Does Mediated Social Touch Succesfully Approximate Natural Social Touch?

Mediated social touch (MST) devices are upcoming. To date, experiments aimed at demonstrating whether effects of naturalistic social touch can be replicated with MST provide mixed findings. A possible explanation could be a lack of realism of current haptic displays in combination with not sufficiently taking contextual factors of social touch into account. Using a qualitative approach, our study aims to gain more insight into the influence of contextual effects on the experience of an MST, by means of exploring female participants’ experiences of receiving an MST from a male stranger versus their romantic partner. Our findings show that simultaneously feeling and seeing the touch act performed on a corporeal object can be beneficial for the MST experience. However, our findings also demonstrate that it is not self-evident to regard MST as phenomenologically equal to natural social touch, as it often fails to meet the expectations people have formed based on naturalistic social touch.To date, experiments aimed at demonstrating whether effects of naturalistic social touch can be replicated with Mediated Social Touch (MST) provide mixed findings. A possible explanation could be a lack of realism of current haptic displays in combination with not sufficiently taking contextual factors of social touch into account. Using a qualitative approach, our study aims to gain more insight into the influence of contextual effects on experience of an MST, by means of exploring female participants’ experiences of receiving an MST from a male stranger versus their romantic partner. Our findings show simultaneously feeling and seeing the touch act performed on a corporeal object can be beneficial for MST experience. However, our findings also demonstrate that it is not self-evident to regard MST as phenomenologically equal to natural social touch, as it often fails to meet expectations people formed based on naturalistic social touch.Peer reviewe

Is seeing believing?: The effect of morphological congruent visual feedback on mediated touch experience

Mediated social touch (MST) provides physical contact over a distance for geographically separated individuals. Despite advances in actuator technologies, it remains difficult to recreate the feel and sensation of natural human touch. Combining touch with morphologically congruent visual feedback may overcome limitations related to the low fidelity of current-day tactile displays. Being able to both feel and see the touch act being initiated on an input device could enhance the perceived realism of the touches. In two studies, we test the effects of such visual feedback on self-reported naturalness of touch, social presence, and emotional experiences

Uncovering terra incognita in the AHD design space: A review of affective haptic devices

Affective haptic devices (AHDs) have been developed with the aim of communicating touch acts, symbolic messages, emotions, and/or providing a sense of social awareness. Within AHDs, three categories can be distinguished: mediated social touch (MST), symbolic communication systems, and awareness systems. For each of these categories, prototypes have been developed and discussed in the literature. Each such prototype, however, describes but a small part of the design space of AHDs. What is lacking is a description of the design space itself—of all choices that can be considered during the design process. Such a description will allow for a more systematic exploration of AHD designs and provides a means of combining insights gained from individual point solutions (i.e., existing prototypes). Therefore, in this article, we provide a systematic description of the design space of AHDs and its underlying dimensions based on general (e.g., revisability or synchronicity) and AHD-specific (e.g., actuation type) communication system characteristics. This resulted in 17 design dimensions, each consisting of two or more categories (the design characteristics). Based on a systematic literature search from devices up to 2019, 89 AHD prototypes were identified, and each was classified on the design dimensions. The empirical analysis of where these AHDs are located in the design space revealed, first, that potentially interesting characteristics from mediated communication, such as revisability and reviewability, are underexplored in AHDs. Second, MST devices were found to often lack those system characteristics, such as real-time modalities, that seem crucial for providing the affordances needed to simulate social touch. In particular, when comparing symbolic and awareness devices to MST devices, we found the latter to more frequently lack some of the key characteristics of face-to-face communication (i.e., bi-directional and symmetric communication). Limitations and implications are discussed

Does Mediated Social Touch Succesfully Approximate Natural Social Touch?

Mediated social touch (MST) devices are upcoming. To date, experimentsaimed at demonstrating whether effects of naturalistic social touch can be replicated with MST provide mixed findings. A possible explanation could be a lack of realism of current haptic displays in combination with not sufficiently taking contextual factors of social touch into account. Using a qualitative approach, our study aims to gain more insight into the influence of contextual effects on the experience of an MST, by means of exploring female participants’ experiences of receiving an MST from a male stranger versus their romantic partner. Our findings show that simultaneously feeling and seeing the touch act performed on a corporeal object can be beneficial for the MST experience. However, our findings also demonstrate that it is not self-evident to regard MST as phenomenologically equal to natural social touch, as it often fails to meet the expectations people have formed based on naturalistic social touch

Does Mediated Social Touch Succesfully Approximate Natural Social Touch?

Mediated social touch (MST) devices are upcoming. To date, experimentsaimed at demonstrating whether effects of naturalistic social touch can be replicated with MST provide mixed findings. A possible explanation could be a lack of realism of current haptic displays in combination with not sufficiently taking contextual factors of social touch into account. Using a qualitative approach, our study aims to gain more insight into the influence of contextual effects on the experience of an MST, by means of exploring female participants’ experiences of receiving an MST from a male stranger versus their romantic partner. Our findings show that simultaneously feeling and seeing the touch act performed on a corporeal object can be beneficial for the MST experience. However, our findings also demonstrate that it is not self-evident to regard MST as phenomenologically equal to natural social touch, as it often fails to meet the expectations people have formed based on naturalistic social touch

Does mediated social touch succesfully approximate natural social touch?

To date, experiments aimed at demonstrating whether effects of naturalistic social touch can be replicated with Mediated Social Touch (MST) provide mixed findings. A possible explanation could be a lack of realism of current haptic displays in combination with not sufficiently taking contextual factors of social touch into account. Using a qualitative approach, our study aims to gain more insight into the influence of contextual effects on experience of an MST, by means of exploring female participants’ experiences of receiving an MST from a male stranger versus their romantic partner. Our findings show simultaneously feeling and seeing the touch act performed on a corporeal object can be beneficial for MST experience. However, our findings also demonstrate that it is not self-evident to regard MST as phenomenologically equal to natural social touch, as it often fails to meet expectations people formed based on naturalistic social touch

Wear it or fear it: exploration of drivers & barriers in smartwatch acceptance by senior citizens

The number of people with an age above 65 is increasing, and many live longer. Most seniors prefer to stay at their own home. Within the area of ambient assisted living (AAL) technology solutions have been aimed to assist seniors in the challenges that can arise when wanting to live independently. However, technology acceptance has been rather low, also due to stigmatization when using assistive systems. New technologies, such as the smartwatch, which is unobtrusive and not recognized as an assistive device by outsiders, have the potential to improve the autonomy and independence of seniors. This research aims to investigate the potential barriers and drivers of smartwatch use by seniors, by means of conducting a diary study and interviews. Results showed that the acceptance of the smartwatch depended mainly on the usability, interest and added value of the smartwatch. Additionally, the findings indicate that changes to the smartwatch need to be made in order to address the barriers that are found, and to ultimately enhance acceptance

Exploring views on affective haptic devices in times of COVID-19

Affective haptic devices (AHDs) are communication technologies utilizing the sense of touch, and include mediated social touch (MST), symbolic haptic messaging, and awareness systems that, for example, let one feel another person's heartbeat. The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent social distancing measures have led to a reemphasis of the importance of social touch, and many people have experienced firsthand what it is like to miss touching loved ones. This offers an excellent opportunity to study people's intention to use AHDs. For this purpose, a survey study (n = 277) was conducted combining qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods. Touch deprivation, resulting from not being able to touch a loved one, was associated with intention to use AHDs: the more deprived an individual, the higher his or her intention to use AHDs. Technology readiness and touch aversion did not affect intention to use AHDs. AHDs for symbolic messaging gained higher interest than MST and awareness devices, and long-distance relationships were seen as the most likely scenario for using AHDs. Bi-directionality, synchronicity, and symmetry were regarded as important features for providing shared meaning and a sense of connectedness. Reviewability, multimodality, and actuation type were also deemed important. Limitations of the study and implications for the design of AHDs are discussed.Human Information Communication Desig