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The present aim was to study if thermal stimuli presented to the palm can affect emotional responses when measured with emotion related subjective rating scales and changes in skin conductance response (SCR). Two target temperatures, cold and warm, were created by either decreasing or increasing the temperature of the stimulus 4 °C in respect to the participants current hand temperature. Both cold and warm stimuli were presented by using two presentation methods, i.e., dynamic and pre-adjusted. The results showed that both the dynamic and pre-adjusted warm stimuli elevated the ratings of arousal and dominance. In addition, the pre-adjusted warm and cold stimuli elevated the SCR. The results suggest that especially pre-adjusted warm stimuli can be seen as effective in activating the autonomic nervous system and arousal and dominance dimensions of the affective rating space.

Three novel interaction methods were designed for reading six-dot Braille characters from the touchscreen of a mobile device. A prototype device with a piezoelectric actuator embedded under the touchscreen was used to create tactile feedback. The three interaction methods, scan, sweep, and rhythm, enabled users to read Braille characters one at a time either by exploring the characters dot by dot or by sensing a rhythmic pattern presented on the screen. The methods were tested with five blind Braille readers as a proof of concept. The results of the first experiment showed that all three methods can be used to convey information as the participants could accurately (91-97 percent) recognize individual characters. In the second experiment the presentation rate of the most efficient and preferred method, the rhythm, was varied. A mean recognition accuracy of 70 percent was found when the speed of presenting a single character was nearly doubled from the first experiment. The results showed that temporal tactile feedback and Braille coding can be used to transmit single-character information while further studies are still needed to evaluate the presentation of serial information, i.e., multiple Braille characters.

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