Yasaka Kazuhiko, Mori Tomoki, Yamaguchi Masahiro, Kaba Hideto
Department of Physical Therapy, Kochi School of Allied Health and Medical Professions, 6012-10, Nagahama, Kochi, 781-0270, Japan.
Department of Physiology, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi, 783-8505, Japan.
Cogn Process. 2019 Feb;20(1):19-30. doi: 10.1007/s10339-018-0892-3. Epub 2018 Nov 16.
Object recognition through tactile perception involves two elements: the shape of the object (macrogeometric properties) and the material of the object (microgeometric properties). Here we sought to determine the characteristics of microgeometric tactile representations regarding object recognition through tactile perception. Participants were directed to recognize objects with different surface materials using either tactile information or visual information. With a quantitative analysis of the cognitive process regarding object recognition, Experiment 1 confirmed the same eight concepts (composed of rules defining distinct cognitive processes) commonly generated in both tactile and visual perceptions to accomplish the task, although an additional concept was generated during the visual task. Experiment 2 focused only on tactile perception. Three tactile objects with different surface materials (plastic, cloth and sandpaper) were used for the object recognition task. The participants answered a questionnaire regarding the process leading to their answers (which was designed based on the results obtained in Experiment 1) and to provide ratings on the vividness, familiarity and affective valence. We used these experimental data to investigate whether changes in material attributes (tactile information) change the characteristics of tactile representation. The observation showed that differences in tactile information resulted in differences in cognitive processes, vividness, familiarity and emotionality. These two experiments collectively indicated that microgeometric tactile information contributes to object recognition by recruiting various cognitive processes including episodic memory and emotion, similar to the case of object recognition by visual information.
物体的形状（宏观几何属性）和物体的材质（微观几何属性）。在此，我们试图确定通过触觉感知进行物体识别时微观几何触觉表征的特征。参与者被要求使用触觉信息或视觉信息来识别具有不同表面材质的物体。通过对物体识别认知过程的定量分析，实验1证实了在触觉和视觉感知中完成任务时通常会产生相同的八个概念（由定义不同认知过程的规则组成），尽管在视觉任务中还产生了一个额外的概念。实验2仅关注触觉感知。使用了三个具有不同表面材质（塑料、布料和砂纸）的触觉物体进行物体识别任务。参与者回答了一份关于其答案得出过程的问卷（该问卷是根据实验1的结果设计的），并对生动性、熟悉度和情感效价进行评分。我们利用这些实验数据来研究材料属性（触觉信息）的变化是否会改变触觉表征的特征。观察结果表明，触觉信息的差异导致了认知过程、生动性、熟悉度和情感方面的差异。这两个实验共同表明，微观几何触觉信息通过招募包括情景记忆和情感在内的各种认知过程来促进物体识别，这与视觉信息进行物体识别的情况类似。
