Stochastic Resonance Influences Heaviness Perception
Presenter Type
UNO Graduate Student (Doctoral)
Major/Field of Study
Biomechanics
Other
Biomechanics
Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0001-7722-2910
Advisor Information
Aaron Likens
Location
MBSC304 - G (Doctoral)
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
24-3-2023 9:00 AM
End Date
24-3-2023 10:15 AM
Abstract
Heaviness perception is the use of haptic feedback (i.e., touch) to determine the weight of a wielded object. Heaviness perception entails a perceptual system known as dynamic touch that relies on the use of the muscles as sensory organs. Dynamic touch refers to an effortful form of touch used to sense physical properties of an object without the benefit of vision and provides awareness of our body and its relation to the environment. This study sought to understand if the information received through effortful touch of occluded objects could improve via the stochastic resonance phenomenon. Enhancing this information content has the potential to improve awareness of invariant properties associated with an object. In this experiment, participants wielded an occluded object with varying masses and different noise types with the goal being to determine how many times heavier an object was in relation to a standard object. Major findings of the present study include (1) the interaction between mass and noise has a statistically significant effect on the resulting percent error [χ2(2) = 9.6415, p = 0.0081], and (2) a simple slope analysis was used to understand the interaction and revealed that the relationship between mass and percent error depended on noise. For the no noise and pink noise conditions, percent error decreased with increasing mass (Estimate = -0.227, CI = -0.5271 – 0.0731; Estimate = -0.229, CI = -0.592 – 0.0710, respectively). In contrast, the white noise condition produced a positive relationship (Estimate = 0.347, CI = 0.0468 – 0.6470). As a general summary of the results, we found that percent error decreased as a function of mass in the no noise and pink noise conditions, at nearly identical rates. In contrast, the white noise condition produced qualitatively different results such that the presence of white noise appears to degrade one’s ability to perceive weight, especially at larger masses. In the near future, we aim to replicate the finding concerning white noise while providing insight into the ineffectiveness of pink noise. One possibility for the findings concerning pink noise is that all subjects were young, healthy adults. So, we will include clinical groups that have altered sensitivity to test the generality of our current results. Other next steps involve including a larger range of masses added to the apparatus while varying locations of subthreshold stimulation.
Scheduling
9:15-10:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m.-Noon
Stochastic Resonance Influences Heaviness Perception
MBSC304 - G (Doctoral)
Heaviness perception is the use of haptic feedback (i.e., touch) to determine the weight of a wielded object. Heaviness perception entails a perceptual system known as dynamic touch that relies on the use of the muscles as sensory organs. Dynamic touch refers to an effortful form of touch used to sense physical properties of an object without the benefit of vision and provides awareness of our body and its relation to the environment. This study sought to understand if the information received through effortful touch of occluded objects could improve via the stochastic resonance phenomenon. Enhancing this information content has the potential to improve awareness of invariant properties associated with an object. In this experiment, participants wielded an occluded object with varying masses and different noise types with the goal being to determine how many times heavier an object was in relation to a standard object. Major findings of the present study include (1) the interaction between mass and noise has a statistically significant effect on the resulting percent error [χ2(2) = 9.6415, p = 0.0081], and (2) a simple slope analysis was used to understand the interaction and revealed that the relationship between mass and percent error depended on noise. For the no noise and pink noise conditions, percent error decreased with increasing mass (Estimate = -0.227, CI = -0.5271 – 0.0731; Estimate = -0.229, CI = -0.592 – 0.0710, respectively). In contrast, the white noise condition produced a positive relationship (Estimate = 0.347, CI = 0.0468 – 0.6470). As a general summary of the results, we found that percent error decreased as a function of mass in the no noise and pink noise conditions, at nearly identical rates. In contrast, the white noise condition produced qualitatively different results such that the presence of white noise appears to degrade one’s ability to perceive weight, especially at larger masses. In the near future, we aim to replicate the finding concerning white noise while providing insight into the ineffectiveness of pink noise. One possibility for the findings concerning pink noise is that all subjects were young, healthy adults. So, we will include clinical groups that have altered sensitivity to test the generality of our current results. Other next steps involve including a larger range of masses added to the apparatus while varying locations of subthreshold stimulation.