The Perception of Torque Pulses

Abstract

The reliability of perception of a series of torque pulses and the influence of practice on the perceptual threshold were assessed. Eleven subjects were tested. Analysis showed distinctive cumulative frequency curves with the threshold of perception ranging from 0.016 Nm to 0.049 Nm. The reliability of individual differences over 100 trials was .998 and, when the number of trials was reduced to 25, reliability was .992. There was little evidence of a practice effect. It was clear that individual differences in torque perception could be accurately measured.