Abstract
Can tactual information be acquired simultaneously by several different fingers? Blind and sighted Ss were asked to scan vertical displays of braille (consisting of either one or two dots) with the index and middle fingers on each hand-using one, two, or four fingers at the same time. Stimuli were recognized most rapidly when the displays were scanned by two fingers on different hands and least rapidly when two fingers on the same hand were used; performance was similar with one finger and with four fingers. The results indicated some parallel perceptual processing of the inputs to the two hands and mutual interference in processing inputs from fingers on the same hand.
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This report was supported in part by U.S. Office of Education Grant OEG-4-71-0065 and by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH-21105 to the first author and bv USOE Grant OEG-O-8-071185-1811(032) to the second author. A paper based on this work was presented at the Psychonomic Society convention, St. Louis, November 1971.
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Lappin, J.S., Foulke, E. Expanding the tactual field of view. Perception & Psychophysics 14, 237–241 (1973). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212383
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212383