Free-range haptic search.

Abstract

We search for objects every day using touch alone, as in reaching for keys in our pockets or reaching for pens in our desk drawers. In such contexts, we engage in a "free-range" haptic search. The objects we feel can be moved freely and our hands can move freely. Free-range haptic search has been little studied, so we developed a laboratory task to do so. We invited college student to feel for a plastic pipe of fixed length among a variable number of uniformly shorter or longer plastic pipes, giving half of our participants informative precues (pictures showing the number of distractors and size difference between the target and distractors) and the other half uninformative precues (a simple "go-ahead" message). The informative precues boosted efficiency only when the target was much larger than the distractors. The result suggests that participants could take advantage of the informative precues to opt for a quick sweep of the search area to pick out the object that would "stick out like a sore thumb." Otherwise, they would resort to that strategy with a lower probability. Because our task has high ecological validity, we can recommend that informative advance information may help haptically impaired individuals search more efficiently. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).