Tactile retention: Reading with the skin

Heller, Morton A.

doi:10.3758/bf03204299

Cited by 21 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Passive touch , where the observer makes no voluntary movements, may promote subjective experiences. Thus it seemed plausible that passivity may impair memory for sequentially presented tactile input (Heller, 1980) . However, the results of the present study suggest that passive tactile retention need not always be deficient, if optimal conditions for presentation are used .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the results of the present study suggest that passive tactile retention need not always be deficient, if optimal conditions for presentation are used . It may be necessary to limit the range of stimuli (for POP), make this known to the subjects, and allow observers the use of two hands (see Craig, 1985;Heller, 1980Heller, , 1986b. Haptics may differ from passively generated tactile information in a couple of important ways .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spatial separation was emDeaf-blind persons are taught to read letters printed on the palm (Print-on-Palm, POP) , but little formal research has been performed to isolate the factors that may aid tactile memory (Heller, 1986b). Heller (1980) claimed that passive touch impairs retention, since the passive tactile digit span was limited to only three digits when numerals were printed over each other at the same skin locus. Furthermore, Heller (1980) argued that aftersensations degraded tactile memory for passive touch, since words were easier to read with long interstimulus intervals (ISIs) of 5 sec than when they were printed with only I sec between letters.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Heller (1980) claimed that passive touch impairs retention, since the passive tactile digit span was limited to only three digits when numerals were printed over each other at the same skin locus. Furthermore, Heller (1980) argued that aftersensations degraded tactile memory for passive touch, since words were easier to read with long interstimulus intervals (ISIs) of 5 sec than when they were printed with only I sec between letters. Unfortunately, it is possible that the effect of slow presentation rates was not the dissipation of aftersensations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Improving the passive tactile digit span

Heller

1987

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

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Two experiments evaluated the effect of interstimulus interval aSI) on recall of digit sequences printed on the palms. Digits were printed with ISIs of 1 or 5 sec. Half of the patterns were drawn on the left palm and half on the right. High levels of accuracy were obtained in both experiments with the 5-sec rate. The passive tactile digit span was nearly seven at the slower rate, but much less at Lsec ISIs. Heller, 1986b). The first digit of two-digit sequences was printed on the left palm and the second was printed on the right palm . Half of the numbers were written on the left palm and half on the right for even numbers , with the beginning half drawn first on the left. The extra digit was always drawn on the left palm for odd numbers . Observers were fully informed about the procedure prior to the retention task. They were told where to expect the numbers, and they were informed about orientation and sequence length. However, feedback was not given as individualsattempted recall. Results and DiscussionTactile memory was far better when sequences were presented at a slower rate . Table I shows the proportion of sequences recalled correctly at l-sec and 5-sec ISIs.Performance was very good for long sequences at the 5-sec lSI. Data analysis showed a significant effect of rate [F(l,18) = 16.3, P < .00 1], a robust effect of sequence length [F(4,72) = 39 .9, p < .00 1], and a significant interaction [F(4,72) and that two-and three-digit sequences were equally easy to remember (p > .05) .The results of the present experiment suggest that the tactile digit span is at least six when spatial separation is employed and slow rates of presentation are used . To further quantify the normal span, an additional 10 subjects attempted serial recall of seven-digit sequences at either MethodSubjects. There were 20 subjects in the first experiment; half were male and half were female .Stimuli and Apparatus. The stimuli of Experiment 1 were random number sequences, varying in length from 2 to 6 digits . Numbers were approximately 4 em high; they were drawn with the aid of a Lucite stylus with a . 16-cm rounded tip. An upright orientation was used, and the digits were drawn at a rapid rate.Designand Procedure. Experiment I took the form of a mixed-factor analysis of variance , with the factors being interstimulus interval (lor 5 sec) and sequence length (2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-digit sequences), with repeated measures on sequence length . Subjects were initially exposed to a practice run that consisted of the 10 digits two times each , presented in a random sequence, with feedback for an incorrect identification. The aim of this practice was to familiarize subjects with the method of writing the patterns and to ensure normal tactile perception . All subjects scored at least 80% correct (see Critchley, 1953). Subsequently. independent groups of subjects were exposed to number sequences with ISIs of either 1 or 5 sec.The subjects were first exposed to 10 two-digit sequences and then to blocks of longer and longer sequences. Spat...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Improving the passive tactile digit span

Heller

1987

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

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“…However, the participants' performance remained higher than chance even in the articulatory suppression condition. The authors thus suggested that additional encoding strategies may have been involved, and in particular, they suggested that participants use spatial imagery (for the link between touch and imagery, see also Heller, 1980;Warren & Rossano, 1991), which has been shown to be immune to concurrent articulatory suppression (see, e.g., Logie, 1986). To investigate this proposal, the authors used a diagrammatic representation of the hand (Mahrer & Miles, 2002, Exp.3) and showed that seeing the second sequence presented either to the hand or on a diagrammatic representation of a hand improved recognition, as compared with a condition in which the second sequence was only presented in the tactile modality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile short-term memory for stimuli presented on the fingertips and across the rest of the body surface

Auvray

Gallace

Spence

2011

Atten Percept Psychophys

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The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which tactile information that is unavailable for full conscious report can be accessed using partial-report procedures. In Experiment 1, participants reported the total number of tactile stimuli (up to six) presented simultaneously to their fingertips (numerosity judgment task). In another condition, after being presented with the tactile display, they had to detect whether or not the position indicated by a (visual or tactile) probe had previously contained a tactile stimulus (partial-report task). Participants correctly reported up to three stimuli in the numerosity judgment task, but their performance was far better in the partial-report task: Up to six stimuli were perceived at the shortest target-probe intervals. A similar pattern of results was observed when the participants performed a concurrent articulatory suppression task (Exp. 2). The results of a final experiment revealed that performance in the partial-report task was overall better for stimuli presented on the fingertips than for stimuli presented across the rest of the body surface. These results demonstrate that tactile information that is unavailable for report in a numerosity task can nevertheless sometimes still be accessed when a partial-report procedure is used instead.

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Implizite und Explizite Gedächtnisleistungen

Wippich¹

2001

Der Bewegte Sinn

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Tactile retention: Reading with the skin

Cited by 21 publications

References 18 publications

Improving the passive tactile digit span

Improving the passive tactile digit span

Tactile short-term memory for stimuli presented on the fingertips and across the rest of the body surface

Implizite und Explizite Gedächtnisleistungen

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