Morash Valerie S, Pensky Allison E Connell, Miele Joshua A
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA.
Perception. 2013;42(7):759-77. doi: 10.1068/p7443.
It remains controversial whether using two hands and multiple fingers provides any perceptual advantage over a single index finger. The present study examines this long-running question in the haptic-exploration literature by applying rigorous, psychophysical, and mathematical modeling techniques. We compared the performance of fourteen blindfolded sighted participants on seven tactile-map tasks using seven finger conditions. All tasks were benefited by multiple fingers, but it varied whether multiple fingers were beneficial on one hand, two hands, or both. Line-tracing tasks were performed faster when two hands were used, but not more than one finger per hand. Local and global search tasks were faster with multiple fingers, but not two hands. Distance comparison tasks were also performed faster with multiple fingers, and sometimes with two hands. Lastly, moving in a straight line was faster with multiple fingers, but was especially difficult with just two index fingers. These results provide empirical evidence that multiple hands and fingers benefit haptic perception, but the benefits are more complex than simply extending the tactile field of 'view'. This analogy between touch and vision fails to account for the autonomous movements and sensations of the fingers, which we show benefit the haptic perceptual system.
使用双手和多个手指是否比单根食指具有任何感知优势仍存在争议。本研究通过应用严格的心理物理学和数学建模技术，审视了触觉探索文献中这个长期存在的问题。我们比较了14名蒙眼的视力正常参与者在使用七种手指条件的七个触觉地图任务上的表现。所有任务都因使用多个手指而受益，但多个手指在一只手、两只手或两只手上是否有益则有所不同。使用双手进行线条追踪任务时速度更快，但每只手不超过一根手指。使用多个手指进行局部和全局搜索任务时速度更快，但不是两只手。使用多个手指，有时也使用两只手进行距离比较任务时速度也更快。最后，使用多个手指直线移动速度更快，但仅用两根食指时特别困难。这些结果提供了实证证据，表明多只手和多个手指有益于触觉感知，但益处比简单地扩展“视野”的触觉范围更为复杂。这种触觉与视觉之间的类比未能考虑到手指的自主运动和感觉，而我们证明这些对触觉感知系统有益。
