Haptically Linked Dyads

Abstract

We report performance of haptically linked dyads on a targetacquisition task, comparing it with that of the same individuals when they performed the task individually. In the dyad condition, a subject’s limb motion responds to the output of two motorcontrol systems—the subject’s own and his or her partner’s— which might be expected to complicate motor planning and efficient task execution. However, task completion times indicated that dyads performed significantly faster than individuals, even though dyad members exerted large task-irrelevant forces in opposition to one another, and despite many participants’ perceptions that their partner was an impediment. A much earlier study of teams using a pursuit rotor (Wegner & Zeaman, 1956) found a similar performance increment. Since that study, there has been little research on physically coupled dyads (Sallnas & Zhai, 2003; Shergill, Bays, Frith, & Wolpert,