Vibrotactile localization on the abdomen: Effects of place and space
- Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, Pensacola, Florida
- Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
- These studies and the preparation of this manuscript were supported by ONR Grant N00014-95-1-0387 and NIH Grant DC 00076 to Princeton University, R.W.C., P. I. Some of these data were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society in November 2002 in Kansas City. The authors express their appreciation to Kristen Beede for her assistance in collecting and processing data from Experiments 2, 3, and 4. In addition, we thank the staff of the Cutaneous Communication Laboratory for their support while A.S. was at Princeton, conducting the preliminary detection threshold experiment, and to Ben Lawson at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL) in Pensacola for his advice regarding data analyses. We also express our appreciation to Capt. Angus Rupert at NAMRL for his support throughout the course of these experiments and to the staff of the Spatial Orientation Laboratory at NAMRL for their willingness to participate in several of these experiments. Finally, we thank our associates at Princeton, Amy Collins and Carl Sherrick, for their careful reading of the original manuscript and Amy Collins for her statistical analyses of these data. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to R. W. Cholewiak, Tactile Research Laboratory, Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, 51 Hovey Road, Pensacola, FL 32508-1046 (e-mail: rcholewi{at}princeton.edu).
Abstract
In this study, we explore the conditions for accurate localization of vibrotactile stimuli presented to the abdomen. Tactile orientation systems intended to provide mobility information for people who are blind depend on accurate identification of location of stimuli on the skin, as do systems designed to indicate target positions in space or the status of remotely operated devices to pilots or engineers. The spatial acuity of the skin has been examined for simple touch, but not for the types of vibrating signals used in such devices. The ability to localize vibratory stimuli was examined at sites around the abdomen and found to be a function of separation among loci and, most significantly, of place on the trunk. Neither the structures underlying the skin nor the types of tactor tested appeared to affect localization. Evidence was found for anatomically defined anchor points that provide localization referents that enhance performance even with wide target spacing.
Footnotes
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- Received March 18, 2003.
- Accepted September 10, 2003.
- Copyright 2004 Psychonomic Society, Inc.
