The discrimination of vibratory patterns on a tactile matrix

Abstract

The ability of observers to discriminate static vibrotactile patterns was examined on a tactile matrix of 64 vibrators. Observers were presented with pairs of patterns that varied in symmetry, number of pattern elements (numerosity), and number of common pattern elements (communality), and were asked to judge whether the members of the pair were the same or different. Errors were primarily related to communality, while variation in symmetry had no effect on performance. Only at high levels of communality did numerosity affect performance differentially. Confusions resulted when few of many elements in the patterns differed. The levels of performance were found to be inferior to those reported by investigators who examined such relationships in patterns presented to more widespread body loci. A discussion of models of confusion in such tasks is presented. © 1978, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.