Transfer of calibration in length perception by dynamic touch

Abstract

Earlier studies suggested that the calibration of actions is functionally, rather than anatomically, specific; thus, calibration of an action ought to transfer to actions that serve the same goal (Rieser, Pick, Ashmead, & Garing, 1995). In the present study, we investigated whether the calibration of perception also follows a functional organization: If one means of detecting an information variable is recalibrated, are other means of detection recalibrated as well? In two experiments, visual feedback was used to recalibrate perceived length of a rod wielded by the right hand; the recalibration was found to transfer to length perception with the left hand. This implies that calibration in perception is organized functionally rather than anatomically, and supports the general view that calibration applies to functional systems.

Transfer of Calibration Between Length and Sweet-Spot Perception by Dynamic Touch

“…An earlier study suggested that perceptual calibration applies to information-to-perception relations, regardless of which anatomical structures were doing the detecting (Withagen & Michaels, 2004). Those results indicated that there is a functional organization of calibration in perception analogous to that in action as suggested by Rieser et al (1995).…”

“…That is, the fed-back distance reachable with the rod did not correspond with the real distance reachable with the wooden rod. However, an earlier study showed that false feedback could as easily induce a recalibration of length perception by dynamic touch as could accurate feedback (Withagen & Michaels, 2004). homogeneous rods, their sweet spots are at two-thirds of their lengths.…”

“…An earlier study showed that participants are, in general, calibrated differently (Withagen & Michaels, 2004). To ensure that the same degree of recalibration was induced in each of the participants, we gave feedback based on that participant's length perception in the pretest, as follows: For each participant we found the slope and the intercept of the best-fitting line relating perceived length to actual length.…”

“…Third, recalibration in perception by dynamic touch can be easily induced. Earlier studies showed that a few feedback trials suffice to recalibrate length perception (Withagen & Michaels, 2004) and height and width perception (Wagman et al, 2001).…”

“…Recently, we (Withagen & Michaels, 2004) tested whether there is a functional organization of calibration in the perceptual domain analogous to that claimed for action. We argued that in the perceptual domain there is a multiple realizability of functions similar to that in the action domain: An animal can, at least in some cases, detect a particular information variable in several ways involving different anatomical substrates (e.g., J. J.…”