Abstract
Behavioral and neurophysiological findings in vision suggest that grouping by proximity occurs earlier than grouping by similarity. The present study investigated in the haptic modality whether proximity is an earlier/faster grouping principle than texture similarity. In this study, we compared responses to stimuli grouped by proximity with that grouped by similarity (surface texture) using a speeded orientation detection task performed on a novel haptic device. The apparatus was interfaced with a computer to allow controlled stimulus presentation and accurate registration of the responses. Two were the main results of the experiment: (1) response times for stimulus patterns grouped by proximity were faster compared to those patterns grouped by similarity; and (2) in those patterns grouped by proximity, vertical symmetric patterns were classified faster than horizontal symmetric patterns. We conclude that the Gestalt principles of proximity and similarity apply to the haptic modality. As in vision, grouping by proximity is faster than grouping by similarity, especially when symmetric grouped patterns are oriented vertically in line with the body midline axis.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the Spanish Government (PSI2010-21609-C2-01) and the Madrid Community (S2010/BMD-2349) to S.B. We thank all the volunteers who participated in the present study.
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Prieto, A., Mayas, J., Ballesteros, S. (2014). Time Course of Grouping by Proximity and Similarity in a Haptic Speeded Orientation Task. In: Auvray, M., Duriez, C. (eds) Haptics: Neuroscience, Devices, Modeling, and Applications. EuroHaptics 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8618. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44193-0_47
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44193-0_47
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