Multisensory and Affective Modulation of Touch: Interaction and Intentionality
Description: Social touch is central to interpersonal interactions in everyday life. It is however crucially lacking in interactions with virtual agents. There is no currently existing technology that can generate in a satisfying way the feeling of being touched by a virtual agent during a social interaction in Virtual Reality (VR). Our goal is to address this challenge while alleviating as much as possible the need for tactile stimulation. We seek to identify the minimal conditions for the feeling of being touched to emerge, by investigating the impact of multisensory integration, agency and social context. We will optimize the effect of gestural and contextual parameters on the perception of social touch. We will use crossmodal strategies to induce the illusion of touch in VR by supplementing it with other sensory modalities, such as audio. We will also manipulate the virtual agent’s multimodal behavior (facial expressions, gaze, gesture) to maximize the impression of touch and associated affective reactions.
Funder: Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Amount: €694,900
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: AAPG2022
Start date: 2023-02-01
Investigator: Ouriel GRYNSZPAN
Institution: Université Paris-Saclay
Funded outputs count: 12
Funder award ID: ANR-22-CE33-0010
OpenAlex ID: G1795563626