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Updated: May 7, 2026
19:44
A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator (TAPS)
Published on: June 3, 2009
SPATIAL UPDATING OF HAPTIC ARRAYS ACROSS THE LIFE SPAN
Nicholas A Giudice1, Christopher R Bennett1, Roberta L Klatzky2
1a Spatial Informatics Program, School of Computing and Information Science , University of Maine , Orono , Maine , USA.
Experimental Aging Research
|March 31, 2017
Summary
Spatial cognition declines with age, particularly after age 60. This study found that learning and updating spatial information through touch (haptic input) also degrades, impacting memory and spatial transformations.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Human Development
- Sensory Perception
Background:
- Aging research predominantly uses vision, neglecting non-visual spatial learning.
- Haptic spatial cognition changes across the lifespan remain understudied.
- Investigating age-related differences in haptic spatial learning is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine how age affects the learning and updating of spatial configurations using haptic input.
- To compare haptic spatial cognition across different age groups.
Main Methods:
- Participants aged 20-80 years explored haptic circular arrays.
- Assessed spatial cognition through egocentric and allocentric pointing, and array reconstruction.
- Evaluated performance after physical or imagined spatial updating.
Main Results:
- Significant age-related differences were observed in haptic spatial tasks.
- Older adults showed greater errors in allocentric pointing and reconstruction.
- Post-updating performance declined sharply with age, regardless of updating type.
Conclusions:
- Haptic spatial abilities generally degrade with age, especially after 60.
- Age-related declines are linked to mental transformations of 3D spatial representations in working memory.
- This highlights a spatial aging effect impacting non-visual sensory input.
Related Concept Videos
01:33Somatosensation
The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
01:15Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.