Contributions of force and tactile information in cognition of virtual object

Abstract

The role of force and tactile information in the cognition of the hardness of an object was experimentally discussed. The cognitive rate of four hardness level was measured in ten normal volunteers with 1)actual object, 2)actual object without tactile information, 3)virtual object with glove-shaped force display system and 4)virtual object combined with visual display. The cognitive rates in the experiments without tactile or visual information, were significantly lower (81 or 78% against 90 or 92%) than them with tactile information. It was also suggested that the part of the lower cognitive rate with force display system can be improved by teaching an adequate mental model.