Submission 427
The Effect of Temporal and Spatial Dynamics on Pleasantness of Touch Between Romantic Couples
MixedTopicTalk-03
Presented by: Didem Katircilar
Touch plays an important role in everyday life by evoking pleasant feelings. People tend to produce more pleasant touch through increased spatial and temporal variation, which reduces predictability (Lo et al., 2021). Furthermore, circular movements are generally perceived as more pleasant than linear ones (Schirmer et al., 2023). In the present study, we investigated how spatial and temporal predictability, as well as movement shape, influence perceived pleasantness for romantic couples. Each of the two partners were once toucher, once receiver. In Experiment 1, participants performed touch on a movement trajectory consisting of six periods of a 2-cm sine- or triangle-wave, with predictability manipulated via amplitude variability: high (constant 1 cm), moderate (0.4 and 1.4 cm), and low (0.4, 1, and 1.4 cm). In Experiment 2, participants performed three strokes along parabolic or linear paths. Strokes were either predictable (constant velocity: 1 or 3 cm/s) or unpredictable (one stroke had different velocity). We also presented strokes that matched the duration of the 1cm/s or 3 cm/s of strokes in the predictable condition. After each trial, participants rated pleasantness from 1 to 100. Results showed that spatially predictable and smoother trajectories were perceived as more pleasant. In contrast, temporal effects were driven more by stroke duration or velocity than by predictability. Longer strokes, strokes at 3 cm/s, and linear paths were rated as more pleasant. Together with prior work, our results show that movement parameters shape pleasantness, with predictability effects depending on the spatial-temporal context.