Temporal Ordering of Events in Haptic Space

The most rapid acquisition of skill in the use of complex vibrotactile displays will occur when the capabilities of the organism are most efficiently exploited by the display code. When spatiotemporal patterns are chosen as the coding scheme, the problem of perception of temporal order is of great importance. The present paper describes the effects on the limen for order of two events, of the quality of the stimuli, their spacing on the body, and their intensive relations. The results suggest the presence of limiting conditions for the spatial and, by analogy, the temporal density of vibrotactile patterns. Comparisons are made with results reported previously, and a hypothesis is developed concerning the onset and timing of stimuli in relation to the capacity of the nervous system to augment the clarity of sensory events and to transfer the argumentation to successive locations on the sensory surface.