Tactual Perception

An overview of knowledge about tactual-haptic perception.

Results of five studies on tactual perception, involving airjet stimulators and a computer-controlled facility, are given. In the first study, alphabetic shapes were presented on an 8x6 airjet array that was translated in a small circle. The increased performance with movement suggests a hypothetical model that qualitatively accounts for the display motion effects. The second study involved pairs of alphabetic shapes presented in rapid succession at the same anatomical location. The interaction effects were: increased letter reversals for short interstimulus intervals; more first-response errors for short-stimulus onset intervals and more second-response errors for long-stimulus intervals; a crossover in first- and second-response error rates of 100 to 200 msec after onset of the first stimulus. In the third study, point airjet stimuli were applied simultaneously to the 24 interjoint regions of the fingers. The results suggest a tactile short-term memory with greater capacity than immediate-memory span but with 0.8-sec decay rate. In the fourth study, visual and tactile stimuli giving equal mean simple reaction times were used. With increased response alternatives, mean visual times increased less than mean tactile times; but with simultaneous presentation of both stimulus types, mean reaction time was much shorter than with either type alone.

The dominance of vision is so strong in sighted people that touch is sometimes considered as a minor perceptual modality. However, touch is a powerful tool which contributes significantly to our knowledge of space and objects. Its intensive use by blind persons allows them to reach the same levels of knowledge and cognition as their sighted peers.In this book, specialized researchers present the recent state of knowledge about the cognitive functioning of touch. After an analysis of the neurophysiology and neuropsychology of touch, exploratory manual behaviors, intramodal haptic (tactual-kinesthetic) abilities and cross-modal visual-tactual coordination are examined in infants, children and adults, and in non-human primates. These studies concern both sighted and blind persons in order to know whether early visual deprivation modifies the modes of processing space and objects. The last section is devoted to the technical devices favoring the school and social integration of the young blind: Braille reading, use of raised maps and drawings, “sensory substitution” displays, and new technologies of communication adapted for the blind. (Series B)

Product Experience brings together research that investigates how people experience products: durable, non-durable, or virtual. In contrast to other books, the present book takes a very broad, possibly all-inclusive perspective, on how people experience products. It thereby bridges gaps between several areas within psychology (e.g. perception, cognition, emotion) and links these areas to more applied areas of science, such as product design, human-computer interaction and marketing. The field of product experience research will include some of the research from four areas: Arts, Ergonomics, Technology, and Marketing. Traditionally, each of these four fields seems to have a natural emphasis on the human (ergonomics and marketing), the product (technology) or the experience (arts). However, to fully understand human product experience, we need to use different approaches and we need to build bridges between these various fields of expertise. Most comprehensive collection of psychological research behind product design and usability Consistenly addresses the 3 components of human-product experience: the human, the product, and the experience International contributions from experts in the field

For the first time, David Katz's classic monograph The World of Touch has been translated into English. Regarded as one of the premiere experimental psychologists, Katz vigorously opposed the atomism and "tachistoscopic" mentality typical of the sensory psychology of his day. In The World of Touch, Katz sought to dispel the invidious distinction between the supposedly higher (e.g., vision, audition) and lower (e.g., touch) senses. To help touch regain its original prominence in the field, Katz demonstrated, through very simple, yet creative experiments, how fascinating the abilities of touch are, and how valuable the tactual stimulus can be in specifying objects, surfaces, substances, and events. In addition, Katz emphasized the importance of higher-order invariants in the perception of objects, and the holistic quality of perception in time as well as space.

Designed to make research on touch understandable to those not specifically involved in tactile research, this book provides broad coverage of the field. It includes material on sensory physiology and psychophysics, thermal sensibility, pain, pattern participation, sensory aids, and tactile perception in blind people. While the volume is important for researchers in the area of touch, it should also prove valuable to a broad audience of experimental and educational psychologists, and health professionals. The book should also be of interest to scientists in perception, cognition, and cognitive science, and can be used as a supplementary reader for courses in sensation and perception.