Factors influencing the radial-tangential illusion in haptic perception

According to the radial-tangential illusion, in the horizontal plane, arm movements executed in directions radial to the trunk are sensed to be longer than movements of the same length in the orthogonal direction. It has been suggested that the illusion arises from the fact that radially directed movements are executed more slowly and require more effort. These suggestions were tested in a series of experiments, using a robotically controlled manipulandum. In all of the experiments subjects grasped the handle of the manipulandum, in some cases exploring the virtual boundary of a rectangle, while in others being guided along a rectangular contour by the robot. In a two-alternative forced choice design, subjects reported whether the rectangle was wide or narrow. In a control experiment, subjects manifested the radial-tangential illusion. Contrary to the hypothesis, the magnitude of this illusion was not altered when a resistive force was added in the tangential direction or when the ratio of movement times in the tangential and radial directions was changed. However, when the contour was explored in the counterclockwise direction, the illusion was much smaller than when it was explored in the clockwise direction. A second series of experiments, in which subjects only explored two sides (i.e., an L-shape), demonstrated that this effect arose from distortions induced by the serial ordering of the exploratory movements. The illusion was much smaller when the radial segment was explored first. We suggest that this distortion arises from the serial nature of haptic exploration, in which the length of the initial segment decreases as it is stored in working memory for subsequent comparison.