Memory delay and haptic feedback influence the dissociation of tactile cues for perception and action

The somatosensory processing model (SPM) asserts that dissociable cortical processing streams mediate tactile perceptions and actions via relative and absolute cues, respectively (Dijkerman and de Haan, 2007). Accordingly, we sought to determine whether the introduction of a memory delay and/or physically touching a target object (i.e., haptic feedback) differentially influences the cues supporting tactile perceptions and actions. Participants used their right hand to manually estimate (i.e., perceptual task) or grasp (i.e., action task) differently sized objects placed on the palm of their left limb in conditions wherein the target object was available for the duration of the response (i.e., closed-loop condition), or was removed prior to response cuing (i.e., memory-guided condition). As well, trials were performed in conditions wherein the physical object was available (i.e., haptic feedback) or unavailable (i.e., no haptic feedback) to touch. Notably, we computed just-noticeable-difference (JND) scores to determine whether the aforementioned tasks and conditions adhered to - or violated - the relative properties of Weber's law. JNDs for manual estimations adhered to Weber's law across each condition - a finding supporting the SPM's contention that an immutable and relative percept supports tactile perceptions. In turn, JNDs for grasping violated Weber's law only when haptic feedback was available. Such a finding indicates that haptic feedback supports the absolute calibration between a tactile defined object and the required motor output. What is more, our study highlights that multiple somatosensory cues (i.e., tactile and haptic) support goal-directed grasping.