On the Analysis of Tactile Sensation Based on Time Measurement: An Experimental Case Study on the Interaction Between Skin and Lotion

IEEE Trans Haptics. 2023 Apr-Jun;16(2):339-344. doi: 10.1109/TOH.2023.3260907. Epub 2023 Jun 20.

Abstract

This paper presents a novel experimental case study in which tactile sensation is analyzed as 4-dimensional subjective data consisting of stimulus, participant, evaluation term, and temporal components, using a temporal measurement approach. Specifically, the skin and lotion interaction was evaluated using the Temporal Check-All-That-Apply (TCATA) method. Two practical analysis examples were conducted to experimentally demonstrate the potential use cases of time-series subjective tactile data. In the first example, stimulus classification accuracy was compared between different sampling periods, including the whole and late periods, with the latter being akin to the conventional Semantic Differential (SD) method condition. The results indicate that the whole and early periods exhibit higher accuracy compared to the latest period, implying that temporal measurements may capture more stimulus characteristics than the conventional approach. In the second example, cluster analysis based on the time-series subjective data was conducted. The results revealed that the participants were classified into two distinct clusters, with the trends of time-series changes being significantly different between the clusters.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Skin
  • Time Factors
  • Touch
  • Touch Perception*