Investigating response similarities between real and mediated social touch: a first test

In this paper, we investigate whether the gender differences generally found in same and opposite sex social touch are also present in mediated situations. Participants were led to believe that a male or female stranger was remotely touching them by means of a vest equipped with vibrotactile actuators. Affective responses varied with the stimulated body location, but the effect of dyad composition was not significant. In sum, we found partial support for the assumption that mediated social touch is actually perceived of as a real touch. Possible improvements to haptic communication devices are discussed.