Delay improves performance on a haptic spatial matching task

• Published in: Experimental brain research Vol. 149; no. 3; pp. 320 - 330
• Main Authors: Zuidhoek, Sander, Kappers, Astrid M. L., van der Lubbe, Rob H. J., Postma, Albert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin Springer 01.04.2003; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Experiments; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Haptics; Humans; Male; Miscellaneous; Orientation - physiology; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Spatial Behavior - physiology; Time Factors; Human; Parallelity; Stimulus distance; Haptic perception; Frames of reference; Sensorial perception; Spatial representation; Delay; Frame of reference
• ISSN: 0014-4819; 1432-1106
• DOI: 10.1007/s00221-002-1365-5

Systematic deviations occur when blindfolded subjects set a test bar parallel to a reference bar in the horizontal plane using haptic information (Kappers and Koenderink 1999, Perception 28:781-795; Kappers 1999, Perception 28:1001-1012). These deviations are assumed to reflect the use of a combination of a biasing egocentric reference frame and an allocentric, more cognitive one (Kappers 2002, Acta Psychol 109:25-40). In two experiments, we have examined the effect of delay between the perception of a reference bar and the parallel setting of a test bar. In both experiments a 10-s delay improved performance. The improvement increased with a larger horizontal (left-right) distance between the bars. This improvement was interpreted as a shift from the egocentric towards the allocentric reference frame during the delay period.