The research described in this thesis had two sets of goals: (1) to carry out a baseline study of braille reading using an innovative combination of hand-tracking coupled to a computer-controlled braille display; (2) to conduct an in-depth exploration of high-speed braille readers using a range of experimental paradigms. The main results showed that using the finger tracking system permitted the exploration of the moment-to-moment cognitive processes of the braille reader with unprecedented precision. Readers showed relatively rapid sensitivity to lexical properties of the text (e.g., word frequency, lexical structure, orthographic uniqueness point) and demonstrated sensitivity to topdown context effects during reading. The final experiment provided suggestive evidence that the auditory cortex may be involved in skilled braille reading.