IDENTIFYING OBJECTS FROM A HAPTIC GLANCE

Subjects identified common objects under conditions of a ''haptic glan ce,'' a brief haptic exposure that placed severe spatial and temporal constraints on stimulus processing. They received no advance cue, a su perordinate-level name as cue, or a superordinate and basic-level name as cue. The objects varied in size relative to the fingertip and in t he most diagnostic attribute, either texture or shape. The data sugges t that object recognition can occur when global volumetric primitives cannot directly be extracted. Even with no cue, confusion errors resem bled the target object and indicated extraction of material and local shape information, which was sufficient to provide accuracy above 20%. Performance improved with cuing, and the effect of exposure duration was observed primarily with minimal cuing, indicating compensatory eff ects of top-down processing.