Response to Visual Stimuli by Adults with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Young college students with (n = 20) and without (n = 20) developmental disabilities performed a hand-eye coordination task that involved contacting illuminated target buttons on a wall-mounted board while simultaneously reading numbers in central vision. The target buttons were arranged in 5 concentric rings allowing for the computation of successful contact rates between different areas of the movement environment. Analysis showed, although students with developmental disabilities had lower overall contact rates than peers without such disabilities, both groups performed with comparable accuracy in all locations within the movement environment. This finding suggests that special adaptations of visual information in the working environment for a person with developmental disabilities may not be necessary.

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