Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 19, 2026

Methods for Presenting Real-world Objects Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions
Published on: June 21, 2019
Considerations for the composition of visual scene displays: potential contributions of information from visual and
Krista M Wilkinson1, Janice Light, Kathryn Drager
1The Pennsylvania University, University Park, Pennsylvania 18602, USA. kmw22@psu.edu
Abstract:
Aided augmentative and alternative (AAC) interventions have been demonstrated to facilitate a variety of communication outcomes in persons with intellectual disabilities. Most aided AAC systems rely on a visual modality. When the medium for communication is visual, it seems likely that the effectiveness of intervention depends in part on the effectiveness and efficiency with which the information presented in the display can be perceived, identified, and extracted by communicators and their partners. Understanding of visual-cognitive processing - that is, how a user attends, perceives, and makes sense of the visual information on the display - therefore seems critical to designing effective aided AAC interventions. In this Forum Note, we discuss characteristics of one particular type of aided AAC display, that is, Visual Scene Displays (VSDs) as they may relate to user visual and cognitive processing. We consider three specific ways in which bodies of knowledge drawn from the visual cognitive sciences may be relevant to the composition of VSDs, with the understanding the direct research with children with complex communication needs is necessary to verify or refute our speculations.
Related Concept Videos
Visual System
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...
Cognitivism
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process information is...
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Vision
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Parallel Processing

