Tactile perception of the roughness of 3D-printed textures.

Surface roughness is one of the most important qualities in haptic perception. Roughness is a major identifier for judgments of material composition, comfort, and friction and is tied closely to manual dexterity. Some attention has been given to the study of roughness perception in the past, but it has typically focused on noncontrollable natural materials or on a narrow range of artificial materials. The advent of high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) printing technology provides the ability to fabricate arbitrary 3D textures with precise surface geometry to be used in tactile studies. We used parametric modeling and 3D printing to manufacture a set of textured plates with defined element spacing, shape, and arrangement. Using active touch and two-alternative forced-choice protocols, we investigated the contributions of these surface parameters to roughness perception in human subjects. Results indicate that large spatial periods produce higher estimations of roughness (with Weber fraction = 0.19), small texture elements are perceived as rougher than large texture elements of the same wavelength, perceptual differences exist between textures with the same spacing but different arrangements, and roughness equivalencies exist between textures differing along different parameters. We posit that papillary ridges serve as tactile processing units, and neural ensembles encode the spatial profiles of the texture contact area to produce roughness estimates. The stimuli and the manufacturing process may be used in further studies of tactile roughness perception and in related neurophysiological applications. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Surface roughness is an integral quality of texture perception. We manufactured textures using high-resolution 3D printing, which allows precise specification of the surface spatial topography. In human psychophysical experiments we investigated the contributions of specific surface parameters to roughness perception. We found that textures with large spatial periods, small texture elements, and irregular, isotropic arrangements elicit the highest estimations of roughness. We propose that roughness correlates inversely with the total contacted surface area.

[1]  N. Cauna,et al.  Nerve supply and nerve endings in Meissner's corpuscles. , 1956, The American journal of anatomy.

[2]  Dennis McFadden,et al.  Three computational versions of proportion correct for use in forced-choice experiments , 1970 .

[3]  J. Goodnow,et al.  Haptic and visual perception of proportion. , 1970, Journal of experimental psychology.

[4]  M. M. Taylor,et al.  Fingertip force, surface geometry, and the perception of roughness by active touch , 1972 .

[5]  S. Lederman.  Tactile roughness of grooved surfaces: The touching process and effects of macro- and microsurface structure , 1974 .

[6]  R. Johansson.  Tactile sensibility in the human hand: receptive field characteristics of mechanoreceptive units in the glabrous skin area. , 1978, The Journal of physiology.

[7]  K. O. Johnson,et al.  Tactile spatial resolution. II. Neural representation of Bars, edges, and gratings in monkey primary afferents. , 1981, Journal of neurophysiology.

[8]  S. Lederman,et al.  The role of vibration in the tactual perception of roughness , 1982, Perception & psychophysics.

[9]  R H LaMotte,et al.  Tactile detection of a dot on a smooth surface: peripheral neural events. , 1986, Journal of neurophysiology.

[10]  L. J. Chapman,et al.  The measurement of handedness , 1987, Brain and Cognition.

[11]  A W Goodwin,et al.  Sinusoidal movement of a grating across the monkey's fingerpad: temporal patterns of afferent fiber responses , 1987, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[12]  A W Goodwin,et al.  Sinusoidal movement of a grating across the monkey's fingerpad: effect of contact angle and force of the grating on afferent fiber responses , 1987, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[13]  R. Klatzky,et al.  Hand movements: A window into haptic object recognition , 1987, Cognitive Psychology.

[14]  A. Goodwin,et al.  Perceived roughness of a grating: correlation with responses of mechanoreceptive afferents innervating the monkey's fingerpad , 1989, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[15]  C. Connor,et al.  Tactile roughness: neural codes that account for psychophysical magnitude estimates , 1990, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[16]  M. Srinivasan,et al.  Tactile detection of slip: surface microgeometry and peripheral neural codes. , 1990, Journal of neurophysiology.

[17]  R. Sinclair,et al.  Tactile discrimination of gratings: psychophysical and neural correlates in human and monkey. , 1991, Somatosensory & motor research.

[18]  Kenneth O. Johnson,et al.  Neural Mechanisms of Tactual form and Texture Perception , 1992 .

[19]  T. Yoshioka,et al.  Neural mechanisms of tactual form and texture perception. , 1992, Annual review of neuroscience.

[20]  J. Phillips,et al.  Responses of human mechanoreceptive afferents to embossed dot arrays scanned across fingerpad skin , 1992, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[21]  K. Johnson,et al.  Neural coding of tactile texture: comparison of spatial and temporal mechanisms for roughness perception , 1992, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[22]  Mark Holliins,et al.  Perceptual dimensions of tactile surface texture: A multidimensional scaling analysis , 1993, Perception & psychophysics.

[23]  E P Gardner,et al.  Discrimination of simulated texture patterns on the human hand. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[24]  K. O. Johnson,et al.  Monkey cutaneous SAI and RA responses to raised and depressed scanned patterns: effects of width, height, orientation, and a raised surround. , 1997, Journal of neurophysiology.

[25]  Kenneth O. Johnson,et al.  Neural Coding Mechanisms in Tactile Pattern Recognition: The Relative Contributions of Slowly and Rapidly Adapting Mechanoreceptors to Perceived Roughness , 1997, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[26]  Anil K. Jain,et al.  Fingerprint Image Enhancement: Algorithm and Performance Evaluation , 1998, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[27]  R. Klatzky,et al.  Tactile roughness perception with a rigid link interposed between skin and surface , 1999, Perception & psychophysics.

[28]  K. O. Johnson,et al.  SA1 and RA receptive fields, response variability, and population responses mapped with a probe array. , 1999, Journal of neurophysiology.

[29]  K. O. Johnson,et al.  Surround suppression in the responses of primate SA1 and RA mechanoreceptive afferents mapped with a probe array. , 1999, Journal of neurophysiology.

[30]  C. E. Chapman,et al.  Relative effects of the spatial and temporal characteristics of scanned surfaces on human perception of tactile roughness using passive touch , 2000, Experimental Brain Research.

[31]  M. Hollins,et al.  Evidence for the duplex theory of tactile texture perception , 2000, Perception & psychophysics.

[32]  Forrest W. Young,et al.  Individual differences in perceptual space for tactile textures: Evidence from multidimensional scaling , 2000, Perception & psychophysics.

[33]  Kenneth O. Johnson,et al.  Neural Coding Mechanisms Underlying Perceived Roughness of Finely Textured Surfaces , 2001, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[34]  M. Hollins,et al.  Vibrotactile adaptation impairs discrimination of fine, but not coarse, textures. , 2001, Somatosensory & motor research.

[35]  Kenneth O. Johnson,et al.  Differences in spatial acuity between digits , 2001, Neurology.

[36]  K. Sathian,et al.  Temporal Cues Contribute to Tactile Perception of Roughness , 2001, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[37]  Kenneth O. Johnson,et al.  The roles and functions of cutaneous mechanoreceptors , 2001, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[38]  F A Wichmann,et al.  Ning for Helpful Comments and Suggestions. This Paper Benefited Con- Siderably from Conscientious Peer Review, and We Thank Our Reviewers the Psychometric Function: I. Fitting, Sampling, and Goodness of Fit , 2001 .

[39]  C. E. Chapman,et al.  Role of friction and tangential force variation in the subjective scaling of tactile roughness , 2002, Experimental Brain Research.

[40]  M. Paré,et al.  Distribution and terminal arborizations of cutaneous mechanoreceptors in the glabrous finger pads of the monkey , 2002, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[41]  El-Mehdi Meftah,et al.  Central neural mechanisms contributing to the perception of tactile roughness , 2002, Behavioural Brain Research.

[42]  D. Valentin,et al.  Perceptual dimensions of tactile textures. , 2003, Acta psychologica.

[43]  M. Hollins,et al.  The vibrations of texture , 2003, Somatosensory & motor research.

[44]  Maria Nolano,et al.  Quantification of myelinated endings and mechanoreceptors in human digital skin , 2003, Annals of neurology.

[45]  A. Goodwin,et al.  Sensory signals in neural populations underlying tactile perception and manipulation. , 2004, Annual review of neuroscience.

[46]  R. S. Johansson,et al.  Roles of glabrous skin receptors and sensorimotor memory in automatic control of precision grip when lifting rougher or more slippery objects , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[47]  J. Craig,et al.  SA1 and RA afferent responses to static and vibrating gratings. , 2006, Journal of neurophysiology.

[48]  Kenneth O. Johnson,et al.  A continuum mechanical model of mechanoreceptive afferent responses to indented spatial patterns. , 2006, Journal of neurophysiology.

[49]  R. Johansson,et al.  Representation of braille characters in human nerve fibres , 2006, Experimental Brain Research.

[50]  Mark Hollins,et al.  The coding of roughness. , 2007, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[51]  J. F. Dammann,et al.  The Neural Coding of Stimulus Intensity: Linking the Population Response of Mechanoreceptive Afferents with Psychophysical Behavior , 2007, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[52]  J. Craig,et al.  Texture perception through direct and indirect touch: An analysis of perceptual space for tactile textures in two modes of exploration , 2007, Somatosensory & motor research.

[53]  A. Kappers,et al.  Haptic and visual perception of roughness. , 2007, Acta psychologica.

[54]  C. E. Chapman,et al.  Tactile perception of roughness: raised-dot spacing, density and disposition , 2009, Experimental Brain Research.

[55]  D. Goldreich,et al.  Diminutive Digits Discern Delicate Details: Fingertip Size and the Sex Difference in Tactile Spatial Acuity , 2009, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[56]  G. Debrégeas,et al.  Effect of fingerprints orientation on skin vibrations during tactile exploration of textured surfaces , 2009, Communicative & integrative biology.

[57]  G. Debrégeas,et al.  The Role of Fingerprints in the Coding of Tactile Information Probed with a Biomimetic Sensor , 2009, Science.

[58]  Monica Gori,et al.  Probing with and into fingerprints. , 2010, Journal of neurophysiology.

[59]  W. B. Tiest.  Tactual perception of material properties , 2010, Vision Research.

[60]  J. F. Dammann,et al.  The Effect of Surface Wave Propagation on Neural Responses to Vibration in Primate Glabrous Skin , 2012, PloS one.

[61]  Hannes P. Saal,et al.  Millisecond Precision Spike Timing Shapes Tactile Perception , 2012, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[62]  Rainer Goebel,et al.  Roughness perception of unfamiliar dot pattern textures. , 2013, Acta psychologica.

[63]  V. Hayward,et al.  Finger pad friction and its role in grip and touch , 2013, Journal of The Royal Society Interface.

[64]  Hannes P. Saal,et al.  Spatial and temporal codes mediate the tactile perception of natural textures , 2014, 2014 IEEE Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS).

[65]  Hannes P. Saal,et al.  Multiplexing Stimulus Information through Rate and Temporal Codes in Primate Somatosensory Cortex , 2013, PLoS biology.

[66]  Hannes P. Saal,et al.  Natural scenes in tactile texture. , 2014, Journal of neurophysiology.

[67]  Hannes P. Saal,et al.  Touch is a team effort: interplay of submodalities in cutaneous sensibility , 2014, Trends in Neurosciences.

[68]  Hannes P. Saal,et al.  Kinematics of unconstrained tactile texture exploration. , 2015, Journal of neurophysiology.

[69]  Xiaoqin Wang,et al.  Importance of spike timing in touch: an analogy with hearing? , 2016, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[70]  Preeti Raghavan,et al.  Effect of blocking tactile information from the fingertips on adaptation and execution of grip forces to friction at the grasping surface. , 2016, Journal of neurophysiology.

[71]  Néstor Parga,et al.  Emergence of an abstract categorical code enabling the discrimination of temporally structured tactile stimuli , 2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[72]  Benoit P. Delhaye,et al.  Simulating tactile signals from the whole hand with millisecond precision , 2017, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.