Force Amplitude Perception in Six Orthogonal Directions

This paper presents three psychophysical experiments that attempt to determine whether human perception of force amplitude is isotropic in a virtual environment (VE). Participants employed passive or active forces in the same or different directions. Our results indicate that, regardless of whether stimulus presentation and response are active or passive, human perception of force amplitude is in fact anisotropic. Implications of these results for design of VR systems are briefly discussed.