Mounia Ziat, Eng., M.S., Ph.D. - US grants

This project at a primarly undergraduate institution will address the important, but still little understood question of how we perceive and identify objects by touch. More specifically, it deals with how the hand and fingertips interact with surfaces, edges, and vibrations. Understanding how we process and interpret the information we get from touching objects is increasingly important in many high-tech arenas, such as improving assistive devices or virtual simulations for training people to repair or maintain complex products, including airplanes and heavy machinery. Results of this project will broaden our understanding of the role of different types of touch receptors in the fingertips and the ways in which their signals are processed and integrated, which leads to a better understanding of grasping, sliding, and object handling. The project will investigate touch processing by presenting computer-controlled stimuli to the fingertips of adult human subjects and analyzing their reported sensations under defined conditions. The investigator is on the faculty of a primarily undergraduate institution and will provide 12 undergraduate students with multidisciplinary experience in cognitive science, improving their research and science skills, and allowing them opportunities to interact with a wider scientific community.<br/><br/>The proposed research will address fundamental questions about the interpretation of mechanoreceptor and nerve fiber activation beyond frequency thresholds using edge perception as a practical example. This is important because humans daily touch multiple objects that include edges and ridges. The study has three aims: 1) to compare the responses of receptors to different frequencies of vibration in order to understand the perceptual mechanisms behind tactile edge perception; 2) to identify the role of motor action in an integrated approach to edge perception; and 3) to consider the role of other senses (hearing and seeing) in tactile edge perception. These experiments will advance our knowledge of the ways different touch receptors respond to edges and contours, how these responses might be processed at different levels of the peripheral and central nervous system, and the role of active and passive movement and input from other sensory systems in interpreting touch perception. The research also has important applications in touch interfaces, robotics, and tools for the visually challenged.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.