The Lateral Line: Augmenting Spatiotemporal Perception with a Tactile Interface

In this paper we describe a concept for artificially supplementing peoples' spatiotemporal perception. Our target is to improve performance in tasks that rely on a fast and accurate understanding of movement dynamics in the environment. To provide an exemplary research and application scenario, we implemented a prototype of the concept in a driving simulation environment and used an interface capable of providing vibrotactile stimuli around the waist to communicate spatiotemporal information. The tactile stimuli dynamically encode directions and temporal proximities towards approaching objects. Temporal proximity is defined as inversely proportional to the time-to-contact and can be interpreted as a measure of imminent collision risk and temporal urgency. Results of a user study demonstrate performance benefits in terms of enhanced driving safety. This indicates a potential for improving peoples' capabilities in assessing relevant properties of dynamic environments in order to purposefully adapt their actions.