Abstract
Can humans, like other animals, perceive distance by mechanical vibrations transmitted in a solid medium? In seven experiments, subjects perceived the distances from the hand of occluded metal disks attached to a taut nylon strand. Mechanical waves were initiated at the hand by the subject or at the disk by the experimenter. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed that perceived distance was linearly dependent on object distance with or without practice. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 revealed an inverse dependency of perceived distance on strand tension. In Experiment 5, a constant difference in perceived distance between vertical and horizontal strand manipulations was found. The results of Experiments 6 and 7 showed that distance was perceptible when the mechanical wave was not initiated by the subject. The informational basis for this haptic spatial ability was sought in the dynamics expressed by the one-dimensional wave equation, specifically, in the constants relating strand forces to strand motions.
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This research was supported in part by NSF Grant BNS 90-11013. It is based on a doctoral dissertation presented by the first author to the University of Connecticut. The conceptual and technical contributions of Robert Shaw, Gwen Gustaffson, and members of the University of Connecticut Physics Department are gratefully acknowledged
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Kinsella-Shaw, J.M., Turvey, M.T. Haptic perception of object distance in a single-strand vibratory web. Perception & Psychophysics 52, 625–638 (1992). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211700
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211700