The study of length estimation evoked by dynamic vibrotactile stimuli

Tactual length perception is not only affected by the distance between two physical stimulation points, but also related with the patterns of the tactile stimuli. The vibration parameters which we study include spatial distribution (regular or irregular), vibratory rhythm (simultaneously or sequentially), number of stimulators, burst duration and vibration intensity. This paper mainly presents three experiments aimed to study the perceived length evoked by vibrotactile stimuli. In the pair-wise comparison experiments, standard (fixed) and comparison lines were respectively presented on the back of subjects. The standard line is the linearly arranged tactors with constant vibration parameters, while the vibration parameters of the comparison ones are variable. The results showed that the vibration parameters contributed differently to the length estimation performance. Vibration intensity, spatial distribution, rhythm have little effect on tactile length perception. While the number of stimulators and vibratory duration both having significant effect on the length estimation performance. There is a tendency to overestimate the vibration lines which contains more tactors or has longer stimulus duration.