In this article, recent research and writing has been organized for the purpose of (1) operationally defining “visual perception,” (2) investigating the relationship between visual perception and reading comprehension, and (3) determining the effects of visual perceptual training on reading and visual perception. Visual perception was defined as those brain operations which involve interpreting the physical elements of the stimulus rather than the symbolic aspects of the stimulus and are usually referred to as visual discriminations and/or spatial relationships. It was concluded that little correlation existed between measures of visual perception and tests of reading comprehension and that training visual perceptual skills, using currently available programs, has no positive effect on reading and possibly none on visual perception.
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