Outline of the study and timeline of the braille course.

<p>(A) Sighted adults underwent a 9-month braille course. They were tested behaviorally in the baseline testing session, four times during the course (i.e., in the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th month of the course) and after the course. (B) The braille course consisted of three stages: tactile discrimination exercises, introducing half of the braille alphabet and learning the remaining half/whole-word reading.</p

Sighted adults can learn whole-word braille reading.

<p>(A-B) Results of braille word reading test and braille letter reading test. Average number of braille words/letters read in one minute was plotted for each testing session. (C) Individual learning curves for braille word reading, plotted based on results of braille word reading test in each testing session. (D) Correlation between the tactile acuity (grating orientation threshold) at the end of the course and final braille word reading speed. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Asterisks indicate a significant difference between the results of a specific testing session and a baseline testing session (*** p < 0.001).</p