Visuo-Tactile Feedback with Hand Outline Styles for Modulating Affective Roughness Perception

TL;DR

This study explores how visual hand outline styles combined with tactile vibrations can modulate emotional responses and perceived roughness in VR, revealing that visual cues significantly influence affective perception especially at lower tactile intensities.

Contribution

It introduces a novel visuo-tactile feedback method using expressive hand outline styles to modulate affective roughness perception in VR environments.

Findings

Sharp contours increase perceived roughness and arousal.

Red color lowers valence and emotional positivity.

Visual cues influence affective perception more at lower tactile intensities.

Abstract

We propose a visuo-tactile feedback method that combines virtual hand visualization and fingertip vibrations to modulate affective roughness perception in VR. While prior work has focused on object-based textures and vibrotactile feedback, the role of visual feedback on virtual hands remains underexplored. Our approach introduces affective visual cues including line shape, motion, and color applied to hand outlines, and examines their influence on both affective responses (arousal, valence) and perceived roughness. Results show that sharp contours enhanced perceived roughness, increased arousal, and reduced valence, intensifying the emotional impact of haptic feedback. In contrast, color affected valence only, with red consistently lowering emotional positivity. These effects were especially noticeable at lower haptic intensities, where visual cues extended affective modulation into mid-level perceptual ranges. Overall, the findings highlight how integrating expressive visual cues with tactile feedback can enrich affective rendering and offer flexible emotional tuning in immersive VR interactions.