Impact of Synchronizing Visual Cues With Switch of Foot Contact State on the Presence of Virtual Flight While Seated

Providing extraordinary experiences is an important aspect of virtual reality (VR). Among these unusual experiences, flying in the sky has been investigated in various studies that propose methods for providing this experience. The presentation of a floating sensation is essential for improving the virtual flight experience; however, conventional systems that present floating sensations tend to be massive. To simplify the systems presenting floating sensations, we focused on the changes in the tactile ground of the sole during takeoff and landing. This study aims to clarify how synchronization of sole contact switching and visual stimuli affects the sensation of floating in a virtual flight experience. We created an experimental device that can switch between grounded and ungrounded soles in accordance with takeoff and landing in the VR image while the user is seated. The experimental results show that synchronizing the grounding/ungrounding of the sole in a virtual environment improves the sensations of presence, floating, moving, as well as enjoyment of the flight experience. Additionally, objective evaluations using physiological data, specifically electrodermal activity (EDA), suggested that switching the physical ground contact of the sole according to takeoff and landing significantly increases the excitement level during the flight experience. These results indicate the importance of tactile ground-state manipulation synchronized with visual stimuli in the construction of a high sense of presence in a virtual flight system

Sense of resistance for a cursor moved by user’s keystrokes

Haptic sensation of a material can be modulated by its visual appearance. A technique that utilizes this visual-haptic interaction is called pseudo-haptic feedback. Conventional studies have investigated pseudo-haptic feedback in situations wherein a user manipulated a virtual object using a computer mouse, a force-feedback device, etc. The present study investigated whether and how it was possible to offer pseudo-haptic feedback to a user who manipulated a virtual object using keystrokes. Participants moved a cursor toward a destination by pressing a key. While the cursor was moving, the cursor was temporarily slowed down on a square area of the screen. The participants' task was to report, on a 5-point scale, how much resistance they felt to the cursor's movement. In addition to the basic speed of the cursor, the ratio of the basic speed to the speed within the square area was varied. In Experiment 1, we found that these two factors interacted significantly with each other, but further analysis showed that the cursor speed within the square area was the most important determinant of perceived resistance. In Experiment 2, consistent with the results of the previous experiment, it was found that the cursor movement outside of the square area was not required to generate the sense of resistance. Counterintuitively, in Experiment 3, the sense of resistance was apparent even without user's keystrokes. We discuss how the sense of resistance for a cursor moved by keystrokes can be triggered visually, but interpreted by the brain as a haptic impression

Tracking changes in touch desire and touch avoidance before and after the COVID-19 outbreak

Touch is essential for social interactions, environmental exploration, and wellbeing. However, human touch behavior has been greatly restricted by COVID-19 prevention measures, and this is expected to impact people’s attitude toward touch. Here we examined the transition of people’s touch desire and touch avoidance before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, using data from millions of public Twitter posts over an eight-year span. We found that people's desire for touching the human body and pet animals increased significantly after the COVID-19 outbreak and remained high afterward. In contrast, the avoidance of touching everyday objects increased immediately after the outbreak but gradually returned to the pre-COVID-19 levels. Our findings highlight the sign of “skin hunger”, a public health crisis due to social distancing, and call attention to the trend that people are becoming less aware of infection control as COVID-19 persists