Determinants for positive and negative experiences of interpersonal touch: context matters.

The goal of the study was to determine which aspects of interpersonal touch interactions lead to a positive or negative experience. Previous research has focused primarily on physical characteristics. We suggest that this may not be sufficient to fully capture the complexity of the experience. Specifically, we examined how fulfilment of psychological needs influences touch experiences and how this relates to physical touch characteristics and situational factors.In two mixed-method studies, participants described their most positive and most negative interpersonal touch experience within a specific time frame. They reported fulfilment of nine needs, affect, intention, and reason for positivity/negativity, as well as the body part(s) touched, location, type of touch, interaction partner, and particular touch characteristics (e.g. humidity).Positive and negative touch experiences shared similar touch types, locations, and body parts touched, but differed in intended purpose and reasons. Overall, the valence of a touch experience could be predicted from fulfilment of relatedness, the interaction partner and initiator, and physical touch characteristics. Positive affect increased with need fulfilment, and negative affect decreased.The results highlight the importance of relatedness and reciprocity for the valence of touch, and emphasise the need to incorporate psychological needs in touch research.

Repressive and vigilant coping styles in stress and relaxation: evidence for physiological and subjective differences at baseline, but not for differential stress or relaxation responses.

Introduction: Previous research suggested differential stress reactivity depending on individuals' coping style, e.g., as classified by the model of coping modes. Specifically, stronger physiological reactivity and weaker subjective stress ratings were found for repressors than for sensitizers. However, it remains to be investigated (i) whether these findings, which are largely based on social stress induction protocols, also generalize to other stressors, (ii) whether repressors vs. sensitizers also exhibit differential stress recovery following the application of a relaxation method, and (iii) which stress reactivity and recovery patterns are seen for the two remaining coping styles, i.e., fluctuating, and non-defensive copers. The current study thus examines stress reactivity in physiology and subjective ratings to a non-social stressor and the subsequent ability to relax for the four coping groups of repressors, sensitizers, fluctuating, and non-defensive copers. Methods: A total of 96 healthy participants took part in a stress induction (Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test) and a subsequent relaxation intervention. Subjective ratings of stress and relaxation, heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and blood pressure were assessed during the experiment. HR and blood pressure are markers of the sympathetic stress response that can be regulated by relaxation, while HRV should increase with relaxation. To investigate long-term relaxation effects, subjective ratings were also assessed on the evening of testing. Results: Despite successful stress induction, no differential responses (baseline to stress, stress to relaxation) were observed between the different coping groups on any of the measures. In contrast, a strong baseline effect was observed that persisted throughout the experiment: In general, fluctuating copers showed lower HR and higher HRV than non-defensive copers, whereas repressors reported lower subjective stress levels and higher levels of relaxation during all study phases. No differences in subjective ratings were observed in the evening of testing. Conclusion: Contrary to previous research, no differential stress reactivity pattern was observed between coping groups, which could be due to the non-social type of stressor employed in this study. The novel finding of physiological baseline differences between fluctuating and non-defensive individuals is of interest and should be further investigated in other stressor types in future research.

Human trust in otherware - a systematic literature review bringing all antecedents together.

Technological systems are becoming increasingly smarter, which causes a shift in the way they are seen: from tools used to execute specific tasks to social counterparts with whom to cooperate. To ensure that these interactions are successful, trust has proven to be the most important driver. We conducted an extensive and structured review with the goal to reveal all previously researched antecedents influencing the human trust in technology-based counterparts. In doing so, we synthesised 179 papers and uncovered 479 trust antecedents. We assigned these antecedents to four main groups. Three of them have been explored before: environment, trustee, and trustor. Within this paper, we argue for a fourth group, the interaction. This quadripartition allows the inclusion of antecedents that were not considered previously. Moreover, we critically question the practice of uncovering more and more trust antecedents, which already led to an opaque plethora and thus becomes increasingly complex for practitioners.Practitioner summary: Future designers of intelligent and interactive technology will have to consider trust to a greater extent. We emphasise that there are far more trust antecedents - and interdependencies - to consider than the ethically motivated discussions about "Trustworthy AI" suggest. For this purpose, we derived a trust map as a sound basis.

Facilitating relaxation and stress reduction in healthy participants through a virtual reality intervention: study protocol for a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Repeated or chronic stress is considered a major source of disease, in terms of both somatic and mental illnesses. The prevention of stress-related disease by interventions for relaxation has thus increased societal relevance. In this randomized controlled non-inferiority trial, we will compare a newly developed virtual reality (VR) environment for relaxation to an active control group applying a freely chosen relaxation method. To test if our VR environment supports relaxation in a situation of acute stress, a standardized stress induction protocol will precede the relaxation phase. METHODS: One hundred healthy participants will be recruited from the University of Siegen and randomly assigned to the VR or the active control group that will be free to choose their own relaxation strategy. The multi-sensory VR includes visual, acoustic, and haptic features to induce a strong feeling of presence. The laboratory testing will comprise a baseline measurement, a stress induction, a relaxation intervention, and a recovery measurement. The primary outcomes are self-reported stress and relaxation measured with a visual analog scale (VAS) at pre- and post-baseline, at the start, middle, and end of the stress induction, at pre- and post-relaxation, at pre- and post-recovery, and in the evening of testing. Secondary outcomes are the physiological parameters, namely heart rate and heart rate variability, tonic skin conductance level as well as the number of non-specific skin conductance responses, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and respiratory rate recorded during the four experimental phases as well as state mood, and state rumination assessed at four time points (pre- and post-stress, post-relaxation, and in the evening of testing). Finally, post-event processing will be assessed after relaxation and in the evening of testing. Repeated measures ANOVAs will be performed to test for statistical effects of group, time, and group × time interaction. DISCUSSION: The newly developed, multi-sensory VR offers an intervention for relaxation without prior training. Its immersive character might increase efficacy compared to other relaxation methods, especially in situations of acute stress. Future directions could be the development of a mobile version of the VR to enhance accessibility for users. To achieve a transfer of training effects to real life, VR components should successively be eliminated until relaxation is practiced without guidance by the VR. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN11162338 . Retrospectively registered on January 22, 2021.

Technology-Mediated Experiences and Social Context: Relevant Needs in Private Vs. Public Interaction and the Importance of Others for Positive Affect.

Technologies, such as smartphones or wearables, take a central role in our daily lives. Making their use meaningful and enjoyable requires a better understanding of the prerequisites and underpinnings of positive experiences with such technologies. So far, a focus had been on the users themselves, that is, their individual goals, desires, feelings, and acceptance. However, technology is often used in a social context, observed by others or even used in interaction with others, and thus shapes social dynamics considerably. In the present paper, we start from the notion that meaningful and/or enjoyable experiences (i.e., wellbeing) are a major outcome of technology use. We investigate how these experiences are further shaped by social context, such as potential spectators. More specifically, we gathered private (while being alone) and public (while other people are present) positive experiences with technology and compared need fulfillment and affective experience. In addition, we asked participants to imagine a change in context (from private to public or public to private) and to report the impact of this change on experience. Results support the idea of particular social needs, such as relatedness and popularity, which are especially relevant and better fulfilled in public than in private contexts. Moreover, our findings show that participants experience less positive affect when imaginatively removing the present others from a formerly public interaction, i.e., when they imagine performing the same interaction but without the other people present. Overall, this underlines the importance of social context for Human-Computer Interaction practice and research. Practical implications relate to product development, e.g., designing interactive technologies that can adapt to context (changes) or allow for context-sensitive interaction sets. We discuss limitations related to the experimental exploration of social context, such as the method of data collection, as well as potential alternatives to address those limitations, such as diary studies.

Trust in artificial intelligence within production management - an exploration of antecedents.

Industry 4.0, big data, predictive analytics, and robotics are leading to a paradigm shift on the shop floor of industrial production. However, complex, cognitive tasks are also subject of change, due to the development of artificial intelligence (AI). Smart assistants are finding their way into the world of knowledge work and require cooperation with humans. Here, trust is an essential factor that determines the success of human-AI cooperation. Within this article, an analysis within production management identifies possible antecedent variables on trust in AI and evaluates these due to interaction scenarios with AI. The results of this research are five antecedents for human trust in AI within production management. From these results, preliminary design guidelines are derived for a socially sustainable human-AI interaction in future production management systems. Practitioner summary: In the future, artificial intelligence will assist cognitive tasks in production management. In order to make good decisions, humans trust in AI has to be well calibrated. For trustful human-AI interactions, it is beneficial that humans subjectively perceive AI as capable and comprehensible and that they themselves are digitally competent.

Wellbeing in the Making: Peoples' Experiences with Wearable Activity Trackers.

BACKGROUND: Wearable activity trackers have become a viable business opportunity. Nevertheless, research has raised concerns over their potentially detrimental effects on wellbeing. For example, a recent study found that while counting steps with a pedometer increased steps taken throughout the day, at the same time it decreased the enjoyment people derived from walking. This poses a serious threat to the incorporation of healthy routines into everyday life. Most studies aim at proving the effectiveness of activity trackers. In contrast, a wellbeing-oriented perspective calls for a deeper understanding of how trackers create and mediate meaningful experiences in everyday life. METHODS: We present a study of real life experiences with three wearable activity trackers: Fitbit, Jawbone Up and Nike + Fuelband. Using need fulfillment as a theoretical lens, we study recent, memorable experiences submitted by 133 users of activity trackers. RESULTS: We reveal a two-dimensional structure of users' experience driven by the needs of physical thriving or relatedness. Our qualitative findings further show a nuanced picture of the adoption of activity trackers and their impact on wellbeing. For instance, while reflection about own exercising practices lost its relevance over time, users continued to wear the tracker to document and collect their runs. More than just supporting behavioral change, we find trackers to provide multiple psychological benefits. For instance, they enhance feelings of autonomy as people gain more control about their exercising regime. Others experience relatedness, when family members purchase a tracker for relatives and join them in their efforts towards a better, healthier self. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights that activity trackers can be more than "tools" to change behavior. Through incorporation in daily life, they offer new social experiences, new ways of boosting our self-esteem and getting closer to our ideal selves.

Sitting comfort of ergonomic office chairs--developed versus intuitive evaluation.

The sitting comfort of office chairs with different ergonomic layouts (inferior, superior) was examined. Fifty participants were randomly assigned to a 2×5 factorial experimental design with 2 different conditions of ergonomic chair layout (inferior or superior) and 5 different conditions of instruction to explore the chair. Four conditions were created to differentiate between various levels of perceptual awareness and processing of chair-related information (guided exploration and developed evaluation). In a 5th condition, participants remained uninstructed (free exploration and intuitive exploration). Under guided exploration, the participants' perception of sitting comfort was in line with objective differences in the chair layout. Different conditions of guided exploration, however, did not influence the evaluations. Under free exploration, the participants' perceptions did not match the ergonomic chair layout. In contrast to participants under guided exploration, they even rated the ergonomically inferior office chair more favourably than the ergonomically superior chair.

Haptic texture affects the kinematics of pointing movements, but not of eye movements.

Discrepant findings on the degree of eye-hand coupling suggest its dependence on the task. One task characteristic modulating this coupling may be the relevance of certain target attributes for each motor system. We tested this assumption by comparing eye and hand movements towards targets of different haptic texture, a target attribute which is behaviourally relevant only to the hand, not the eye. Pointing to a slippery target (fur) resulted in longer hand movement time than to a rougher target (sandpaper). This effect was due to an increased ratio of time spent in deceleration. In contrast, eye movement time was invariant across different haptic target textures. Thus, information about target texture is used differently by eye and hand.