[Blindmath] Spatial Abilities

[Pranav Lal via Blindmath]

Hi Amanda,

Thanks for this explanation and my experience is similar to yours. For me,
everything is indeed 3d.

Pranav

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Amanda
Lacy via Blindmath
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 11:43 PM
To: sabra1023; Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Spatial Abilities

I think it has to do with the fact that those of us who are blind from 
birth don't experience the world as being flat. Sight involves the 
projection of light onto a flat retina, so for sighted people it seems 
natural to go from there to representing real things on flat surfaces. 
Flat pictures are everywhere for them since birth, but I can't think of 
one single example of anything in the real world that's flat. Our hands 
are designed to grasp and rotate and examine real objects, and then we 
come to school and have to learn what seems like a new language. So when 
people say that my hands are like their eyes, I have to disagree. I'm 
speculating as someone who has never been sighted, so any of you can 
feel free to correct me with more accurate information.

Amanda
On 5/28/2014 12:46 PM, sabra1023 via Blindmath wrote:
> I wonder if being blind from birth has to do with it. If I'm remembering
how to get somewhere, I just imagine myself walking there. A map doesn't
help. I can imagine three-dimensional things very well and make them out of
clay. Also, I can remember a two dimensional shape like a circle or square.
However, it's difficult for me to imagine and manipulate graphs in my head.
>
>> On May 28, 2014, at 12:07 PM, Susan Jolly via Blindmath
<blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> There have been a large number of conferences about and studies of the
use of tactile maps and diagrams by blind persons.  This has been going on
for more than 40 years.  What I got out of reading many of the studies is
that different people are different.
>>
>> There is, however, a lot of evidence that men have better spatial
abilities than women.  I know this is controversial but I think there is
some truth to it.  I can see the sun come up east of my house and go down
west of my house.  Nonetheless, no matter how hard I try, I cannot imagine
that my son who lives 1000 miles west of me lives in the direction where the
sun goes down.  I know that it is true logically but when I think about him,
he's always somewhere off to the east in my mind.
>>
>> As for graphs, it took me years to understand why it is not necessary
when laying out a two-dimensional graph to use the same spacing for both
axes.  I mention this here for two reasons.  First, it is an example of
different people being different.  Second, it points out that the shape of a
graph is to some extent arbitrary.  Of course, the general shape is
independent of the exact choice of layout. (I'm talking about linear axes;
you can dramatically change the shape if you use non-linear axes such as
logarithmic ones.)
>>
>> SusanJ
>>
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