Tactile perception of spatially distributed vibratory stimuli on the fingerpad

Using a pin-array type tactile display as a stimulator of the finger pad, a psychophysical study was conducted on the vibrotactile perception. The passive touch with vibratory stimuli in the low frequency could be an alternative of the active touch for the presented stimuli: polygons, round shapes and gratings. As for the effect of frequency on the texture discrimination, the high correct answer proportions corresponded to the most sensitive frequency ranges of each mechanoreceptor. The spatial acuity decreased as the frequency of the stimuli increased when the stimuli presented by the equal number of contactors. As an analogy between color vision and tactile perception, a spatial configuration of the multiple contactors was proposed to deliver the intermediate pitch using the compound waveform defined as a sinusoidal stimulus which was presented by four contactors vibrating with 30Hz and 240Hz. The subjects felt qualitatively different the compound waveform and the pure-tone.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Ahn, Minseung

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mandayam A. Srinivasan.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35675

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35675