ABSTRACT
For the first time, David Katz's classic monograph The World of Touch has been translated into English. Regarded as one of the premiere experimental psychologists, Katz vigorously opposed the atomism and "tachistoscopic" mentality typical of the sensory psychology of his day.
In The World of Touch, Katz sought to dispel the invidious distinction between the supposedly higher (e.g., vision, audition) and lower (e.g., touch) senses. To help touch regain its original prominence in the field, Katz demonstrated, through very simple, yet creative experiments, how fascinating the abilities of touch are, and how valuable the tactual stimulus can be in specifying objects, surfaces, substances, and events. In addition, Katz emphasized the importance of higher-order invariants in the perception of objects, and the holistic quality of perception in time as well as space.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |66 pages
Modes of Appearance of the World of Touch
chapter |11 pages
Critical and Methodological Preamble
chapter |25 pages
Types of Tactual Phenomena
chapter |14 pages
Movement as a Formative Factor in Tactual Phenomena
part |94 pages
Quantitative Studies of the Tactual Performance
chapter |49 pages
Studies on Surface Touch
chapter |6 pages
Studies on Touch Transparency
chapter |9 pages
Analysis of Touch Movements
chapter |17 pages
The Role of the Temperature Sensation in Touch
part |52 pages
Further Analysis of the Tactual Performance
chapter |36 pages
The Role of the Vibration Sense in Touch
chapter |2 pages
Editor's Notes on Division IV: Applications (Sections 48 to 50)
part |13 pages
Division IV: Applications