Observing Touch from Video: The Influence of Social Cues on Pleasantness Perceptions
In order to advance the understanding of affective touch perceptions, and in particular to inform the design of physical human-robot interactions, an online video study was conducted in which observed stroking touches were assessed on perceived pleasantne
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Human Media Interaction, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands {c.j.a.m.willemse,g.huisman-1,m.m.jung,d.k.j.heylen}@utwente.nl 2 Perceptual and Cognitive Systems, TNO, P.O. Box 23, 3769 DE Soesterberg, The Netherlands [email protected]
Abstract. In order to advance the understanding of affective touch perceptions, and in particular to inform the design of physical human-robot interactions, an online video study was conducted in which observed stroking touches were assessed on perceived pleasantness. Touches were applied at different velocities and either with a human hand, a robot hand, a mannequin hand, or a plastic tube. In line with earlier research, it was found that stroking touches with a velocity of ca. 3 cm/s were rated as most pleasant. Moreover, the subjective pleasantness scores suggest that the stimulus type interacts with the stroking velocity. The possible roles that social agency, expectations, and anthropomorphism may play in perceptions of pleasantness are discussed. Keywords: Affective touch · Top-down perception fibers · Human-robot interaction · Video study
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CT-Afferent
Introduction
The human sense of touch serves an important function as a sense organ for discriminating different tactile sensations, for example feeling a smooth or rough surface with the hand. Apart from the discriminative function of touch, the human sense of touch also plays an important role in affective experiences. This can be intuitively understood by the pleasant feeling of soft fabric on the skin, or the experience of being caressed by a loved one. It has been found that caresslike stroking touches selectively activate specific receptors called C-Tactile (CT) afferents in the hairy skin, which respond particularly strong to stroking at a velocity of 3 cm/s. This velocity also results in the highest subjective pleasantness ratings. Also, third person observations of stroking touches in a social setting have been found to result in similar pleasantness ratings [23]. However, these subjective pleasantness ratings of stroking touches are sensitive to social cues, such as the gender of the toucher [12]. Based on these findings it has been c Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 F. Bello et al. (Eds.): EuroHaptics 2016, Part II, LNCS 9775, pp. 196–205, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-42324-1 20
Observing Touch from Video
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proposed that stroking touches, detected by CT-afferents, play an important role in both experienced, and observed social touch interactions. The important role of touch in social interactions between humans has long been recognized [21]. Still, with the prominence of advanced technology in everyday life, social touch interactions may not be limited to human-human communication. It is plausible that, with increasing frequency, social touch will occur between humans and social robots [7]. Both the first hand experience, and third person observation of CT-afferent optimal social touches (i.e. stroking touches) could have a strong impact on social interactions. Here
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