Social touch experience in different contexts: A review

Saarinen, Aino; Harjunen, Ville; Jasinskaja‐Lahti, Inga; Jä̈askëlainen, Iiro P.; Ravaja, Niklas

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.027

Cited by 68 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 124 publications

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“…Looking at the responses by the participants, the importance of this characteristic relates to the notion that additional cues can provide a clear context to the interaction (e.g., knowing who the sender of the touch is). Indeed, the interpretations and experience of a social touch are highly dependent on context (Saarinen et al, 2021;Sailer and Leknes, 2022). In naturalistic social touch, multimodal cues are important for the interpretation and creation of the meaning of a tactile sensation (van Erp and Toet, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Askari

Huisman²,

Haans³

et al. 2022

Front. Comput. Sci.

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Askari

Huisman²,

Haans³

et al. 2022

Front. Comput. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tightly controlled experimental setups might only represent MST as it occurs in the particular situation of a scientific study. Some experimental control may have to be sacrificed in order to provide insights into the lived experience of people using MST devices in diverse contexts (see Saarinen et al, 2021 ). For example, in a field study by van Hattum et al ( 2022 ), qualitative responses helped shed light on the way MST devices were actually used and experienced by participants over a two-week period of real-world use.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time, these works do consider social touch to be bidirectional and reciprocal in nature (Muir, 2002 ; Hertenstein et al, 2006 ; Fairhurst et al, 2022 ), and most researchers agree that the context in which social touch occurs is important (Jones and Yarbrough, 1985 ; Hertenstein, 2002 ; Saarinen et al, 2021 ). In their definition of tactile communication, Hertenstein et al ( 2006 ) remark that social touch is “almost always bidirectional and contingent” (Hertenstein et al 2006 , p.8; see also Muir 2002 ).…”

Section: An Interaction Theory Account Of (Mediated) Social Touchmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Interaction Theory Account of (Mediated) Social Touch

Huisman

2022

Front. Psychol.

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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.

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“…Interpersonal touch can reduce human pain and fear 1 – 9 . This mechanism has been investigated by a broad range of disciplines from physiology, such as cutaneous receptors 10 – 22 , to psychology, such as emotion and well-being 23 – 32 . Moreover, the benefit of touch in nursing and therapy has been reported in clinical practice 33 , 34 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A wearable soft robot that can alleviate the pain and fear of the wearer

Yim

Noguchi

Tanaka

2022

Sci Rep

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Social soft robotics may provide a new solution for alleviating human pain and fear. Here, we introduce a hand-held soft robot that can be clenched by the wearer. The robot comprises small airbags that can be inflated to provide the wearer with a feeling of being clenched. We then conducted an in-depth study of 66 adults who participated in a pain research protocol using thermal stimulation to investigate the effect of wearing the robot on pain perception and fear of injections. Pain assessment scale scores for perceived pain decreased significantly $$(p < 0.05)$$ ( p < 0.05 ) when participants wore the robot compared with the baseline condition in which the robot was not worn. In addition, the saliva test results showed a downward trend in oxytocin level when the robot provided the wearer with haptic feedback via the inflation of the internal airbags in response to the wearer’s clench. Furthermore, the negative psychological state of participants, as measured using the positive and negative affect scale, improved significantly when wearing the robot. We also revealed that the salivary cortisol level, an indicator of stress, decreased significantly across all participants at the end of the experiment. In addition, participants’ fear of injections was significantly improved after participation in the experiment. These results suggest that the wearable soft robot may alleviate the human perception of pain and fear in during medical treatments, such as vaccinations.

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Social touch experience in different contexts: A review

Cited by 68 publications

References 124 publications

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

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

An Interaction Theory Account of (Mediated) Social Touch

A wearable soft robot that can alleviate the pain and fear of the wearer

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