Haptic after-effect of successively touched curved surfaces.
A flat surface is more often judged to be convex after the touching of a concave surface than after the touching of a convex surface. This haptic after-effect increases with the time of contact with the curved surface till it saturates, and it decreases with the time-lapse between the touching of the first surface and the next one. In this paper, the haptic after-effect of two successively touched spherically curved surfaces is investigated. It is found that both surfaces contribute to the after-effect, but the after-effect is not additive. The time course of the after-effect of two successive surfaces can be described by a first-order integrator with a single time constant of about 7 s and an amplitude equal to the difference between the saturation levels of the after-effects of the two surfaces when measured in isolation. The new saturation level is therefore equal to that of the after-effect of the most recently touched surface.
Vogels
I M
IM
IPO, Center for User-System Interaction, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, Netherlands. i.m.l.c.vogels@tue.nl
Kappers
A M
AM
Koenderink
J J
JJ
D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D011939:Mental Recall; D011601:Psychophysics; D013236:Stereognosis; D014110:Touch