Haptic perception - human beings' active sense of touch - is the most complex of human sensory systems, and has taken on growing importance within varied scientific disciplines as well as in practical industrial fields. This book's international team of authors presents the most comprehensive collection of writings on the subject published to date and cover the results of research as well as practical applications. After an introduction to the theory and history of the field, subsequent chapters are dedicated to the neuro-physiological basics as well as the psychological and clinical neuro-psychological aspects of haptic perception. Moreover, results of studies into human haptic perception in the fields of virtual haptic and robotics are presented. In the final chapter, contributions from the applied and industrial sectors document the practical uses of knowledge about the human sense of touch.

Inhalt

Haptic perception: an historical approach.-German pioneers of research into human haptic perception.-British pioneers of research into human haptic perception.-Early psychological studies on touch in France.-Haptics in the United States before 1940.-Anatomy of receptors.-Physiological mechanisms of the receptor system.-Neural basis of haptic perception.-The neural bases of haptic working memory.-Neuronal plasticity of the haptic system.-Haptic perception in the human fetus.-Haptic behavior in social interaction.-Learning effects in haptic perception.-Implicit and explicit memory effects in haptic perception.-Attention in sense of touch.-Haptic object identification.-Haptic perceptual illusions.-Haptic perception in interaction with other senses.-Haptically evoked activation of visual cortex.-Haptic perception and synaesthesia.-Haptic perception in sexuality.-Haptic perception in space travel.-Phantom sensations.-The neuroscience and phenomenology of sensory loss.-Focal dystonia: diagnostic, therapy, rehabilitation.-Self-injurious behavior.-Haptic perception in infancy and first acquisition of object words: developmental and clinical approach.-Haptic perception in anorexia nervosa.-History of haptic interfaces.-Principles of haptic perception in virtual environments.-Haptic shape cues, invariants, priors, and interface design.-Design guidelines for generating force feedback on fingertips using haptic interfaces.-Haptic rendering and control.-Haptic perception in human robotic systems.-Haptic design of vehicle interiors at AUDI.-Visual-haptic interfaces in car design at BMW.-Haptics research at Daimler AG.-Haptic design of handles.-Vestibular sensory substitution using tongue electrotactile display.-The blind get a taste of vision.-Tactile ground surface indicators in public places.-Haptic walker - haptic foot device for gait rehabilitation.-Haptic sensing of virtual textiles.-Haptic discrimination of paper.-Haptic banknote design.-Get touched - bodycare as adesign of media for self-perception.-