Multiple Spatial Spectral Components of Static Skin Deformation for Predicting Macroscopic Roughness Perception

IEEE Trans Haptics. 2022 Jul-Sep;15(3):646-654. doi: 10.1109/TOH.2022.3199082. Epub 2022 Sep 27.

Abstract

A previous study suggested a relationship between the spatial spectrum of finger pad skin deformation and perception of macroscopic roughness features. This study tested a new hypothesis that macroscopic roughness perception is the result of a weighted linear combination of multiple spatial spectral components of skin deformation. Experiments were conducted by capturing close-up images of finger pad deformation while the pads were pushed onto specimens with macroscopic features. Additionally, the roughness perceptions of these specimens were collected using a magnitude estimation method. The combination of spectral components predicted the roughness perception more accurately than any single spectral component. This suggests that roughness perception is mediated by multiple Gabor filter-like neural systems with different spatial periods, such as visual perception.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Fingers
  • Humans
  • Skin*
  • Touch*
  • Visual Perception