Touch is a modality whose function, from a cognitive point of view, has given rise to diverse and even contradictory appreciations. The present study is concerned with the development of tactile perception in infants and children and with the functioning of this system in adults.

1. List of Authors; 2. Chapter 1. Introduction: Touch and cognition (by Hatwell, Yvette); 3. Part 1. Some anatomical and neurophysiological bases of tactile manual perception; 4. Chapter 2. General characteristics of the anatomical and functional organization of cutaneous and haptic perceptions (by Gentaz, Edouard); 5. Chapter 3. Anatomical and functional organization of cutaneous and haptic perceptions: The contribution of neuropsychology and cerebral functional imagery (by Gentaz, Edouard); 6. Part 2. Haptic perceptual exploration; 7. Chapter 4. Manual exploration and haptic perception in infants (by Streri, Arlette); 8. Chapter 5. Manual exploratory procedures in children and adults (by Hatwell, Yvette); 9. Chapter 6. Handedness and manual exploration (by Streri, Arlette); 10. Part 3. Haptic perceptions and spatial imaged representations; 11. Chapter 7. The haptic identification of everyday life objects (by Klatzky, Roberta L.); 12. Chapter 8. Haptic processing of spatial and material object properties (by Gentaz, Edouard); 13. Chapter 9. Haptic perceptual illusions (by Heller, Morton A.); 14. Chapter 10. Congenitally blindness and spatial mental imagery (by Cornoldi, Cesare); 15. Part 4. Intermodal coordinations; 16. Chapter 11. Intermodal relations in infancy (by Streri, Arlette); 17. Chapter 12. Intermodal coordinations in children and adults (by Hatwell, Yvette); 18. Chapter 13. Tactile exploration in nonhuman primates (by Lacreuse, Agnes); 19. Part 5. Some practical applications for visually impaired people; 20. Chapter 14. Braille: Issues on structure, teaching and assessment (by Tobin, Michael J.); 21. Chapter 15. The tactile reading of maps and drawings, and the access of blind people to works of art (by Hatwell, Yvette); 22. Chapter 16. Sensory substitution: Limits and perspectives (by Lenay, Charles); 23. Chapter 17. New technologies empowering visually impaired people for accessing documents (by Burger, Dominique); 24. Name index; 25. Subject index