What Is It Like to Be a Rat? Sensory Augmentation Study

The present study examined the human ability to learn a new sensory modality, specifically “whisking”. An experimental apparatus containing artificial whiskers, force sensors, position sensors and computer interface was developed. Twelve participants took part in an experiment containing three tasks: pole localization in the radial dimension, roughness estimation, and object recognition. All tasks were performed only through use of the artificial whiskers which were attached to participants’ fingers. With little or no practice humans were able to localize objects, recognize shapes and assess roughness with accuracy equal to or greater than that of rats in equivalent tasks, though with longer times. While the number of available whiskers significantly affected shape recognition, it did not affect radial localization accuracy. Introspection by participants revealed a wide range of motor-sensory strategies developed in order to