Propensity to trust shapes perceptions of comforting touch between trustworthy human and robot partners

Touching a friend to comfort or be comforted is a common prosocial behaviour, firmly based in mutual trust. Emphasising the interactive nature of trust and touch, we suggest that vulnerability, reciprocity and individual differences shape trust and perceptions of touch. We further investigate whether these elements also apply to companion robots. Participants (n = 152) were exposed to four comics depicting human-human or human-robot exchanges. Across conditions, one character was sad, the other initiated touch to comfort them, and the touchee reciprocated the touch. Participants first rated trustworthiness of a certain character (human or robot in a vulnerable or comforting role), then evaluated the two touch phases (initiation and reciprocity) in terms of interaction realism, touch appropriateness and pleasantness, affective state (valence and arousal) attributed to the characters. Results support an interactive account of trust and touch, with humans being equally trustworthy when comforting or showing vulnerability, and reciprocity of touch buffering sadness. Although these phenomena seem unique to humans, propensity to trust technology reduces the gap between how humans and robots are perceived. Two distinct trust systems emerge: one for human interactions and another for social technologies, both necessitating trust as a fundamental prerequisite for meaningful physical contact.

Sensory, Affective, and Social Experiences with Haptic Devices in Intramural Care Practice

Previous work has shown that technology can facilitate the communication of emotions, social touch, and social presence through haptic devices, meaning devices that provide a haptic stimulation. However, for special user groups living in long-term care facilities, such as people with dementia, the applications of these haptic devices are not apparent. The aim of this study is to understand how haptic devices can be used in intramural care facilities in times of social isolation, focusing on haptic devices that utilize haptic sensation. Five haptic devices were tested at three care facilities. Insights from this study highlight the potential of haptic devices to enhance sensory, affective, and social experiences during video calling between residents and their relatives. Moreover, the importance of the tactile sensation and form factor of haptic devices in the care context is addressed, along with insights on how to create the appropriate atmosphere during video calling.

The relational ontology of mobile touchscreens and the body: Ambient proprioception and risk during COVID-19

In this article, we explore the tension between the significance of touch as a vital sensory modality of human experience and how, with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, proximity and (tactile) intimacy with other bodies in urban and domestic spaces becomes fraught with the risk of viral contagion. Informed by haptic media studies, the corporeal or sensory turn in contemporary theory, and phenomenology-informed mobile media studies, we examine the possible impacts for mobile device use of the risks of viral contagion associated with our routinized uses of haptic interfaces. We also examine the role and possibility of mobile haptics and the touchscreen in these contexts, and our capacity-via embodied and material metaphor-to extend corporeal reach through the mobile interface. Our contention is that, while the "stand in" for touch that mobile media offers may be perpetually incomplete, the "as-if" structure of habitual experience can play a significant role in narrowing the sensorial gap.

Shifting Design Perspectives: Touch, Co-Location, and Sharing Objects during the Pandemic

HCI research has explored a variety of technologies to support human-to-human touch by simulating or mediating the feeling of touch over distance. Restrictions in activities involving touch, close contact, and physical proximity due to the COVID-19 pandemic have made it more pertinent to understand and investigate the goals, opportunities, and limitations of technologically mediated touch. We conducted an exploratory interview study with 18 participants across the United States in April and June of 2021 to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed people’s attitudes towards engaging in touch, being co-located, and sharing physical objects. We observed four themes: new efforts to evaluate safety, new preferences for physically co-locating without touch, technology solutions amplifying separation, and a newfound appreciation for human touch and touch-adjacent activities. These results suggest that future touch technologies may need to shift focus from simulating human touch convincingly to allowing for interactions that incorporate these emergent sensitivities to safety and preferences for physical co-location.

An Interaction Theory Account of (Mediated) Social Touch

Research on mediated social touch (MST) has, either implicitly or explicitly, built on theoretical assumptions regarding social interactions that align with "theory theory" or "simulation theory" of social cognition. However, these approaches struggle to explain MST interactions that occur outside of a laboratory setting. I briefly discuss these approaches and will argue in favor of an alternative, "interaction theory" approach to the study of MST. I make three suggestions for future research to focus on.