine discriminations, the defining stimulus differences must be detected (perceived). Until recently, however, the methodological foundation for profiling the perceptual abilities of individuals with severe disabilities did not exist. Our work has established this potential and led directly to the current proposal. In overview, our plan for the next five years is to elaborate and extend procedures we have developed in order to conduct the first truly comprehension of visual perception in individuals with severe retardation and limited language skills.