Designing Tactile Cues: Factors Affecting Perceived Salience and Recognition

Two experiments were conducted to investigate effects of tactile cue characteristics on operator perception, learning, recall of assigned meaning, and interactions of recall performance given stationary versus tasks with demands on operator attention. In the first experiment, twelve multitactor cues ("tactions") represented differences in tactor actuator signal characteristics (complexity) and sequencing of cue activations (pattern location type). The second experiment replicated the first experiment, using a different task demand, and included assessments of aspects of working memory (visual, auditory) and spatial ability. Results demonstrated significant differences in operator perception of tactions and recall while stationary and during task performance, due to differences in taction complexity and pattern location type. Tactions having static locational repetitive patterns were more easily learned and remembered. Participants scoring higher in visual and audio working memory were associated significantly with higher recall accuracy of tactile cues.