Abstract
Although many body sites have been tested for the processing of vibrotactile patterns, very few studies have employed similar patterns and techniques to compare processing across loci. In the studies reported here, subjects judged comparable sets of spatial patterns presented in the same way to the finger, palm, and thigh in tests of recognition, discrimination, and masking. Discrimination varied as a function of stimulus onset asynchrony in a similar way across loci, but level of performance across sites depended, to different degrees, on duration. These differences were mirrored in the relative levels of recognition learning across sites. Levels of forward and backward masking on the fingers and thigh were less dependent on duration and site.
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This research was supported by NIH Grant NS-04755 and NIH Grant NS-09783. Portions of this paper were read at a special symposium honoring Frank A. Geldard at the meetings of the Eastern Psychological Association in Baltimore, MD, April 14, 1984.
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Cholewiak, R.W., Craig, J.C. Vibrotactile pattern recognition and discrimination at several body sites. Perception & Psychophysics 35, 503–514 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205946
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205946