Visual effects of haptic feedback are large but local

Abstract

Vision generally provides reliable predictions for touch and motor-control, but some classes of stimuli evoke visual illusions. Using haptic feedback on virtual 3-D surfaces, we tested the function of touch in such cases. Our experiments show that in the perception of 3-D shapes from texture cues, haptic information can dominate vision in some cases, changing percepts qualitatively from convex to concave and concave to slant. The effects take time to develop, do not outlive the cessation of the feedback, are attenuated by distance, and drastically reduced by gaps in the surface. These dynamic shifts in qualitative perceived shapes could be invaluable in neural investigations that test whether haptic feedback modifies selective activation of neurons or changes the shape-tuning of neurons responsible for percepts of 3-D shapes. © 2011 Meng, Zaidi.