Perceptual organization via a haptic glance: haptic perception and haptically guided grasping

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The current proposal addresses the role of brief initial contact in perceptual organization by touch, a form of human processing never comprehensively addressed by touch scientists before. Perceptual organization is fundamental to the key question for human perception: How do we move from initial incomplete or inaccurate information derived from our sensory receptors to percepts of the world that are most often accurate, unambiguous and apparently complete? Our objectives are: i) to quantitatively assess key principles for tactually 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 ii) to assess their consequences for tactual perception and tactually guided grasping. To initially assess the influence of perceptual organization on tactual perception and tactually guided grasping, participants will perform a series of brief contacts or "glances" using from 2 to 10 fingers to explore tabletop scenes of unfamiliar 3-D objects that vary in their kinetic, geometric, and/or material properties. Relevant perceptual and grasp responses will be required in these simple but ecologically natural experiments. In later expts, we will permit more limited but carefully controlled initial contact with 2-finger custom-designed touch displays. In Perception expts, participants will estimate the probability of perceiving 1 object, as opposed to 2. In the Grasp expts, they will do so indirectly by selecting where to position their thumb to form a stable grasp following earlier brief contact with index and middle fingers. The results will raise important questions about tactual perception and tactually guided grasping, and complement current research on perceptual organization by vision and audition scientists. They will also contribute to the quantitative assessment of extent of impaired tactual perceptual organization in stroke patients. Finally, they will improve the design of: i) telerobotic systems for touch sensing and tactually-guided grasping, ii) tangible graphics (e.g., maps, graphs) for blind users, and iii) virtual touch environments for blind and sighted users.