Touch can change visual slant perception.
The visual system uses several signals to deduce the three-dimensional structure of the environment, including binocular disparity, texture gradients, shading and motion parallax. Although each of these sources of information is independently insufficient to yield reliable three-dimensional structure from everyday scenes, the visual system combines them by weighting the available information; altering the weights would therefore change the perceived structure. We report that haptic feedback (active touch) increases the weight of a consistent surface-slant signal relative to inconsistent signals. Thus, appearance of a subsequently viewed surface is changed: the surface appears slanted in the direction specified by the haptically reinforced signal.
Ernst
M O
MO
Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Spemannstr. 38, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. marc.ernst@tuebingen.mpg.de
Banks
M S
MS
Bülthoff
H H
HH
D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D003626:Data Display; D003867:Depth Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004215:Distance Perception / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013499:Surface Properties; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*