Crossmodal Congruency Benefits for Tactile and Visual Signaling

An experiment is reported in which tactile messages were created based on five common military arm and hand signals. We compared response times and accuracy rates of novice individuals responding to visual and tactile representations of these messages. Such messages were displayed either alone or in congruent or incongruent combinations. Analyses were conducted on trials where tactile and visual signals messages were presented either individually or concurrently. Results indicated a beneficial effect for congruent message presentations with both modalities showing a superior, combined response time and improved accuracy when compared to individual presentations in either modality alone. These results confirm the promise for tactile messages to augment visual displays in challenging and stressful environments where visual messaging may not always be clear or even possible.