Tactual Motion Adaptation Phenomenon
J u n j i Wa ta n a b e 1

Seiichiro Hayashi2

Hiroyuki Kajimoto3

S u s u m u Ta c h i 4

PRESTO JST/NTT CS lab

The University
o f To k y o

The University
o f To k y o

The University
o f To k y o

ABSTRACT
Tactual motion perception is one of the most important functions
for realizing a delicate appreciation of the tactile world. To study
the mechanism of information processing in the brain, theadaptation phenomenon has been a useful probe. Tactual motion
aftereffects have not been reported in a reproducible fashion,
however here, we demonstrate a clear and robust adaptation
phenomenon using appropriate combinations of adaptation andtest stimuli. Our results indicate that the adaptation paradigm
can be used for investigating not only visual but also tactual
motion processing.
K e y w o r d s : Tactile motion perception, Motion aftereffect,
Adaptation paradigm
1

INTRODUCTION 1

One way we explore the external world is through our sense of
touch. Tactual motion perception is one of the most importantfunctions for realizing a delicate appreciation of the tactile
world. When we touch an object in space, we actively move ourfingers across its surface. From this movement, we can perceive
various kinds of features of the object, such as shape, roughness,and compliance. The information of motion between thefingertip and the object should play a significant role inperceiving the tactual features. Therefore, to gain further insight
into the mechanism of tactual perception, we investigated thefunctional mechanism of tactual motion perception using an
adaptation paradigm.
The adaptation phenomenon has been useful to investigate
mechanism of information processing in the brain without
imaging or neurophysiology. Especially, human visual
perception of motion has been studied by the visual motion
adaptation phenomenon. After prolonged observation of awaterfall, an illusory upward motion can be seen in a static
environment. This phenomenon is referred to as Motion
AfterEffect (MAE) [1] [2]. Although MAE in vision is a robust
and rigid phenomenon, tactile MAE has not been reported in a
reproducible fashion [3] [4] [5].
Thalman, in 1922, reported a number of conditions thatmight be expected to generate MAEs. Since then, little researchhas been performed on this issue, and the conditions that
produce reliable reports of tactile MAE are presently underdiscussion. Hollins and Favorov (1994) reported robust
phenomena of tactile MAEs with the use of a rotating drum. The
palm and all fingers were placed down on a 90 mm diameter
drum, which then rotates at 60 rpm, as illustrated in Figure 1(a).
After 120 sec of stimulation, subjects were instructed to lift theirhands up, and the hand was then placed back on a stationary
drum for a 60 sec period, and subjects answered questions about
their feelings. Five subjects participated in this experiment, andtactile MAEs were reported in the most parts of the trials.
However, in a replicated experiment by Lerner & Craig (2002),
1
2
3
4

e-mail: watanabe@avg.brl.ntt.co.jp
e-mail: Seiichiro_Hayashi@ipc.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp
e-mail: kaji@star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
e-mail: tachi@star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

no MAE was reported in about half of the trials, though fifty
subjects
performed the experiment. In addition, negative MAE wasonly about 10% of perceived MAE, though one would expect
the aftereffects to be in the negative direction, that is, opposite
to the direction of adaptation as in Figure 2. Lerner & Craigalso performed experiments using OPTACON, a reading aid
for the blind illustrated in Figure 1(b). Each row of
OPTACON was activated sequentially. After adaptation for
120 sec, subjects held their fingers in the air for 60 sec, andanswered questions about their feelings. In this method, clear
negative MAEs were not observed again.
These previous results show that tactile MAE is not vivid
or a robust phenomenon. Therefore, it is suggested that tactual
MAE cannot be used for investigation into the tactual
mechanism of motion perception. However, in this paper, wedemonstrate clear and robust adaptation phenomenon using
appropriate combinations of adaptation and test stimuli. Our
results indicate that the adaptation paradigm can be a useful
method for investigating not only visual but also tactual
motion processing.

Figure 1 : (a) Hollins’ and (b) Lerner’s experiments

Figure 2 : (a) Visual and (b) tactile motion aftereffect2
2.1

MAE IN TACTILE SENSATION
Apparatus & Subjects

Subject’s right index finger was mounted on a metal board,as illustrated in Figure 3. Three pins were arranged with 5 mm
spatial intervals as shown in Figure 4, and then verticallyvibrated through a hole in the board. The pins were driven by

a vibration generator (EMIC Inc. 511-A) with the frequency ofvibration 30 Hz, amplitude 0.06 mm, and duration 200 ms. The
pin material was piano wire of 1.0 mm diameter. When the pins
were sequentially driven, the subjects perceived apparent motion
on the finger cushion. For example, pin “C” sticks out first, then“B” and finally “A”, as in Figure 4; subjects thus perceive
tactual motion to the fingertip. The magnitude of the perceived
motion was controlled in the experiments by varying the Inter
Stimulus Onset Interval (ISOI)
Four subjects (one author and three naive males), aged from22 to 24 years, participated in all experiments. Subjects, who
could not hear the sound of vibrations, performed experimentswith eyes open to maintain their arousal level.

Figure 5 : Experimental procedures

2.3

Figure 3 : Experimental apparatus

Figure 4 : Stimulus arrangement and time chart

2.2

Procedures

The experimental procedures are described in Figure 5. In theadaptation phase, tactual motion was presented at 100 ms ISOI
(that is, the duration of the motion was 400ms). The tactual
motion was presented 10 times at 600 ms intervals. After a 10
sec adaptation phase, a 2 sec interval was given, and test
stimulus was then presented once with one of nine ISOIs (-120,-60, -30, -15, 0, 15, 30, 60, 120 ms). A positive ISOI valuemeans motion to the fingertip (described as “Upward”), anda negative value means motion to the base of the finger(described as “Downward”). Subjects answered “Upward” or “Downward” with two alternative forced choices.
This experiment was performed under three experimental
conditions (Upward adaptation, Downward adaptation, and No
adaptation). One session of the experiments consisted of 18
trials (each ISOI included 2 trials). 10 sessions were performed
for each condition. The order of sessions were sequential
decided (No adaptation -> Upward adaptation, -> Downward
adaptation -> No adaptation). Subjects took a enough rest morethan 5 minutes between sessions. A total of 600 trials were
performed for each subject (20 trials x 10 sessions x 3
conditions).

Results in a Vertical Motion Condition

Figure 6 shows the rates of “ Upward ” responses obtained.
The horizontal and vertical axes represent ISOI of the pins in alog scale, and the rate of a subject ’ s response of “ Upward”. The blue triangles, green crosses and red circles represent
the averages of each of 20 trials in No, Upward andDownward adaptation conditions, respectively. A thin blueline, a dotted green line and a broken red line indicate thefitted line with cumulative normal distribution. In the data of
No adaptation (blue triangles), when ISOI was 0, the rate of an“ Upward ” answer was about 0.5. When an ISOI of 120 ms
was presented, all subjects in all trials answered “ Upward ”.
On the other hand, when an ISOI of –120 ms was presented,
the rate declined to zero. If upward motion was presented in
an adaptation phase (green crosses), less “ Upward ”
responses were obtained in the wide range of ISOIs. On theother hand, in the downward condition (red circles), the rate of“ Upward ” responses increased. These tendencies wereobserved for all subjects, except in the downward adaptation
condition of subject AK.
The Point of Subjective Equality was calculated for all
adaptation conditions. The shifts of PSEs in a downward(upward) condition from a no adaptation condition are shownin Figure 7. The error bars represent standard errors. The
averaged PSEs are -13.9 ms in the downward condition, and+14.9 ms in the upward condition. Considering standard
errors, we can conclude that the tactual motion adaptation
affects the perceived direction of motion presented in the test
phase, and that the number of responses in the opposite
direction to the adapted motion direction systematicallyincreased.
2.4

Results in Horizontal Motion, Rotation Motion andLong Distance Motion Conditions

Our next investigation looked various ways for motion
aftereffects. We tested adaptation phenomenon in horizontal,
rotating, and long distance motions. In the case of horizontal
motion, the pins were horizontally arranged with 5 mm spatial
intervals, as illustrated on the left in Figure 8(a). The same
experimental procedures as in the case of the vertical motion
without ISOI variation were used. The ISOI presented in thehorizontal motion condition were -30, 0, and +30 ms. A
positive value means that leftward motion was presented, andvice versa. The averages and standard errors of four subjects
are shown on the right in Figure 8(a). The vertical andhorizontal axes represent the rate of the response “ Leftward” and ISOIs, respectively (The vertical and horizontal axes of
all the following graphs represent the rate of the responses and
ISOIs respectively. Both averages and standard errors of thefour subjects are shown.). Leftward and rightward adaptation

conditions were performed. In general, when ISOI increased,
more “ Leftward ” responses were obtained. For the
Rightward adaptation condition (red circle), more “ Leftward” responses were obtained than in the leftward adaptation
condition (green cross). This trend suggests that the tactile
motion aftereffect can also be observed in horizontal motion.

Figure 7 : Shift of PSE caused by adaptation (error bars correspond to
standard errors)

Figure 6 : Results of the experiment for vertical tactual motion. Horizontal andvertical axes represent ISOI (ms) in log scale and the rate of subjects’ “
Upward” responses

Figure 8 : Stimulus arrangements and results under (a) horizontal motion,(b) rotation, and (c) long distance conditions

In the case of rotating motion, the pins were arranged in asquare with 5 mm spatial intervals as illustrated in Figure 8(b)left. Pins were vibrated clockwise or anti-clockwise, that is A-DC-B-A or A-B-C-D-A, respectively. Smooth circular motion wasperceived not discrete square motion. The presented ISOI wasvaried in –90, -30, +30, and +90. The results are shown on theright in Figure 8(b). Positive values in the horizontal axis meanthat clockwise motion was presented, and vice versa. WhenISOI increased, more “ Clockwise ” responses were obtained.
For the anti-clockwise adaptation condition (red circle), more “Clockwise” responses were obtained than in the clockwise
adaptation condition (green cross); suggesting that the tactual
motion aftereffect can also be observed also in rotating motion.
In the case of long distance motion, the pins were verticallyarranged with 25 mm spatial intervals, as illustrated on the left
in Figure 8(c). Although the motion sensations were weaker thanthose in the first experiment, the subjects rather perceived thesequential stimuli as motion, than as separate three stimuli. The
presented ISOI was varied in –60, 0, and +60. The results areshown on the right in Figure 8(c). Subjects gave more
“Upward” answers in the downward adaptation. Divergence
between adaptation conditions was also observed, whichindicates the occurrence of tactual MAE in long distance motion.
3
3.1

DISCUSSION
Differences between this and earlier reports

We demonstrated that tactual motion aftereffect can be observed
when appropriate combinations of adaptation and test stimuli areemployed. There are differences between earlier studies that did
not report robust tactual motion aftereffects, and ourexperiments. Tactual mechanoreceptors, which would be
stimulated in the rotating drum (Hollins & Favorov, 1994), theOptacon (Lerner & Craig, 2002), and the pin stimuli (our)experiments, are shown in Table 1. The upper rows represent thestatuses in the adaptation phase and the lower rows represent
those in the test phase. When a fast rotating drum is presented tothe palm, as in the Hollins’ experiments, mainly themechanoreceptor RAI would be stimulated. A static drum,
however, which was used as the test stimuli, would activate only
SAI. As a result, the adapted mechanoreceptor (RAI) was notstimulated in the test phase. The results in Lerner’s studies canbe ascribed to this misallocation of adapting and testing stimuli.
When the Optacon was used as the stimulating device, theperceived motion was generated by successive stimulation withrows of pins. This method produces a motion sensation in a waythat is different from the way produced by the rotating drum. It
was actually reported that the Optacon array will not activate
SAI in a barbiturate-anesthetized monkey study [6]. In Lerner’s
experiments, however, the subjects held their finger in midair;thus mechanoreceptors were not activated after the adaptation
phase (if mechanoreceptors were activated without any tactual
stimulation, humans would always have some kind of tactual
feeling, even when not touching anything). Appropriate tactual
stimuli are necessary in the test phases to generate feelings of
MAEs. On the other hand, the same mechanoreceptor (RAI) was
stimulated in the adaptation and test phases in our experiment.
Therefore, tactile MAEs could be observed.

Adapt
SAI
RAI
Test
SAI
RAI

Drum
(Hollins)

Optacon(Lerner)

Pins(This paper)

X
XXX

XXX

XXX

XXX
XXX

Table 1: Tactual mechanoreceptors that would be stimulated in rotating
drum, Optacon, and our experiments.

3.2

Tactual Motion Perception and Somatosensory
information

Our clear observation of tactile MAE indicates that the MAE
can be used for investigating the tactual motion processing
mechanism. Tactual motion can be perceived in both the local
skin and environmental coordinates. In the former, motion isperceived based on the relative configuration on the finger
cushion. In the latter, the direction of the motion on the skincan be translated using the information of the hand position
into motion in the environmental coordinate. Here we clarify
which coordinate is employed for tactual motion perception
using the motion adaptation phenomenon.
The experimental apparatus, procedure and the subjects
were the same as in the experiment for the horizontal motion
condition, without finger direction during the adaptation phase.
The subjects rotated their wrists by 180 degrees, and placed
their index fingers in the opposite direction to the previous
experiment as illustrated in Figure 9. After an adaptation phase,they turned their hands and then, placed their finger in thenormal way. When the subject adapts to the motion toward the
middle finger (leftward motion in the environmental
coordinate), if tactile motion was perceived based on the local
skin coordinate, the subject would report MAE to the thumb(the same direction as in the adaptation phase in theenvironmental coordinate) irrelevant of the hand direction. On
the other hand, if it were perceived based on theenvironmental coordinate, the subject would report MAE
toward the middle finger (rightward motion).
The ISOI presented varied in –45, -15, +15, and +45. The
results are shown in Figure 9. The vertical and horizontal axes
represent the rate of the “ Leftward ” response in theenvironmental coordinate and ISOIs, respectively. Whenleftward motion was presented in the adaptation phase (motion
toward the middle finger), more “ Leftward ” (motion
toward the thumb) responses were reported in the test phasethan when rightward motion was presented in the adaptation
phase. This trend was observed in a wide range of ISOIs,
though the amount of adaptation effect was reduced, and thissuggests that the tactual MAE occurs in the local skincoordinates.

Figure 9 : Stimuli and results of the hand-reversal experiment

4

TACTUAL MAE FOR INTER-FINGER MOTION

We have demonstrated that tactile MAE occurs when the motion
is presented within one finger cushion. Tactual apparent motion
can also be observed for inter-finger motion produced by two
pins that sequentially stimulate the index and middle fingers. We
performed three experiments that investigated the mechanism
involved in inter-finger motion processing.
In the first experiment, fingers were arranged in the normal
way. The index and middle fingers of the right hand were placedat the normal position, as illustrated on the left in Figure 10(a),in both adaptation and test phases. In the second experiment,
subjects rotated their wrists by 180 degrees in the adaptation
phase, and then placed their fingers normally in the test phase,as shown on the left in Figure 10(b). In the third experiment, thesubject’s fingers were crossed during the adaptation phase,and the fingers placed normally in the test phase, as in Figure10(c). The same four subjects performed these experiments.
The results of these three experiments are shown in Figure
10. The ISOI was varied in –45, -15, +15, and +45. The verticalaxis represents the rate of the “ Leftward ” response in theenvironmental coordinate. In the data from the first experiment,
more leftward motion responses were obtained, when subjects
adapted to the rightward motion, and similarly vice versa. This
indicates that tactual MEA can be observed also when interfinger motion was presented. In the data from the second
experiment, when rightward motion (that is, motion from the
middle to the index finger) was presented in the adaptation
phase, more rightward motions (motion from the index to the
middle finger) were perceived in the test phase. This suggeststhat tactual MAE also occurs irrelevant of the hand direction forinter-finger motion. On the other hand, in the data from the third
experiment, when rightward motion was presented with fingers
crossed (from the middle to the index finger) in the adaptation
phase, more leftward motion (from the middle to the index
finger) responses were observed. Although the order of thefinger stimulated in the adaptation phase is from the middle tothe index finger (or vice versa), tactile MAE in the same orderas the finger was observed. This result suggests that inter-finger
motion can be processed using the configuration of the finger
positions.

Figure 10 : Adaptation stimuli and results of the inter-finger motion
experiments

5

CONCLUSION

In this paper, we demonstrated that the tactual motion
adaptation phenomenon robustly occurs for motion presented
both within a finger cushion and inter-finger. For this we usedappropriate combinations of adaptation and test stimuli.
Additionally, we utilized the phenomenon to investigate thefunctional mechanisms involved in tactual motion processing.
Our results indicate that an adaptation paradigm can be used toinvestigate not only visual but also tactual motion processing.
REFERENCES[1] A. Wohlgemuth: On the aftereffect of seen movement, British Journalof Psychology, Monograph Supplement, Vol. 1, pp. 1-117, 1911.
[2] G. Mather, F.A.J. Verstraten, S.M. Anstis: The Motion Aftereffect: A
Modern Perspective, Cambridge, Mass: The MITPress, 1998.
[3] W. A. Thalman: The after-effect of movement in the sense of touch,
Am. J. Psycholo. Vol. 33, pp. 268-276, 1922.
[4] M. Hollins, O. Favorov: The tactile movement aftereffect,
Somatosensory and Motor Research, Vol. 11, pp. 153-162, 1994.
[5] E. A. Lerner, J. C. Craig: The prevalence of tactile motion aftereffects,
Somatosensory and Motor Research, Vol. 19, pp. 24-29, 2002.
[6] E.P. Gardner, I.C. Palmer: Simulation of motion on the skin. I.
Receptive fields and temporal frequency coding by cutaneous
mechanoreceptors of Optacon pulses delivered to the hand. J
Neurophysiol Vol. 62, pp. 1410-1436, 1989.