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Perception of 3-D location based on vision, touch, and extended touch

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Abstract

Perception of the near environment gives rise to spatial images in working memory that continue to represent the spatial layout even after cessation of sensory input. As the observer moves, these spatial images are continuously updated. This research is concerned with (1) whether spatial images of targets are formed when they are sensed using extended touch (i.e., using a probe to extend the reach of the arm) and (2) the accuracy with which such targets are perceived. In Experiment 1, participants perceived the 3-D locations of individual targets from a fixed origin and were then tested with an updating task involving blindfolded walking followed by placement of the hand at the remembered target location. Twenty-four target locations, representing all combinations of two distances, two heights, and six azimuths, were perceived by vision or by blindfolded exploration with the bare hand, a 1-m probe, or a 2-m probe. Systematic errors in azimuth were observed for all targets, reflecting errors in representing the target locations and updating. Overall, updating after visual perception was best, but the quantitative differences between conditions were small. Experiment 2 demonstrated that auditory information signifying contact with the target was not a factor. Overall, the results indicate that 3-D spatial images can be formed of targets sensed by extended touch and that perception by extended touch, even out to 1.75 m, is surprisingly accurate.

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Notes

  1. Practice with blind walking is not usually provided in studies using blind walking or blind walking/gesturing techniques to assess distance perception. Even without it, research has shown that the mean indicated distances using blind walking to visual targets viewed with full distance cues are very accurate (for a summary, see Loomis and Philbeck 2008). The ability to perform blind walking and blind walking/gesturing must require some calibration of the overall scaling factor for walked distance. Normally, this calibration surely is provided by observing the correspondence between walking speed and observed changes in the visual scene during normal ambulation (Loomis and Philbeck 2008, p. 20). Even with such calibration, large systematic performance errors are readily apparent when distance cues are impoverished, errors that are traceable to errors in perceiving distance (for summary, see Loomis and Philbeck 2008). However, because we wished to minimize errors in perceived displacements associated with blind walking, we chose to provide practice and feedback with only this component of the response. Thus, the practice served only to precisely calibrate perceived displacements associated with walking.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by NIH grant 1R01EY016817. The authors thank Mick Ramos for assistance in recruiting and running participants and Tim McGrath for assistance with coding the experimental scripts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spatial Informatics Program, School of Computing and Information Science, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Nicholas A. Giudice & Christopher R. Bennett

  2. Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Roberta L. Klatzky

  3. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Jack M. Loomis

Authors
  1. Nicholas A. Giudice
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  2. Roberta L. Klatzky
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  3. Christopher R. Bennett
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  4. Jack M. Loomis
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Correspondence to Nicholas A. Giudice.

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Giudice, N.A., Klatzky, R.L., Bennett, C.R. et al. Perception of 3-D location based on vision, touch, and extended touch. Exp Brain Res 224, 141–153 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3295-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3295-1

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