Transfer of calibration between length and sweet-spot perception by dynamic touch

Calibration is the process that scales perceptual judgment or action to information. An earlier study (Withagen & Michaels, 2004) suggested that perceptual calibration is specific to information-to-perception relations. In the present experiments, the authors tested this hypothesis by asking whether there is transfer of calibration between the perception of the length of an unseen, wielded rod, and perception of its sweet-spot location. In two experiments, visual feedback was used to recalibrate an information-perception relation. The recalibration of length perception by dynamic touch was found to transfer to sweet, spot perception by dynamic touch. Conversely, transfer from sweet-spot perception to length perception was found in only half of the participants. The authors concluded that calibration is not confined to information-perception relations. It is suggested that the observed transfer of calibration can be accounted for in terms of feedback information.