Effect of Tactile Stimulation on Visual Memory Performance

Abstract

The human eye continuously perceives information about surroundings to be processed and stored in memory so that it can be retrieved. Environmental factors may have positive and negative effects on memory performance and human cognitive processing. Many studies have addressed the effect of auditory circumstances on spatial tasks and visual memory performance. However, only a few studies highlighted the cross-modal interaction between vision for visual cue and touch for training of same visual pattern in tactile pattern. In addition, very little research has been conducted on the effect of tactile stimulation towards memorizing visual tasks. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of visuo-tactile stimulation on adult memory. Sixty-two subjects participated in this behavioral study having normal and corrected to normal vision. Participants are divided into two groups and each subject goes thorough Mini mental state examination and Edinburg handedness inventory. The visual assessment task consists of different shapes along with three-digit numbers. During the memorization period, visual assessment task was displayed on computer screen and tactile stimulation was delivered on index finger of the dominant hand of the participant. The participant was provided with an evaluation sheet containing shapes only. If the shape is paired with its corresponding number, then it was be considered correct. The p-value < 0.05 in visual assessment test showed a significant effect of tactile stimulation on visual memory performance. The findings of this study concluded that participants memorized the object number pair task better in the presence of tactile stimulation as compared to control/no stimulation. One of the conclusions of our work is that combing vision and touch sense may improve cognitive ability and may be provided to people during learning and remembering visual tasks. For future recommendations, heterogenous sample along with brain response can be studied.