Touching
Digital Interactions

Technical Mediations of Emotional Encounters Through Touch - TMEET

A research initiative on how digital systems can facilitate perceptual and emotional engagement

How can digital systems enable authentic feeling and emotional exchange for deeper connection and understanding despite physical distance?

Rethinking Digital Human Interaction

Our research explores how remote tactile interactions can mediate emotional exchanges, offering new perspectives on social cognition, human-computer interaction (HCI), and affective computing. By studying the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying mediated touch, we aim to inform the design of systems and AI that facilitate richer, more embodied remote experiences.

Beyond Visual and Auditory Interaction: Investigating
Tactile Perception

Existing digital communication technologies primarily engage visual and auditory modalities, ignoring other channels that contribute to emotional engagement. This research investigates whether and how tactile mediations can contribute to more engaging, emotionally attuned remote experiences.

Touch, for example, plays a significant role in:

Social cognition (mutual perception, shared attention, and non-verbal communication).
Emotional regulation (conveying reassurance, stress relief, and social bonding).
Physical presence perception (understanding the presence and intent of others).

Research Approach and Methodology

Empirical Studies of Perceptual Crossings

Controlled minimalist experiments using haptic interaction platforms (e.g., TACTOS).

Analysis of sensorimotor coupling and action-perception cycles in mediated touch.

Ethnographic and Qualitative Research

Studies of tactile interaction in populations experiencing heightened stress and emotional reactivity

Observations of social touch behaviours in digital versus physical environments.

Prototype Development and Evaluation

Design of a haptic-enabled interface informed by empirical findings.

User testing to explore perceptual and emotional responses to mediated touch.

Designing for
Embodied Digital Interaction

We aim to develop a framework for integrating haptic feedback into digital communication. Rather than solely focusing on hardware-based haptic systems, the study explores how both physical and pseudo-haptic feedback can contribute to a more immersive and emotionally expressive digital interaction model.

This study adopts a design-oriented methodology to ensure that its findings extend beyond theory and into practical, real-world applications. We will investigate :

How haptic signals can be encoded, transmitted, and interpreted to create meaningful touch interactions in digital environments.

The role of pseudo-haptics—where visual, auditory, or cognitive illusions simulate tactile experiences without physical actuators—in enhancing the perception of presence, resistance, and texture in virtual communication.

The outcome of this research is a set of design principles, interaction models, and experimental prototypes that inform the development of haptic-enhanced communication systems.