From Cue to Construct

Abstract

Haptic perception serves as one of our primary interfaces to the physical world. Without it, our ability to understand and respond to a world full of objects and physical beings would be profoundly impaired.
This dissertation addresses how we reconstruct perceptual representations from the mechanical inputs that occur during haptic interactions. It focuses on the behaviorally relevant information that allows the somatosensory system to achieve its goals, such as enabling the exploration and dexterous manipulation of objects.
The dissertation covers fundamental concepts related to the emergence of stable haptic percepts and presents a series of experimental studies spanning topics from contact detection, through texture and material perception, to the perception of time during haptic interactions. The studies reveal several fundamental mechanisms in haptic perception: an intensity metamer in impact detection where duration and amplitude trade off, the role of propagating vibratory waves for roughness perception, and roughness metamers where different combinations of elasticity and surface features produce identical percepts.
Using a novel dual-property stimulus database and local anesthesia techniques, the work further highlights the crucial role of cutaneous information in softness perception and shows how the lack of cutaneous information can influence the perceived timing of haptic interactions.
Together, the studies uncover essential cues and mechanisms used to perceptually reconstruct different haptic interactions.