Haptic beats, an analogous presentation to auditory beats, can be generated when a vibrotactile actuator isdriven by a signal that contains two different activation frequencies. In contrast to a combined signalstimulating one location, this study explored to what extent haptic beats can be perceived as an emergentproperty when separate body locations are stimulated at two different frequencies. Consistent withprevious findings, haptic beats were reliably perceived with paired presentations on the same fingertip;previously-unexplored locations on the palm, wrist, and elbow also supported the perception of beats.However, haptic beats were not perceived when stimuli were presented to distant locations, such as ondifferent hands, suggesting that haptic beats most likely involve a localized mechanical integration ratherthan neural integration. These results have implications for the design of complex haptic displays forvarious domains, such as driving, navigation, medicine, and immersive virtual reality.
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