Visual and tactile processing: shared mechanisms for complex motion pattern analysis

Visual and tactile motion processing share common computational principles, yet how motion signals are combined across these modalities remains unclear. Here, we investigated visuo–tactile motion perception using RoMAT, a robotic platform that delivered controlled visual and tactile gratings, either alone or simultaneously. Participants reported perceived motion direction under unisensory and multisensory congruent and incongruent conditions. In unisensory conditions, both visual and tactile judgments were systematically biased, with visual responses showing larger distortions and higher precision. In multisensory conditions, participants relied on a single, consistent perceptual strategy across trials rather than alternating between sensory cues. While substantial variability was observed across participants, responses in the present task tended to be anchored to tactile motion and were reliably shifted toward the visual input. These findings show that visual information modulates tactile motion perception without overriding it and highlight stable individual strategies and cross-modal influences in visuo–tactile motion perception.