The goal is to enrich the understanding of the preception and psychophysics of texture (of fabrics of various densities) and of roughness (of grooved metallic surfaces) and to seek a closer integration of these two percepts with each other and with other measures of dermal perception. Variables of interest include the spacing of the fabric filaments and plate grooves (a known primary variable), the temperature of the skin and of stimulators touching the skin, the local site of stimulation over the body surface, and various physical properties of the skin such as the coefficient of friction, skin blood flow, hardness, and elasticity. The two psychological dimensions of interest are the perceived magnitude of texture and roughness, to be scaled by the method of magnitude estimation, and the hedonic tone (pleasantness- unpleasantness), to be scaled by visual analog rating. This proposal to extend our work on thermo-tactile interactions was spurred by a preliminary study in which the texture magnitude and hedonic tone of various common fabrics were found to vary regularly with the force required to drag the fabric across the skin, and that this force, together with perceived texture and unpleasantness, rose rather dramatically as skin wettedness increased in warm and humid air. This finding helps to account for the discomfort aroused by clothing in the heat, but it also leads to a number of interesting theoretical questions regarding tactile perception.
| Stevens, J C (1990) Perceived roughness as a function of body locus. Percept Psychophys 47:298-304 |
| Stevens, J C (1989) Temperature and the two-point threshold. Somatosens Mot Res 6:275-84 |
