Investigating Apparent Tactile Motion and Cutaneous Rabbit Illusion to Support Cyclists’ Navigation

The objective of this work is to uncover the capabilities of tactile illusions applied on the head to assist cyclists in navigation tasks. Recent research using tactile illusions to support guidance has focused on augmenting the entire circumference of the head. A comparison of apparent tactile motion (ATM) and cutaneous rabbit illusion (CRI) in this context has not yet been performed. We developed a headband that renders such illusions exclusively on the forehead to indicate 360°-directional information. In a feasibility study with 17 participants, we evaluated the performance of eight directional cues rendered as ATM and CRI while riding a bike simulator. Our results show that participants recognize directional cues of both illusions equally (ATM: M=70.6%, SD=21.1; CRI: M=67.2%, SD=22.8), which gives more flexibility in the design of vibrotactile patterns. Even though the overall recognition rates might not meet the threshold needed for sufficient navigation in real scenarios yet, these findings suggest that tactile illusions can be beneficial in everyday activities such as navigation for cyclists.