ABSTRACT
In everyday language, individuals are said to pinch themselves to test whether they are awake or sleeping. This reflects the widespread belief that touch is the sense that is the best measure of reality. We know that we can deceive vision through mirrors or other sorts of artifice, and we are often aware of illusory mistakes in our sense of sight. We see things in our sleep that we know are not there, much as we can have daydreams while awake. Some philosophers, G. H. Mead for example, ascribe our understanding of external objects to sensations of touch because “We see surfaces, but feel insides” (see Mead, 1932; Yolton, 1962, p. 15). Sometimes we fail to notice things that we should be able to see, even when they are right in front of us (e.g., Simons & Chabris, 1999). We are frequently aware of the failures of vision. However, touch is susceptible to errors, and this will be considered in this chapter.
