The haptic 'oblique effect' in children's and adults' perception of orientation

The haptic perception of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal orientations was studied in children (aged 7 and 9 years) and in adults. The purpose was to test the hypothesis that the haptic oblique effect results from the different scanning movements at work when one hand explores an oblique standard and the other hand sets the response rod. In experiment 1, blindfolded subjects reproduced the orientation of a standard rod presented in either the frontal, the horizontal, or the sagittal plane, and this task was achieved either ipsilaterally (the same hand explored the standard and set the response rod) or contralaterally (one hand explored the standard and the other hand set the response rod). Since, in the sagittal plane, scanning movements are analogous when the left and right hands explore oblique orientations, no oblique effect should be observed in this condition if the hypothesis is valid. Moreover, a development effect should be observed, since young children generally rely more on movement coding than do older children and adults. Results did not support these predictions: the same oblique effect appeared in the frontal and the sagittal planes both in the ipsilateral and in the contralateral condition, and the effect of age was not in the direction predicted by the hypothesis. The results were consistent with the hypothesis in the horizontal plane only. Experiments 2 and 3 provided further tests of this hypothesis but both failed to support it. Taken together, the results of these three experiments did not support the assumption and it is suggested that the haptic oblique effect may be linked to the gravitational cues provided by the arm-hand system when it acts in the three spatial planes.