HAPTIC PERCEPTION OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL PATTERNS

该建议的第一个目标是开发一种触觉刺激器， 为所有五个手指和手掌提供运动和触觉刺激。 利用这个装置，我们希望实现长期目标：1）了解 手的触觉感知，包括物体感知和运动 和振动模式感知; 2）将这些知识付诸实践 用于开发针对重度耳聋患者的有效沟通辅助工具， 失明的人。 一个激励性的假设是触觉感知， 涉及动觉和皮肤感受器，可以提供更多 信息比刺激皮肤受体单独。 这一假设 从Tadoma盲人语言接收方法中获得灵感 (Reed例如，1985年）和正常的听力-视力个体的能力 触觉地识别物体（Klatzky，et al.，1985年）。 在项目I中， 工程和软件开发将继续对触觉刺激器 目前正在Gallaudet大学（GU）开发。 项目二将 研究言语和非言语触觉刺激。 在研究GU-1中，听力正常 和聋人将参与语音识别任务， 触觉刺激被设计成通过唇读来帮助语音感知。 在 研究GU-2，我们将开始检查触觉感知维度， 可以不用唇读来表达讲话。 又聋又瞎 （Usher综合征）受试者将给出配对比较相似性判断 对于随后的语音和非语音触觉刺激的集合 多维尺度 一项学习研究，GU-3，将检查知觉 言语与非言语的结构、信息传递与分类 言语刺激 项目三，在印第安纳州大学（IU），将重点放在 触觉、非语音模式感知和物体感知。 研究 IU-1将向工程团队提供评价，以修改 触觉刺激器 研究IU-2将研究 两个手指的振动和运动模式。 这些实验将 涉及正常受试者和音乐家与局灶性肌张力障碍的手。 研究IU-3将调查关于对象的信息传输 通过触觉刺激器识别。 拟议工作的结果将 有多种用途，包括聋哑人和盲人的语言辅助工具 个人，评估和可能的补救局灶性肌张力障碍的 手，以及视觉障碍者对物体的遥感。 的 尽管有Tadoma和触觉对象感知的显著例子， 触觉感知可能仍然是人类感知中研究得最少的 系统. 本文综述了触觉刺激器的发展及触觉刺激器所提供的信息 拟议的研究将开辟道路，真正的新的理解， 触觉系统和人类感知能力。

The first goal of this proposal is to develop a haptic stimulator that provides movement and tactile stimulation to all five fingers and the palm. Using this device, we hope to achieve long-term aims: 1) to understand haptic perception by the hand, including object perception, and movement and vibratory pattern perception; and 2) to put this knowledge to practical use in developing effective communication aids for profoundly deaf and deaf-blind individuals. A motivating hypothesis is that haptic perception, involving both kinesthesis and cutaneous receptors, can provide more information than stimulation to cutaneous receptors alone. This hypothesis draws inspiration from the Tadoma method of speech reception by the blind (Reed et al., 1985) and the ability of normal hearing-sighted individuals to identify objects haptically (Klatzky, et al., 1985). In Project I, engineering and software development will continue on a haptic stimulator currently being developed at Gallaudet University (GU). Project II will study speech and non-speech haptic stimuli. In Study GU-1, normal-hearing and deaf adults will participate in speech identification tasks for which haptic stimuli are designed to aid speech perception via lipreading. In Study GU-2, we will begin to examine haptic perceptual dimensions that might convey speech without lipreading. Hearing-sighted and deaf-blind (Usher syndrome) subjects will give paired-comparison similarity judgments for sets of speech and non-speech haptic stimuli for subsequent multidimensional scaling. A learning study, GU-3, will examine perceptual structure, information transmission and categorization of speech and non- speech stimuli. Project III, at Indiana University (IU), will focus on haptic, non-speech pattern perception and the perception of objects. Study IU-1 will provide evaluations to the engineering team for modifications of the haptic stimulator. Study IU-2 will investigate interactions between vibration and movement patterns on two fingers. These experiments will involve normal subjects and musicians with focal dystonia of the hand. Study IU-3 will investigate the transmission of information about object identity via the haptic stimulator. The results of the proposed work will have diverse applications, including speech aids for deaf and deaf-blind individuals, assessment and possibly remediation of focal dystonia of the hand, and remote sensing of objects by the visually handicapped. The remarkable examples of Tadoma and haptic object perception notwithstanding, haptic perception remains perhaps the least studied of the human perceptual systems. The development of haptic stimulator and the information from the proposed studies will open the way to genuinely new understanding of the haptic system and human perceptual capabilities in general.