Haptic perception on touchscreens varies across fingers, yet little is known about how finger identity and multi-finger use shape tactile discrimination and user experience. We conducted two experiments with four haptic feedback. In Experiment 1, right-handed participants explored each of the ten fingers individually under stationary and moving conditions. Experiment 2 examined two-finger sequences with same participants. Results showed that moving exploration enhanced accuracy, confidence, and enjoyment, while stationary touch increased cognitive and physical load, especially for weaker fingers such as the left ring and pinky. The right thumb and index consistently performed best. In dual-finger trials, moving exploration improved second-finger performance, and adjacent same-hand pairs (e.g., Left Index–Left Thumb, Right Thumb–Right Index) yielded higher synergy. These findings highlight the role of finger anatomy, motion, and coordination, and provide concrete guidelines on which fingers (or combinations) and exploration modes to assign for haptic surfaces that optimize accuracy, comfort, and engagement.
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems