Dr. James C. Craig

Chancellor's Professor of Psychology

Contact Information

Office: PY 356
Office Phone: 812-855-3926
Lab: PY 292
Lab Phone:812-855-4366
E-mail:

Educational Background

1964 B.A DePauw University
Major: Psychology
1966 M.A Princeton University
Major: Psychology
1967 Ph.D. Princeton University
Major: Psychology

Areas of Study

Biology, Behavior, and Neuroscience
Neural Science
Cognitive Science

Research Topics

Somatosensory processes
Perception of complex spatial and temporal tactile patterns
Biomechanical and neuophysiological basis of the processing of tactile spatial information
Multimodal interactions
The effect of aging on the sensory processing

Representative Publications

Humes, L. E., Busey, T. A., Craig, J. C. & Kewley-Port, D. (2009) The effects of age on sensory thresholds and temporal gap detection in hearing, vision, and touch. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71, 860-871.

Bensmaia, S.J., Hsiao, S.S., Denchev, P. V., Killebrew, J.H., & Craig, J.C. (2008) The tactile pereception of stimulus orientation. Somatosensory and Motor Research, 25, 49-59.

Bensmaia, S. J., Denchev, P. V., Dammann, J. F., Craig, J. C., & Hsiao, S. S. (2008) The representation of stimulus orientation in the early stages of somatosensory processing. Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 776-86.

Craig, J. C., Rhodes, R. P., Gibson, G. O., Bensmaia, S. J. (2008) Discriminating smooth from grooved surfaces: the effects of random variations in skin penetration. Experimental Brain Research. 188, 331-40.

Craig, J. C. (2008) Somatosensory Perception. New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. 91-97.

Killebrew, J., Bensmaia, S., Dammann, J., Denchev, P., Hsiao, S., Craig, J., & Johnson, K. (2007) A dense array stimulator to generate arbitrary spatio-temporal tactile stimuli. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 161, 62-74.

Yoshioka, T., Bensmaia, S., Craig, J. & Hsiao, S. (2007) Texture perception through direct and indirect touch: An analysis of texture perceptual space in two modes of exploration. Somatosensory and Motor Research, 24, 53-70.

Gibson, G. O., & Craig, J. C. (2006) The effect of force and conformance on tactile intensive and spatial sensitivity. Experimental Brain Research, 170, 172-182.

Craig, J. C. (2006) Visual motion interferes with tactile motion perception. Perception, 35, 351-367.

Craig, J. C., & Belser, A. N. (2006) The crossed-hands deficit in tactile temporal order judgments: The effect of training. Perception, 35, 1561-72.

Bensmaia, S., Craig, J. C., Yoshioka, T., & Johnson, K. O. (2006) SA1 and RA afferent responses to static and vibrating gratings. Journal of Neurophysiology, 95, 1771-82.

Bensmaia, S., Craig, J. C., & Johnson, K. O. (2006) Temporal factors in tactile spatial acuity: Evidence for RA interference in fine spatial processing. Journal of Neurophysiology. 95, 1783-91.

Bensmaia, S., Killebrew, J., Craig, J. C. (2006) The influence of visual motion on tactile motion perception. Journal of Neurophysiology, 96, 1625-1637.

Craig, J. C. (2005). The trajectory effect in intermodal temporal order judgments. Perception. 34, 257-270.

Gibson, G. O., & Craig, J. C. (2005). Tactile spatial sensitivity and anisotropy. Perception & Psychophysics. 67, 1061-1079.

Craig, J. C., & Busey, J. C. (2003). The effect of motion on tactile and visual temporal order judgments. Perception & Psychophysics, 65, 81-94.

Craig, J. C. (2003). The effect of hand position and pattern motion on temporal order judgments. Perception & Psychophysics, 65, 779-788.

Wilson, A.D., Bingham, G.P., & Craig, J. C. (2003). Proprioceptive perception of phase variability. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29, 1179-1190.

Craig, J. C. (2002). Identification of scanned and static tactile patterns. Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 107-120.

Craig, J. C., & Lyle, K. B. (2002). A correction and a comment on Craig and Lyle (2001), Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 504-506.

Lerner, E. A., & Craig, J. C. (2002). The prevalence of tactile motion aftereffects. Somatosensory and Motor Research, 19, 24-29.