BACKGROUND Tactile defensiveness in children is associated with difficult social relations, emotional dysregulation, and inattention. However, there are no studies of lead exposure and tactile defensiveness in children or animals in spite of the fact that lead exposure is also associated with inattention and emotional dysregulation. OBJECTIVES In this study we tested whether lead exposure ind...

People with autism and Asperger syndrome are anecdotally said to be hypersensitive to touch. In two experiments, we measured tactile thresholds and suprathreshold tactile sensitivity in a group of adults with Asperger syndrome. In the first experiment, tactile perceptual thresholds were measured. Two frequencies of vibrotactile stimulation were used: 30 and 200 Hz. The results demonstrated sign...

Robotic devices – limited to the structured environment of manufacturing plants until few years ago – are slowly making way into human life, which has led to the emergence of interaction and learning issues in robots. Such issues are important for future robot to be able to learn autonomously and to interact safely with the environment i.e. without causing any harm to it or to the objects with ...

Background: Brain injuries are a major cause of mortality and disability. Sensory stimulation can reduce the complications of brain injuries in the patients.  Objectives: To compare the effect of foot reflexology with tactile stimulation of the hand on level of consciousness and physiological indicators in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients  Materials & Methods: 60 TBI patients hospitalize...

The “Cognitive Science of Tactile Graphics Project” at the University of Sussex is studying how experienced and novice users of tactile graphics read diagrams by touch. One goal of the project is to design novel tactile formats that specifically support ready access to, and rich interpretations of, information in tactile materials by people with visual impairment. This presentation focuses upon...

A teletaction system uses a tactile display to present the user with information about texture, local shape, and/or local compliance. Current tactile displays are at and rigid, and require precise machining and assembly of many parts. This paper describes the fabrication and performance of a one-piece pneumaticallyactuated tactile display molded from silicone rubber. Tactor spacing is 2.5 mm wi...

In recent years audio tactile diagrams have emerged as a viable method of providing blind learners with access to diagrammatical material. It has proven beneficial, but obstacles remain to its widespread adoption, especially in situations where a teacher may not be skilled in tactile production. Current approaches to audio tactile production contain limitations in various areas namely reusabili...

Tactile displays are used to provide tactile feedback in telemanipulation or virtual reality. One aim in further developments is the miniaturisation of tactile displays for incorporation into dataand/or force feedback gloves. This enables the combination of tactile and kinesthetic feedback. A main disadvantage of many tactile displays with a large number of stimulator elements is their large vo...

To investigate whether the mechanisms underlying endogenous tactile spatial attention differ under pure tactile compared to mixed modality conditions event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded to bilateral tactile and visual cues and tactile imperative stimuli. In the cue-stimulus interval the anterior directing attention negativity (ADAN) was present contralateral to the side of the a...

Spatial origin is an important cue for humans to determine whether auditory and tactile signals originate from the same event/object or not. This paper addresses spatial factors involved in the integration of auditory and tactile information. Perceptual threshold values for auditory-tactile spatial origin disparity were measured using tactile information and sound such as those generated by tou...