The Oblique Effect in the Perception of the Direction Between Two Points of Vibration on the Back

Vibrations on the back of a person can convey information about direction through sequentially switching on two vibration motors. For perception of direction the oblique effect can occur, meaning that perception of cardinal directions is more precise than perception of oblique directions. We investigated the role of the positioning of the...

Haptic curvature contrast in raised lines and solid shapes

It is known that our senses are influenced by contrast effects and aftereffects. For haptic perception, the curvature aftereffect has been studied in depth but little is known about curvature contrast. In this study we let observers explore two shapes simultaneously. The shape felt by the index finger could either be flat or convexly curved. The...

Haptic perception disambiguates visual perception of 3D shape

We studied the influence of haptics on visual perception of three-dimensional shape. Observers were shown pictures of an oblate spheroid in two different orientations. A gauge-figure task was used to measure their perception of the global shape. In the first two sessions only vision was used. The results showed that observers made large errors...