Taking an Extended Embodied Perspective of Touch: Connection-Disconnection in iVR

Sara Price,Ned Barker,Dimitri Chubinidze,Carey Jewitt,Nikoleta Yiannoutsou

doi:10.3389/frvir.2021.642782

Sara Price, Ned Barker + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2021.642782

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Abstract

Bringing touch into VR experiences through haptics is considered increasingly important for user engagement and fostering feelings of presence and immersion, yet few qualitative studies have explored users' iVR touch experiences. This paper takes an embodied approach–bringing attention to the tactile-kinaesthetic body–to explore users' wholistic experiences of touch in iVR, moving beyond the cutaneous and tactile elements of “feeling” to elaborate upon themes of movement and kinetics. Our findings show how both touch connections and disconnections emerged though material forms of tactility (the controller, body positioning, tactile expectations) and through “felt proximities” and the tactile-kinaesthetic experience thus shaping the sense of presence. The analysis shows three key factors that influence connection and disconnection, and how connection is re-navigated or sought at moments of experienced disconnection: a sense of control or agency; identity; and bridging between the material and virtual. This extended notion of touch deepens our understanding of its role in feelings of presence by providing insight into a range of factors related to notions of touch – both physical and virtual–that come into play in creating a sense of connection or presence (e.g., histories, expectations), and highlights the potential for iVR interaction to attend to the body beyond the hands in terms of touch.

Highlights

Haptic technologies are radically changing the digital landscape for touch interaction and communication
The analysis provides an in depth understanding of users experience of touch in immersive virtual reality (iVR), illustrating how users interpret haptic feedback in context, how the different forms of feedback are important in creating tactile illusions, the role of inscribed objects in the perception of touch by different users, and how touch forged feelings of connection and disconnection in virtual spaces
Focusing on users’ experiences of touch in iVR this qualitative study makes a contribution to iVR by providing detailed empirical analysis of how both touch connections and disconnections emerged though the material forms of tactility, “felt proximities,” and tactile-kinaesthetic experiences shape the sense of presence, and the ways in which these three key factors are brought into play at moments of experienced disconnection, shaping a sense of presence

Summary

Introduction

Haptic technologies are radically changing the digital landscape for touch interaction and communication. When we think about touch we typically focus on tactile elements of “feeling.” Current commercially available iVR systems mostly rely on handheld controllers to interact with the environment, objects and others. They are thought to add a physical dimension to the sense of connection (Jewitt et al, 2020) in iVR. The use of vibrotactile feedback may not always make sense to the user depending on the context of the interaction, for example, if I pick up a cup, I have a tactile sensation, but this is not (in the physical world) a vibration This raises key questions around how people interpret haptic feedback in context, and to what degree the specific kind and form of haptic feedback is important in creating tactile illusions

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