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. 2020 Apr 24;20(8):2421.
doi: 10.3390/s20082421.

Perception of a Haptic Stimulus Presented Under the Foot Under Workload

Landry Delphin Chapwouo Tchakoute  1 , Bob-Antoine J Menelas  1
Affiliations

Perception of a Haptic Stimulus Presented Under the Foot Under Workload

Landry Delphin Chapwouo Tchakoute et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

It is clear that the haptic channel can be exploited as a communication medium for several tasks of everyday life. Here we investigated whether such communication can be altered in a cognitive load situation. We studied the perception of a vibrotactile stimulus presented under the foot when the attention is loaded by another task (cognitive load). The results demonstrated a significant influence of workload on the perception of the vibrotactile stimulus. Overall, we observed that the average score in the single-task (at rest) condition was greater than the overall mean score in the dual-task conditions (counting forwards, counting backwards, and walking). The walking task was the task that most influenced the perception of the vibrotactile stimulus presented under the foot.

Keywords: haptic communication; haptic interfaces; haptic stimulus; haptics under workload; haptics via foot; vibrotactile stimulus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The wearable device worn on the left foot with a strap to hold the haptuator. (I) The device component used for the experiment. The haptuator is located under the arch of the second toe fixed by the black strap. (II) The electronic diagram of the device showing how the components are joined together in order to deliver the vibrotactile stimulus.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Score mean perception of each condition (with mean value inside the bars).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overall score mean perception of single task compared to dual task (with mean value inside the bars).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Box plot of score perception between conditions: at rest; counting forwards (CF); counting backwards (CB); and walking.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Normality test results: residual plots of conditions at rest, counting forward (CF), counting backward (CB), and walking.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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