title: The effects of complexity on the perception of vibrotactile patterns.
abstract: Vibrotactile patterns were presented to subjects' left index fingerpads using the array from the Optacon. A set of simple (one-line) patterns and a set of complex (two-line) patterns were constructed so that they were equally identifiable when presented individually. In Experiment 1, discrimination performance was lower for two-line patterns than for one-line patterns. Communality, the number of lines that two patterns share in common, appeared to be the major factor in reducing discrimination performance for two-line patterns. Experiment 2 measured the time required to identify individual patterns. There was no significant difference in identification times for one- and two-line patterns, suggesting that features within a pattern were processed simultaneously. In the presence of a temporal masking stimulus (Experiment 3), two-line patterns were more difficult to identify than one-line patterns, but reaction times were similar for the two sets of patterns. The results suggest that varying complexity affects perception of patterns at later stages of processing.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University, Bloomington.
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Horner
mesh_terms: D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012682:Sensory Aids; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D013236:Stereognosis / Q000502:physiology; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D014732:Vibration