Haptic processing of the location of a known property: does knowing what you've touched tell you where it is?
The relationship between knowing where a haptic property is located and knowing what it is was investigated using a haptic-search paradigm. Across trials, from one to six stimuli were presented simultaneously to varying combinations of the middle three fingertips of both hands. Participants reported the presence/absence of a target or its location for four perceptual dimensions: rough/smooth, edge/no edge, relative position (right/left), and relative orientation (right/left). Reaction time data were plotted as a function of set size. The slope data indicated no difference in processing load for location as compared to identity processing. However, the intercept data did reveal a cost associated with processing location information. Location information was not obtained for "free" when identity was processed. The data also supported a critical distinction between material and edge dimensions versus geometric dimensions, as the size of the cost associated with processing location was larger for spatial than for intensive stimuli.
Purdy
Kimberly A
KA
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina Spartanburg, 29303, USA. kpurdy@uscs.edu
Lederman
Susan J
SJ
Klatzky
Roberta L
RL
D000293:Adolescent; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D011930:Reaction Time; D014796:Visual Perception