Affordance, proper function, and the physical basis of perceived heaviness.
The physical basis of perceived heaviness requires consideration of the haptic perceptual system's role in controlling actions (the system's proper function) and the relation of an object's inertial properties to properties of the human movement system (the object's affordance). We show that the mass of a wielded object and particular scalar variables calculated from the object's inertia tensor combine linearly in determining perceived heaviness. The tensor-derived scalars reflect the symmetry and volume of the corresponding inertia ellipsoid. These measures bear directly on the object's wieldability, that is, on the patterning and level of muscular forces required to move the object in a controlled fashion.
Turvey
M T
MT
Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, U-20, Storrs, USA. turvey@uconnvm.uconn.edu
Shockley
K
K
Carello
C
C
D000328:Adult; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006112:Gravitation; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011601:Psychophysics; D014110:Touch; D014892:Weight Perception