Short-term haptic memory for three-dimensional objects.

In 8 experiments college students felt 32 geometric objects and were tested in a signal-detection framework to same or distractor items. Retention intervals and intervening experiences were also manipulated following initial touching. In all instances performance was high, and there was no evidence of a decline in haptic sensitivity over the retention intervals employed. These surprising results were interpreted as consistent with the 1985 contention of Klatzky, Lederman, and Metzger that the haptic modality constitutes an expert system.