Abstract
An equivalence position on the senses holds that vision and touch provide similar information. Handcrafted ceramic vessels, with their potent visual and tactile properties, should therefore be similarly judged by vision and touch. Twelve affective, sensory, perceptual, and cognitive rating scales were used to compare visual, tactile, and combined visual-tactile input. In Experiment 1, subjects (N=58) were presented with aesthetic ceramic objects; in Experiment 2, subjects (N=24) were asked to imagine such objects; and in Experiment 3, subjects (N=29) were provided with broken ceramic scraps. In the latter experiment, unlike in Experiments 1 and 2, the same subjects were given all three modes of input. All studies found similarities rather than differences between the modes of presentation; and correlations between vision, touch, and vision-touch were high (i.e., equivalence between the senses was evident).
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Garbin, C. P., & Bernstein, I. H. (1984). Visual and haptic perception of three-dimensional solid forms. Perception & Psychophysics, 36, 104–110.
Gibson, E. J. (1969). Principles of perceptual learning and development. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Gibson, J. J. (1962). Observations on active touch. Psychological Review, 69, 477–491.
Gibson, J. J. (1963). The useful dimension of sensitivity. American Psychologist, 18, 1–15.
Gibson, J. J. (1966). The senses considered as perceptual systems. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Kennedy, J. M. (1978). Haptics. In E. C. Carterette & M. P. Friedman (Eds.), Handbook of perception (Vol. 8, pp. 289–318). New York: Academic Press.
Krauthamer, G. (1968). Form perception across sensory modalities. Neuropsychologia, 6, 105–113.
Krueger, L. E. (1970). David Katz’s Der Aujbau der Tastwelt (The world of touch): A synopsis. Perception & Psychophysics, 7, 337–341.
Krueger, L. E. (1982). Tactual perception in historical perspective: David Katz’s world of touch. In W. Schiff & E. Foulke (Eds.), Tactual perception: A sourcebook (pp. 1–54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lederman, J. J. (1982). The perception of texture by touch. In W. Schiff & E. Foulke (Eds.), Tactual perception: A sourcebook (pp. 130–167). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lederman, J. J., & Abbott, S. G. (1981). Texture perception: Studies of intersensory organization using a discrepancy paradigm and visual versus tactual psychophysics. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 7, 902–915.
Marks, L. E. (1978). The unity of the senses: Interrelations among the modalities. New York: Academic Press.
Owen, D. H., & Brown, D. R. (1970). Visual and tactual form complexity: A psychophysical approach to perceptual equivalence. Perception & Psychophysics, 7, 225–228.
Revesz, G. (1950). Psychology and art of the blind. (H. A. Wolff, Trans.). London: Longmans, Green.
Richardson, J. T. E., Ainsley, H. M., Copsey, S., & Watkins, S. A. (1980). The role of tactual information in the recall of concrete objects. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 16, 57–58.
Rock, I., & Victor, J. (1964). Vision and touch: An experimentally created conflict between the two senses. Science, 143, 594–599.
Rowland, W. (1974). An experiment in art appreciation by touch. New Beacon, 58, 115–117.
Taylor, M. M., Lederman, S. J., & Gibson, R. H. (1973). Tactual perception of texture. In E. C. Carterette & M. P. Friedman (Eds.), Handbook of perception (Vol. 8, pp. 251–272). New York: Academic Press.
von Hornbostel, E. M. (1955). The unity of the senses. In W. D. Ellis (Ed.), A source book of Gestalt psychology (pp. 210–216). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Wong, E. (1975). Visual and tactile perception reconsidered from an empirical phenomenological perspective. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 6, 75–87.
Yoshida, M. (1968). Dimensions of tactual impressions (1). Japanese Psychological Research, 123–137.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
A briefer version of Experiment 1 was presented at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, 1982.
The authors wish to thank William R. Stewart for his assistance in producing the ceramic vessels for Experiment 1.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lindauer, M.S., Stergiou, E.A. & Penn, D.L. Seeing and touching aesthetic objects: I. Judgments. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 24, 121–124 (1986). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330522
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330522