台大心理系

In psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and philosophy, investigations into perception tend to be visiocentric. There have always been studies of touch or the tactile sense, but in terms of both quality and quantity they are incomparable with those of vision or audition. On this occasion I will selectively discuss empirical and philosophical investigations concerning spatial touch. Empirically, I will focus on some experimental paradigms on tactile pattern perceptions. Philosophically, I will focus on some discussions revolving around the concept of a “tactile field.” I shall argue that certain interpretations of those tactile pattern perception experiments support the Tactile Field Hypothesis, and this can be a prime example of how empirical and philosophical investigations can benefit from each other.