Fingertip textural perception of normal children.
The current study investigated the influence of masking upon children's fingertip textural perception. While a screen occluded their vision 52 6- to 10-yr.-old subjects palpated a pair of equivalent paper-covered sandpaper blocks and judged whether the blocks felt rougher when palpated with or without intermediate paper covering their fingertips. Pressure exerted by the subjects was recorded. It was concluded that children's judgment is independent of pressure exerted; r = .04. Masking in children, unlike adults, was related to sandpaper grit, for the children judged the paper condition tougher primarily when the coarser sandpaper was used. Possible explanations are presented.
D002648:Child; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D014110:Touch