Cross-Modal Perception
Humans, like most other organisms, are equipped with multiple sensory channels through which to experience the environment (Stein & Meredith, 1993). Each sense provides qualitatively distinct subjective impressions of the world. Color and pitch, for example, have no counterparts in somatosensation, nor is there any equivalent of tickle in audition or vision. Despite the remarkable disparity of these sensations, we are nevertheless able to maintain a coherent and unified perception of our surroundings. These cross-modal capabilities confer considerable behavioural advantages. As well as having the capacity to use this sensory information interchangeably, thus maintaining object recognition skills when deprived of a sense, …show more content…
Once available, tactile information is rapidly integrated to update the weight prediction and refine the internal object representation. If visual cues cannot be used to predict weight, force planning relies on implicit knowledge acquired from recent lifting experience, termed sensorimotor memory
Acting upon an object provides additional sensory inputs that enhance perceptual information about its physical properties. Here, we refer to “perception” as explicit knowledge about an object property. Knowledge about the material, weight or inertia of an object can be acquired by touching and lifting it. Perception of weight has been studied extensively in psychophysical studies (Jones, 1986). Discrimination abilities follow Weber’s law, that is, just noticeable differences depend on the intensity of the stimulus. Weight perception is, however, not always veridical, as shown by several weight illusions (Buckingham,2014) of which the size-weight illusion (Charpentier, 1891) is the most notable and investigated one.
When objects vary in size, a weight expectation based on the size can be made if the object density is constant. In the size-weight illusion, smaller objects are perceived to be heavier than larger ones even though they actually weigh the same (Charpentier,
Humans, like most other organisms, are equipped with multiple sensory channels through which to experience the environment (Stein & Meredith, 1993). Each sense provides qualitatively distinct subjective impressions of the world. Color and pitch, for example, have no counterparts in somatosensation, nor is there any equivalent of tickle in audition or vision. Despite the remarkable disparity of these sensations, we are nevertheless able to maintain a coherent and unified perception of our surroundings. These cross-modal capabilities confer considerable behavioural advantages. As well as having the capacity to use this sensory information interchangeably, thus maintaining object recognition skills when deprived of a sense, …show more content…
Once available, tactile information is rapidly integrated to update the weight prediction and refine the internal object representation. If visual cues cannot be used to predict weight, force planning relies on implicit knowledge acquired from recent lifting experience, termed sensorimotor memory
Acting upon an object provides additional sensory inputs that enhance perceptual information about its physical properties. Here, we refer to “perception” as explicit knowledge about an object property. Knowledge about the material, weight or inertia of an object can be acquired by touching and lifting it. Perception of weight has been studied extensively in psychophysical studies (Jones, 1986). Discrimination abilities follow Weber’s law, that is, just noticeable differences depend on the intensity of the stimulus. Weight perception is, however, not always veridical, as shown by several weight illusions (Buckingham,2014) of which the size-weight illusion (Charpentier, 1891) is the most notable and investigated one.
When objects vary in size, a weight expectation based on the size can be made if the object density is constant. In the size-weight illusion, smaller objects are perceived to be heavier than larger ones even though they actually weigh the same (Charpentier,