Touch uses frictional cues to discriminate flat materials.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Gueorguiev D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4858763 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Touch uses frictional cues to discriminate flat materials.
Gueorguiev David D Bochereau Séréna S Mouraux André A Hayward Vincent V Thonnard Jean-Louis JL
Scientific reports 20160506
In a forced-choice task, we asked human participants to discriminate by touch alone glass plates from transparent polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plastic plates. While the surfaces were flat and did not exhibit geometric features beyond a few tens of nanometres, the materials differed by their molecular structures. They produced similar coefficients of friction and thermal effects were controlled. Most participants performed well above chance and participants with dry fingers discriminated the ma ...[more]
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