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Cognition and Perception

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

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Touch

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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Unimanual And Bimanual Haptic Shape Discrimination, Catherine Jane Dowell Apr 2018

Unimanual And Bimanual Haptic Shape Discrimination, Catherine Jane Dowell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In the current study 24 younger adults and 24 older adults haptically discriminated natural 3-D shapes (bell peppers, Capsicum annuum) using unimanual (one hand used to explore two objects) and bimanual (both hands used, but each hand explored separate objects) successive exploration. Haptic exploration using just one hand requires somatosensory processing in only one cerebral hemisphere (the hemisphere contralateral to the hand being used), while bimanual haptic exploration requires somatosensory processing in both hemispheres. Previous studies related to curvature/shape perception have found either an advantage for unimanual exploration over bimanual exploration or no difference between the two conditions. In contrast …


Short-Term Visual Deprivation, Tactile Acuity, And Haptic Solid Shape Discrimination, Charles E. Crabtree Aug 2014

Short-Term Visual Deprivation, Tactile Acuity, And Haptic Solid Shape Discrimination, Charles E. Crabtree

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The visual cortex of human observers changes its functionality in response to visual deprivation (Boroojerdi et al., 2000). Behavioral studies have recently documented enhanced tactile abilities following a short period of visual deprivation (Facchini & Aglioti, 2003; Weisser, Stilla, Peltier, Hu, & Sathian, 2005). The current study investigated the effects of visual deprivation on two unique tactile tasks. While Facchini and Aglioti observed significant effects of visual deprivation, neither Wong, Hackeman, Hurd, and Goldreich (2011) nor Merabet et al. (2008) observed these effects. Corroborating these more recent results, no difference in grating orientation discrimination performance was observed between the sighted …