Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the subjective dimensionality of tactile surface texture perception. Seventeen tactile stimuli, such as wood, sandpaper, and velvet, were moved across the index finger of the subject, who sorted them into categories on the basis of perceived similarity. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques were then used to position the stimuli in a perceptual space on the basis of combined data of 20 subjects. A three-dimensional space was judged to give a satisfactory representation of the data. Subjects’ ratings of each stimulus on five scales representing putative dimensions of perceived surface texture were then fitted by regression analysis into the MDS space. Roughness-smoothness and hardness-softness were found to be robust and orthogonal dimensions; the third dimension did not correspond closely with any of the rating scales used, but post hoc inspection of the data suggested that it may reflect the compressional elasticity (“springiness”) of the surface.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cattell, R. B. (1978). The scientific use of factor analysis in behavioral and life sciences. New York: Plenum.
Connor, C. E., Hsiao, S. S., Phillips, J. R., &Johnson, K. O. (1990). Tactile roughness: Neural codes that account for psychophysical magnitude estimates.Journal of Neuroscience,10, 3823–3836.
Ekman, G., Hosman, J., &Lindstrom, B. (1965). Roughness, smoothness, and preference: A study of quantitative relations in individual subjects.Journal of Experimental Psychology,70, 18–26.
Green, B. G. (1981). Tactile roughness and the “paper effect.”Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,18, 155–158.
Katz, D. (1989).The world of touch (L. E. Krueger, Trans.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. (Original work published 1925)
Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. &Reed, C. (1987). There’s more to touch than meets the eye: The salience of object attributes for haptics with and without vision.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,116, 356–369.
Klatzky, R. L., Lederman, S. J., &Reed, C. (1989). Haptic integration of object properties: Texture, hardness, and planar contour.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,15, 45–57.
Kruskal, J. B. (1964a). Multidimensional scaling by optimizing goodness of fit to a nonmetric hypothesis.Psychometrika.29, 1–27.
Kruskal, J. B. (1964b). Nonmetric multidimensional scaling: A numerical method.Psychometrika,29, 115–129.
Kruskal, J. B., &Wisu, M. (1978).Multidimensional scaling. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Lederman, S. J. (1978a). Heightening tactile impressions of surface texture. In G. Gordon (Ed.),Active touch: The mechanism of recognition of objects by manipulation. A multi-disciplinary approach (pp. 205–214). Oxford, U.K.: Pergamon.
Lederman, S. J. (1978b). “Improving one’s touch” ... and more.Perception & Psychophysics,24, 154–160.
Lederman, S. J., &Klatzky, R. L. (1987). Hand movements: Awindow into haptic object recognition.Cognitive Psychology,19, 342–368.
Lederman, S. J., &Taylor, M. M. (1972). Fingertip force, surface geometry, and the perception of roughness by active touch.Perception & Psychophysics,12, 401–408.
Shiffman, S. S., Reynolds, M. L., &Young, F. W. (1981).Handbook of multidimensional scaling. New York: Academic Press.
Stevens, S. S., &Harris, J. R. (1962). The scaling of subjective roughness and smoothness.Journal of Experimental Psychology,64, 489–494.
Takane, Y., Young, F. W., &De Leeuw, J. (1977). Nonmetric individual differences multidimensional scaling: An alternating least squares method with optimal scaling features.Psychometrika,41, 505–529.
Taylor, M. M., &Lederman, S. J. (1975). Tactile roughness of grooved surfaces: A model and the effect of friction.Perception & Psychophysics,17, 23–36.
Young, F. W., &Lewyckyj, R. (1979).ALSCAL-4 user’s guide (2nd ed). Carrboro, NC: Data Analysis and Theory Associates.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holliins, M., Faldowski, R., Rao, S. et al. Perceptual dimensions of tactile surface texture: A multidimensional scaling analysis. Perception & Psychophysics 54, 697–705 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211795
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211795