Abstract
It is known that our senses are influenced by
contrast effects and aftereffects. For haptic perception, the
curvature aftereffect has been studied in depth but little is
known about curvature contrast. In this study we let
observers explore two shapes simultaneously. The shape
felt by the index finger could either be flat or convexly
curved. The curvature at the thumb was varied to quantify
the curvature of a subjectively flat shape. We found that
when the index finger was presented with a convex shape, a
flat shape at the thumb was also perceived to be convex.
The effect is rather strong, on average 20% of the contrasting
curvature. The contrast effect was present for both
raised line stimuli and solid shapes. Movement measurements
revealed that the curvature of the path taken by the
metacarpus (part of the hand that connects the fingers) was
approximately the average of the path curvatures taken by
the thumb and index finger. A failure to correct for the
movement of the hand could explain the contrast effect.
Original language | Undefined/Unknown |
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Pages (from-to) | 127-133 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Experimental Brain Research |
Volume | 199 |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |