Custom haptic displays for the study of perceptual organization via a haptic 'glance'

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The current proposal addresses the role of brief initial contact in perceptual organization by touch, a human process never comprehensively addressed by touch scientists before. Perceptual organization is fundamental to the key question for understanding human perception: How do we move from initial incomplete or inaccurate information obtained from our sensory receptors to perceptions of the world that are most often accurate, unambiguous and apparently complete? Our objectives are to quantitatively assess selected key principles for grouping and segmenting simultaneous contacts based on how the areas contacted move under the fingers when force is applied (kinetics), as well as on their geometric and/or material contact properties, and to assess their consequences for touch perception and touch-guided grasping. To evaluate the influence of perceptual organization on touch perception and touch-guided grasping, we are requesting funds to custom design and custom build two sets of instrumented 2-finger touch displays that carefully control their kinetic, geometric, and/or material properties during brief initial contact. In the Perception experiments, participants will directly estimate the probability of perceiving 1, as opposed to 2, objects following brief initial contact with two fingers. In the Motor experiments they will do so indirectly by selecting where to position their thumb in order to form a stable grasp following earlier brief contact using the same two fingers. A position-tracking system will be used to determine thumb position with respect to the two other fingers. The results will raise important questions about human touch perception and touch-guided grasping, and will complement current research on perceptual organization by vision and audition scientists. They will also contribute to the quantitative assessment of the extent of impaired perceptual organization by touch in stroke patients. Finally, they will improve the design of: i) telerobotic systems for touch sensing and touch-guided grasping, ii) tangible graphics (e.g., maps, graphs, pictures, etc.) for blind users, and iii) virtual touch environments for both blind and sighted users.  This proposal will train a number of undergraduate and  graduate students, post docs and staff.