Communication via warm haptic interfaces does not increase social warmth

Affective haptic interfaces are designed to influence one’s emotional and physiological state via the sense of touch, and may be applied as communicationmedia to increase the sense of closeness. Recent research suggests that stimulation with physical warmth can enhance this interpersonal closeness: a physical-social warmth link. It is often suggested that this link may be particularly suitable for application in affective haptic interfaces, but the scientific evidence is inconclusive. In this work we investigated whether adding physical warmth to a communication medium—an interactive teddy bear —could increase social connectedness between remotely located interactants and could provide physiological comfort during stressful circumstances. Moreover, we investigated whether the warmth could best be presented to the users as a mere physical attribute of the medium or as mediated body heat; thereby manipulating the attribution of the warmth to either a non-social or social source. The results of two studies in which participants ostensibly received a message from an unknown other (Study 1, N = 65) or comforting messages from their own partner (Study 2, N = 62), and meta-analyses did not provide support for the hypotheses that warmth, purely physical or attributed to one’s partner, can positively influence one’s social and physiological state. Although future research should corroborate our findings, they indicate that the physical-social warmth link may not be as applicable in affective mediated communication as suggested

Exploring the design space of therapeutic robot companions for children

Robots that lend social and emotional support to their users have the potential to extend the quality of care that humans can provide. However, developing robotic aids to address symptoms of loneliness, anxiety and social isolation can be especially challenging due to factors that are complex and multi-faceted. Using a user-centered approach, a prototype therapeutic robot, TACO, was developed. The design of this robot was closely informed by a comprehensive need finding process which included a detailed literature review, ethical analysis, interviews with pediatric domain experts, and a site visit to a pediatric hospital. The prototype robot was evaluated over the course of several structured play sessions, using short interviews with children as well as a modified version of the SOFIT testing procedure. Results from early-stage testing suggest that TACO was well-liked, children found playing with it engaging and frequently exhibited affective behaviors like cuddling and stroking. These findings motivate follow-on work to further advance its design and to test its effectiveness as a therapeutic tool

Interdisciplinary Insights for Digital Touch Communication

Communication is increasingly moving beyond ‘ways of seeing’ to ‘ways of feeling’. This Open Access book provides social design insights and implications for HCI research and design exploring digitally mediated touch communication. It offers a socially orientated map to help navigate the complex social landscape of digitally mediated touch for communication: from everyday touch-screens, tangibles, wearables, haptics for virtual reality, to the tactile internet of skin. Drawing on literature reviews, new case-study vignettes, and exemplars of digital touch, the book examines the major social debates provoked by digital touch, and investigates social themes central to the communicative potential and societal consequences of digital touch: · Communication environments, capacities and practices · Norms associations and expectations · Presence, absence and connection · Social imaginaries of digital touch · Digital touch ethics and values The book concludes with a discussion of the significance of social understanding and methods in the context of Interdisciplinary collaborations to explore touch, towards the design of digital touch communication, ‘ways of feeling’, that are useable, appropriate, ethical and socially aware

Interdisciplinary Insights for Digital Touch Communication

Communication is increasingly moving beyond ‘ways of seeing’ to ‘ways of feeling’. This Open Access book provides social design insights and implications for HCI research and design exploring digitally mediated touch communication. It offers a socially orientated map to help navigate the complex social landscape of digitally mediated touch for communication: from everyday touch-screens, tangibles, wearables, haptics for virtual reality, to the tactile internet of skin. Drawing on literature reviews, new case-study vignettes, and exemplars of digital touch, the book examines the major social debates provoked by digital touch, and investigates social themes central to the communicative potential and societal consequences of digital touch: · Communication environments, capacities and practices · Norms associations and expectations · Presence, absence and connection · Social imaginaries of digital touch · Digital touch ethics and values The book concludes with a discussion of the significance of social understanding and methods in the context of Interdisciplinary collaborations to explore touch, towards the design of digital touch communication, ‘ways of feeling’, that are useable, appropriate, ethical and socially aware

Utilizing the Proteus Effect to Improve Performance Using Avatars in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality allows users to experience a sense of ownership of a virtual body-a phenomenon commonly known as the body ownership illusion. Researchers and designers aim at inducing a body ownership illusion and creating embodied experiences using avatars-virtual characters that represent the user in the digital world. In accordance with the real world where humans own a body and interact via the body with the environment, avatars thereby enable users to interact with virtual worlds in a natural and intuitive fashion. Interestingly, previous work revealed that the appearance of an avatar can change the behavior, attitude, and perception of the embodying user. For example, research found that users who embodied attractive or tall avatars behaved more confidently in a virtual environment than those who embodied less attractive or smaller avatars. Alluding to the versatility of the Greek God Proteus who was said to be able to change his shape at will, this phenomenon was termed the Proteus effect. For designers and researchers of virtual reality applications, the Proteus effect is therefore an interesting and promising phenomenon to positively affect users during interaction in virtual environments. They can benefit from the limitless design space provided by virtual reality and create avatars with certain features that improve the users' interaction and performance in virtual environments. To utilize this phenomenon, it is crucial to understand how to design such avatars and their characteristics to create more effective virtual reality applications and enhanced experiences. Hence, this work explores the Proteus effect and the underlying mechanisms with the aim to learn about avatar embodiment and the design of effective avatars. This dissertation presents the results of five user studies focusing on the body ownership of avatars, and how certain characteristics can be harnessed to make users perform better in virtual environments than they would in casual embodiments. Hence, we explore methods for inducing a sensation of body ownership of avatars and learn about perceptual and physiological consequences for the real body. Furthermore, we investigate whether and how an avatar's realism and altered body structures affect the experience. This knowledge is then used to induce body ownership of avatars with features connected with high performance in physical and cognitive tasks. Hence, we aim at enhancing the users' performance in physically and cognitively demanding tasks in virtual reality. We found that muscular and athletic avatars can increase physical performance during exertion in virtual reality. We also found that an Einstein avatar can increase the cognitive performance of another user sharing the same virtual environment. This thesis concludes with design guidelines and implications for the utilization of the Proteus effect in the context of human-computer interaction and virtual reality

A warm touch of affect?

One of the research areas within affective Computer Mediated Communication currently under investigation is that of mediated social touch. A social touch is a complex composition of different physical parameters that can be simulated by haptic technologies. In this article we argue why we think it makes sense to incorporate warmth - and in particular simulations of one's body heat - in mediated communication devices; that is, physical warmth affects perceptions of social warmth, and our skin temperature can be considered a display of our socio-emotional state. Moreover, we outline specific research domains for the current PhD project

A warm Touch of Affect?

One of the research areas within affective Computer Mediated Communication currently under investigation is that of mediated social touch. A social touch is a complex composition of different physical parameters that can be simulated by haptic technologies. In this article we argue why we think it makes sense to incorporate warmth - and in particular simulations of one's body heat - in mediated communication devices; that is, physical warmth affects perceptions of social warmth, and our skin temperature can be considered a display of our socio-emotional state. Moreover, we outline specific research domains for the current PhD project