Sensory Saltation

A perceptual phenomenon in which a series of rapid taps delivered at discrete locations on the skin are perceived as a continuous movement or hopping sensation across the surface between the tap points. In assistive technology, sensory saltation is exploited in haptic interfaces to convey directional information through patterns of tapping — for example, a sequence of taps across the shoulders can indicate the direction a blind pedestrian should walk. This technique allows tactile displays with relatively few contact points to communicate rich spatial information by leveraging the brain's tendency to interpolate between discrete stimuli.