String-Mediated Inertial Force-Based Haptic Perception Of Disk Diameter

Past research on haptic perception suggests that humans can accurately identify the physical properties of an object without any access to visual information. Researchers contend that, in the absence of vision, the distribution of the inertial forces of an object are used to perceive other properties. The literature suggests that the haptic perception system is sensitive to inertial forces and haptic perception relies on the inertial distribution to identify predictable relationships between the inertia and other properties. However, prior studies supporting the role of inertia in perception allowed access to additional mechanical properties other than inertia. This study used an apparatus that limited information availability solely to rotational inertia. If rotational inertia alone is sufficient for perceiving physical properties of objects, participants would be able to accurately judge disk diameter from inertial information. When exposed to disks varying in diameter, I expected that participants would consistently discriminate between the magnitudes of the object’s diameter. Findings were generally in support of the inertia tensor hypothesis and demonstrated the generalizability to a novel event.