Tactile-vision: Thermal and Texture Cues in the Discrimination of Black and White

Abstract

TEMPERATURE and texture have both been suggested as possible normal explanations of the ‘skin-vision’ phenomenon¹. Neither of them explains Russian claims of perception at a distance (claims not supported by Barrett and Rice-Evans² using a low level of illumination); however, they do provide potential cues in situations where touch is involved. Colourants may give surfaces with characteristic textures and the colour of a surface will affect the amount of heat it absorbs. Recently, Buckhout³ found that, even with illumination provided by a 40-W bulb (a good source of infrared radiation), out of 80 subjects not one could distinguish between 10 colours in 90 presentations. He controlled texture by covering the colours with a thin layer of plastic. In the experiment reported here I investigated what part both texture and temperature might play in a very simple situation: that of a black–white discrimination.