Serial dependence in haptic perception during active manual exploration.
- 1University of Yamanashi
Abstract
Serial dependence, whereby current perception is systematically biased toward the most recent sensory experience, has been demonstrated across multiple sensory modalities. However, whether serial dependence occurs during active haptic perception remains unknown. Moreover, because haptic perception of object geometry depends on hand movements for sensory acquisition (i.e., active touch), it remains unclear whether serial dependence, if any, originates from perceptual processing, movement, or both. Here, we investigated whether active haptic perception exhibits attractive serial dependence using a newly developed haptic device that let participants explore virtual slopes of different heights. Participants reported perceived slope heights, and we recorded their kinematics. Perceptual judgments were systematically attracted toward the most recently experienced slope, demonstrating serial dependence during active haptic perception. By contrast, none of the kinematic parameters exhibited corresponding serial dependence. These findings show that serial dependence extends to the somatosensory perceptual domain and suggest that the observed perceptual bias was not mediated by systematic changes in hand movements.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhang2026serial,
title = {{Serial dependence in haptic perception during active manual exploration.}},
author = {Y. Zhang and T. Nakamura and T. Hanakawa and T. Umeda},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.23.753977},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753977v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Serial dependence in haptic perception during active manual exploration.
AU - Y. Zhang
AU - T. Nakamura
AU - T. Hanakawa
AU - T. Umeda
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.23.753977
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753977v1
AB - Serial dependence, whereby current perception is systematically biased toward the most recent sensory experience, has been demonstrated across multiple sensory modalities. However, whether serial dependence occurs during active haptic perception remains unknown. Moreover, because haptic perception of object geometry depends on hand movements for sensory acquisition (i.e., active touch), it remains unclear whether serial dependence, if any, originates from perceptual processing, movement, or both. Here, we investigated whether active haptic perception exhibits attractive serial dependence using a newly developed haptic device that let participants explore virtual slopes of different heights. Participants reported perceived slope heights, and we recorded their kinematics. Perceptual judgments were systematically attracted toward the most recently experienced slope, demonstrating serial dependence during active haptic perception. By contrast, none of the kinematic parameters exhibited corresponding serial dependence. These findings show that serial dependence extends to the somatosensory perceptual domain and suggest that the observed perceptual bias was not mediated by systematic changes in hand movements.
ER -