This paper proposes a learning model that enables a robot to acquire a body image for parts of its body that are invisible to itself. The model associates spatial perception based on motor experience and motor image with perception based on the activations of touch sensors and tactile image, both of which are supported by visual information. The tactile image can be acquired with the help of th...

In this paper we report on a set of experiments involving perceptual illusions elicited by dynamic tactile stimulation of fingertips. These misperceptions are akin to some well studied optical illusions, which have been given an explanation in terms of the mechanisms of optic flow perception. We hypothesize that a similar perceptual mechanism exists for tactile flow, which is related to how hum...

In this paper we investigate the possibility of processing the tactile perception by using a novel biomimetic approach for the pattern recognition module. The goal is to enhance the perception in complex virtual environments deriving from haptic displays mimicking human tactile discrimination. To do this we explored a Minimally Invasive Surgery application where the tactile information are stri...

Self-perception involves integrating changes in visual, tactile, and proprioceptive stimulation from self-motion and discriminating these changes from those of other objects. Recent evidence suggests even newborns discriminate synchronous from asynchronous visual-tactile stimulation to their own body, a foundation for self-perception.

The last years a growing body of research has been developed on tactile displays and interfaces, which can give physical form to digital information. In spite of the numerous tactile devices that have been constructed, the development of formal definition for tactile information still remains an open issue. In order for the software to better enhance the tactile information sensation, flow and ...

Touch is a common occurrence in our lives, where affective and inter-personal aspects of touch are important for our well-being. We investigated whether touch exposure affects hedonic and discriminative aspects of tactile perception. The perceived pleasantness and intensity of gentle forearm stroking, over different velocities, was assessed in individuals reporting to seldom receive inter-perso...

The present study investigated whether manual tactile information from a speaker's face modulates the intelligibility of speech when audio-tactile perception is compared with audio-only perception. Since more elaborated auditory and tactile skills have been reported in the blind, two groups of congenitally blind and sighted adults were compared. Participants performed a forced-choice syllable d...

In a previous experiment, we showed that bistable visual object motion was partially disambiguated by tactile input. Here, we investigated this effect further by employing a more potent visuotactile stimulus. Monocular viewing of a tangible wire-frame sphere (TS) rotating about its vertical axis produced bistable alternations of direction. Touching the TS biased simultaneous and subsequent visu...

Recent studies have shown that human perception of body ownership is highly malleable. A well-known example is the rubber hand illusion (RHI) wherein ownership over a dummy hand is experienced, and is generally believed to require synchronized stroking of real and dummy hands. Our goal was to elucidate the computational principles governing this phenomenon. We adopted the Bayesian causal infere...

In the present paper, we will attempt to gain hints regarding the nature of tactile awareness in humans. At first, we will review some recent literature showing that an actual tactile experience can emerge in absence of any tactile stimulus (e.g., tactile hallucinations, tactile illusions). According to the current model of tactile awareness, we will subsequently argue that such (false) tactile...