The EmojiGrid as a rating tool for the affective appraisal of touch

Abstract

In this study we evaluate the convergent validity of a new graphical self-report tool (the Emo-jiGrid) for the affective appraisal of perceived touch events. The EmojiGrid is a square grid labeled with facial icons (emoji) showing different levels of valence and arousal. The Emoji-Grid is language independent and efficient (a single click suffices to report both valence and arousal), making it a practical instrument for studies on affective appraisal. We previously showed that participants can intuitively and reliably report their affective appraisal (valence and arousal) of visual, auditory and olfactory stimuli using the EmojiGrid, even without additional (verbal) instructions. However, because touch events can be bidirectional and dynamic, these previous results cannot be generalized to the touch domain. In this study, participants reported their affective appraisal of video clips showing different interpersonal (social) and object-based touch events, using either the validated 9-point SAM (Self-Assessment Mannikin) scale or the EmojiGrid. The valence ratings obtained with the Emoji-Grid and the SAM are in excellent agreement. The arousal ratings show good agreement for object-based touch and moderate agreement for social touch. For social touch and at more extreme levels of valence, the EmojiGrid appears more sensitive to arousal than the SAM. We conclude that the EmojiGrid can also serve as a valid and efficient graphical self-report instrument to measure human affective response to a wide range of tactile signals.

Propensity to trust: comforting touch between trustworthy human and robot partners.

“…The power of reciprocal touch and trust is lessened in human-robot interactions, where we see less arousal, especially when the robot assumes the vulnerable role. Previous research found that interpersonal touch is more arousing than object-based touch, suggesting that human-to-human touch is experienced as more intense 59 , and the robot in our study may have been perceived as an object more than a social partner. Such human-robot interaction is therefore perceived as less realistic, appropriate, pleasant, and less emotionally meaningful.…”

“…Lastly, we investigated which affective states are associated with the different social scenarios, particularly in terms of valence and arousal, which are key dimensions for understanding social touch 58,59 . In our paradigm, social touch is used to amplify the interactive nature of a peer-to-peer comforting exchange.…”

“…As for the EmojiGrid data, if participants clicked more than once, the last click was considered the de nitive answer for analysis (as per the instructions displayed upon presentation of the EmojiGrid). Each response is encoded by coordinates on the x-axis (valence) and y-axis (arousal), which are then analysed separately (as in 59 ). Since the size of the participants' screens varies, the coordinates were normalised by dividing the x-value by the width of each participant's grid size and the y-value by its height.…”

Linking Categorical and Dimensional Approaches to Assess Food-Related Emotions

“…The EmojiGrid was inspired by Russell’s Affect Grid [ 29 ] and was originally developed and validated for the affective appraisal of food stimuli [ 11 , 20 ], since conventional affective self-report tools (e.g., Self-Assessment Manikin [ 43 ]) are frequently misunderstood in that context [ 11 , 20 ]. It has since also successfully been used and validated for the affective appraisal of a wide range of different emotional stimuli, such as images [ 44 ], sound and video clips [ 45 ], touch events [ 46 ], odors [ 47 , 48 , 49 ] and VR experiences [ 50 ]. Since it is intuitive and language-independent, the EmojiGrid is also suitable for cross-cultural research [ 11 , 51 ] and research involving children or low-literate participants.…”