Research Article

Generic Properties of Curvature Sensing through Vision and Touch

Table 1

Mathematical parameters of the eleven curves (stimuli) in terms of width ( ), sagitta ( ), expressed in centimetres, and the scale-invariant aspect ratio ( ), as defined here in the introduction. Parameters of virtual curves presented on a computer screen to one group (visual experiment) and their real-world counterparts used for tactile sensing by another group of blindfolded or congenitally blind observers (tactile experiment) were the same.


2 cm9 cm4.50
3 cm8.5 cm2.83
4.5 cm8 cm1.77
6.5 cm7.5 cm1.15
8 cm7 cm0.87
8.5 cm6 cm0.70
9 cm5 cm0.50
10 cm4 cm0.40
12 cm3 cm0.25
14 cm2 cm0.14
18 cm1 cm0.05