Tactile patterns were generated by means of a 6 X 24 array of vibrating pins. The ability of subjects to recognize these patterns presented to their fingertips was shown to be affected by a number of factors, including the display time of the pattern, the mode of generating the tactile patterns, the temporal relationship between the pattern to be identified and a masking stimulus, the type of masking stimulus, and temporal integration. Word recognition was also shown to be affected by some of these factors. Parallels are drawn between the factors that affect vibrotactile pattern recognition and visual pattern recognition.