21,377 research outputs found
Reading the mind in the touch: Neurophysiological specificity in the communication of emotions by touch
Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.Touch is central to interpersonal interactions. Touch conveys specific emotions about the touch provider, but it is not clear whether this is a purely socially learned function or whether it has neurophysiological specificity. In two experiments with healthy participants (N = 76 and 61) and one neuropsychological single case study, we investigated whether a type of touch characterised by peripheral and central neurophysiological specificity, namely the C tactile (CT) system, can communicate specific emotions and mental states. We examined the specificity of emotions elicited by touch delivered at CT-optimal (3 cm/s) and CT-suboptimal (18 cm/s) velocities (Experiment 1) at different body sites which contain (forearm) vs. do not contain (palm of the hand) CT fibres (Experiment 2). Blindfolded participants were touched without any contextual cues, and were asked to identify the touch provider's emotion and intention. Overall, CT-optimal touch (slow, gentle touch on the forearm) was significantly more likely than other types of touch to convey arousal, lust or desire. Affiliative emotions such as love and related intentions such as social support were instead reliably elicited by gentle touch, irrespective of CT-optimality, suggesting that other top-down factors contribute to these aspects of tactile social communication. To explore the neural basis of this communication, we also tested this paradigm in a stroke patient with right perisylvian damage, including the posterior insular cortex, which is considered as the primary cortical target of CT afferents, but excluding temporal cortex involvement that has been linked to more affiliative aspects of CT-optimal touch. His performance suggested an impairment in âreadingâ emotions based on CT-optimal touch. Taken together, our results suggest that the CT system can add specificity to emotional and social communication, particularly with regards to feelings of desire and arousal. On the basis of these findings, we speculate that its primary functional role may be to enhance the âsensual salienceâ of tactile interactions.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
JENTIL: responsive clothing that promotes an âholistic approach to fashion as a new vehicle to treat psychological conditionsâ
This paper explores an ongoing interdisciplinary research project at the cutting edge of sensory, aroma and medical work, which seeks to change the experience of fragrance to a more intimate communication of identity, by employing emerging technologies with the ancient art of perfumery. The project illustrates .holistic' clothing called the JENTILÂź Collection, following on from the Authorâs SmartSecondSkin' PhD research, which describes a new movement in functional, emotional clothing that incorporates scent.
The project investigates the emergent interface between the arts and biomedical sciences, around new emerging technologies and science platforms, and their applications in the domain of health and well-being. The JENTILÂź Collection focuses on the development of .gentle., responsive clothing that changes with emotion, since the garments are designed for psychological end benefit to reduce stress. This is achieved by studying the mind and advancing knowledge and understanding of how known well-being fragrances embedded in holistic Fashion, could impact on mental health.
This paper aims to combine applied theories about human well-being, with multisensory design, in order to create experimental strategies to improve self and social confidence for individuals suffering from depressive illnesses. The range of methodologies employed extends beyond the realm of fashion and textile techniques, to areas such as neuroscience, psychiatry, human sensory systems and affective states, and the increase in popularity of complementary therapies. In this paper the known affective potential of the sense of smell is discussed, by introducing Aroma-Chology as a tool that is worn as an emotional support system to create a personal scent bubble. around the body, with the capacity to regulate mood, physiological and psychological state and improve self-confidence in social situations. The clothing formulates a healing platform around the wearer, by creating novel olfactory experiences in textiles that are not as passive as current microencapsulated capsule systems generally are
The Oneiric Reality of Electronic Scents
This paper investigates the âoneiricâ dimension of scent, by suggesting a new design process that can be worn as a fashion accessory or integrated in textile technologies, to subtly alter reality and go beyond our senses. It fuses wearable âelectronic scentâ delivery systems with pioneering biotechnologies as a ground-breaking âscience fashionâ enabler. The purpose is to enhance wellbeing by reaching a dayâdream state of being through the sense of smell.
The sense of smell (or olfaction) is a chemical sense and part of the limbic system which regulates emotion and memory within the brain. The power of scent makes content extremely compelling by offering a heightened sense of reality which is intensified by emotions such as joy, anger and fear. Scent helps us appreciate all the senses as we embark on a sensory journey unlike any other; it enhances mood, keeps us in the moment, diverts us from distractions, reduces boredom and encourages creativity.
This paper highlights the importance of smell, the forgotten sense, and also identifies how we as humans have grown to underuse our senses. It endeavours to show how the reinvention of our sensory faculties is possible through advances in biotechnology. It introduces the new âdata sensesâ as a wearable sensory platform that triggers and fine tunes the senses with fragrances. It puts forward a new design process that is currently being developed in clothing elements, jewellery and textile technologies, offering a new method to deliver scent electronically and intelligently in fashion and everyday consumer products. It creates a personal âscent waveâ, around the wearer, to allow the mind to wander, to give a deeper sense of life or âlived realityâ (verses fantasy), a new found satisfaction and confidence, and to reach new heights of creativity.
By combining biology with wearable technologies, we propose a biotechnological solution that can be translated into sensory fashion elements. This is a new trend in 21st century âdata sensingâ, based on holographic biosensors that sense the human condition, aromachology (the science of the effect of fragrance and behaviour), colour-therapy, and smart polymer science. The use of biosensors in the world of fashion and textiles, enables us to act on visual cues or detect scent signals and rising stress levels, allowing immediate information to hand.
An âoneiricâ mood is triggered by a spectrum of scents which is encased in a micro-computerised âscentâcellâ and integrated into clothing elements or jewellery. When we inhale an unexpected scent, it takes us by surprise; the power of fragrance fills us with pleasurable ripples of multiâsensations and dreamâlike qualities. The aromas create a near tranceâlike experience that induces a daydream state of (immediate) satisfaction, or a ârevived realityâ in our personal scent bubble of reality.
The products and jewellery items were copyrighted and designed by Slim Barrett and the technology input was from EG Technology and Epigem
Audiovisual integration of emotional signals from others' social interactions
Audiovisual perception of emotions has been typically examined using displays of a solitary character (e.g., the face-voice and/or body-sound of one actor). However, in real life humans often face more complex multisensory social situations, involving more than one person. Here we ask if the audiovisual facilitation in emotion recognition previously found in simpler social situations extends to more complex and ecological situations. Stimuli consisting of the biological motion and voice of two interacting agents were used in two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with visual, auditory, auditory filtered/noisy, and audiovisual congruent and incongruent clips. We asked participants to judge whether the two agents were interacting happily or angrily. In Experiment 2, another group of participants repeated the same task, as in Experiment 1, while trying to ignore either the visual or the auditory information. The findings from both experiments indicate that when the reliability of the auditory cue was decreased participants weighted more the visual cue in their emotional judgments. This in turn translated in increased emotion recognition accuracy for the multisensory condition. Our findings thus point to a common mechanism of multisensory integration of emotional signals irrespective of social stimulus complexity
Resonating Experiences of Self and Others enabled by a Tangible Somaesthetic Design
Digitalization is penetrating every aspect of everyday life including a
human's heart beating, which can easily be sensed by wearable sensors and
displayed for others to see, feel, and potentially "bodily resonate" with.
Previous work in studying human interactions and interaction designs with
physiological data, such as a heart's pulse rate, have argued that feeding it
back to the users may, for example support users' mindfulness and
self-awareness during various everyday activities and ultimately support their
wellbeing. Inspired by Somaesthetics as a discipline, which focuses on an
appreciation of the living body's role in all our experiences, we designed and
explored mobile tangible heart beat displays, which enable rich forms of bodily
experiencing oneself and others in social proximity. In this paper, we first
report on the design process of tangible heart displays and then present
results of a field study with 30 pairs of participants. Participants were asked
to use the tangible heart displays during watching movies together and report
their experience in three different heart display conditions (i.e., displaying
their own heart beat, their partner's heart beat, and watching a movie without
a heart display). We found, for example that participants reported significant
effects in experiencing sensory immersion when they felt their own heart beats
compared to the condition without any heart beat display, and that feeling
their partner's heart beats resulted in significant effects on social
experience. We refer to resonance theory to discuss the results, highlighting
the potential of how ubiquitous technology could utilize physiological data to
provide resonance in a modern society facing social acceleration.Comment: 18 page
Retracing trajectories: the embodied experience of cycling, urban sensescapes and the commute between âneighbourhoodâ and âcityâ in Utrecht, NL
This paper looks into the experience of âpassing through different territories of the cityâ (Sennett, 2006, p. 3). Despite their importance for making sense of the city as a whole, these experiences are often not acknowledged in urban planning. This paper compares the everyday, embodied experiences of commuter cyclists with the plannersâ perspective on Utrecht. âOn the groundâ data was collected via ride-alongs with 15 inhabitants of the Leidsche Rijn neighbourhood. Our analysis reveals cycling trajectories composed of diverse sensescapes. It paints a much more complex picture of intra-urban divisions and connections than the plannersâ perspective of the ânewâ Leidsche Rijn neighbourhood separated from the âoldâ city by major infrastructure lines
âYou feel like you kind of walk between the two worldsâ:A participatory study exploring how technology can support emotion regulation for Autistic people
An increasing amount of technological solutions aiming to support emotion regulation are being developed for Autistic people. However, there remains a lack of understanding of user needs, and design factors which has led to poor usability and varied success. Furthermore, studies assessing the feasibility of emotion regulation technology via physiological signals for autistic people are increasingly showing promise, yet to date there has been no exploration of views from the autistic community on the benefits/challenges such technology may present in practice. Focus groups with autistic people and their allies were conducted to gain insight into experiences and expectations of technological supports aimed at supporting emotion regulation. Reflexive thematic analysis generated three themes: (1) communication challenges (2) views on emotion regulation technology (3) âhowâ technology is implemented. Results provide meaningful insight into the socio-emotional communication challenges faced by autistic people, and explore the expectations of technology aimed at supporting emotion regulation
The reported expression of pain and distress by people with an intellectual disability
Aims and objectives.â To explore the assumption that people with ID are unable to communicate effectively about pain by examining the extent to which they were reported as using language and behaviour that was readily understandable to others to communicate pain as distinct from distress.
Background.â The healthcare needs of people with an intellectual disability (ID) are frequently overlooked or dealt with inappropriately. One proposed reason is the difficulty that such individuals have in communicating about their pain.
Design.â A postal questionnaire-based mixed method design was used.
Methods.â Data from carer reports (n = 29) of the ways people with ID supported expressed pain and distress were categorised and analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis.
Results.â Nineteen of the 22 people who used verbal communication were reported to express pain using words that would be understandable to someone else, often accompanied by behavioural indications of the location of the pain. The language and behaviour that were reported as being used to express distress was more idiosyncratic, and there was little overlap between this and the ways in which pain was expressed.
Conclusion.â The results provide some challenges to the view that people with ID are necessarily unable to communicate effectively about their pain and support the view that pain and distress can be conceptually distinguished and differentially communicated by some people with ID.
Relevance to clinical practice.â The results suggest that many people with ID can be active participants in describing their experience of pain and that nurses should attempt to obtain this information directly from the individual during the diagnostic process. Nurses should be mindful of the distinction between pain and distress and should not respond to signs of distress in this group as being indicative of pain, without carrying out further assessment
- âŠ