Perceptual timing precision with vibrotactile, auditory, and multisensory stimuli.

Abstract

The growing use of vibrotactile signaling devices makes it important to understand the perceptual limits on vibrotactile information processing. To promote that understanding, we carried out a pair of experiments on vibrotactile, auditory, and bimodal (synchronous vibrotactile and auditory) temporal acuity. On each trial, subjects experienced a set of isochronous, standard intervals (400 ms each), followed by one interval of variable duration (400 ± 1-80 ms). Intervals were demarcated by short vibrotactile, auditory, or bimodal pulses. Subjects categorized the timing of the last interval by describing the final pulse as either "early" or "late" relative to its predecessors. In Experiment1, each trial contained three isochronous standard intervals, followed by an interval of variable length. In Experiment2, the number of isochronous standard intervals per trial varied, from one to four. Psychometric modeling revealed that vibrotactile stimulation produced poorer temporal discrimination than either auditory or bimodal stimulation. Moreover, auditory signals dominated bimodal sensitivity, and inter-individual differences in temporal discriminability were reduced with bimodal stimulation. Additionally, varying the number of isochronous intervals in a trial failed to improve temporal sensitivity in either modality, suggesting that memory played a key role in judgments of interval duration.