Abstract
We can efficiently detect whether there is a rough object among a set of smooth objects using our sense of touch. We can also quickly determine the number of rough objects in our hand. In this study, we investigated whether the perceptual processing of rough and smooth objects is influenced if these objects are connected. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to identify whether there were exactly two rough target spheres among smooth distractor spheres, while we recorded their response times. The spheres were connected to form pairs: rough spheres were paired together and smooth spheres were paired together (‘within pairs arrangement’), or a rough and a smooth sphere were connected (‘between pairs arrangement’). Participants responded faster when the spheres in a pair were identical. In Experiment 2, we found that the advantage for within pairs arrangements was not driven by feature saliency. Overall our results show that haptic information is processed faster when targets were connected together compared to when targets were connected to distractors.
Highlights
We can efficiently detect whether there is a rough object among a set of smooth objects using our sense of touch
The results were in line with hypothesis three and showed that participants were faster to determine whether there were exactly two rough spheres when they were arranged within a pair than when distributed over two pairs
The response times (RT) difference between within and between pairs arrangements cannot be caused by differences in the probability of detecting the two rough spheres early in the trial
Summary
We can efficiently detect whether there is a rough object among a set of smooth objects using our sense of touch. An important step in recognizing what we are holding in our hand is associating haptic information with the correct object. This means that all information from an object has to be assigned to this particular object and segmented from information from another object. In a typical haptic search task, the participant is asked to detect a target between varying numbers of distractor items[7]. When two items (for instance, two spheres) are connected together, their movements become coupled, and they might be interpreted as a single object How would this affect perceptual processing of these spheres?
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