why do we touch?
the following 3 videos document a collaborative, graduate research independent study. the scope is from september 2009 – june 2010 (now). Professor Brian Stone is the man with the plan. this team includes...5 people? + 1 "mastermind" = Aaron Ganci...Elise = 1 graduated, so 6 total maybe? i don't know! we are all design development students at OSU
our project is / has been actively researching: multi-user touch interfaces, human-computer interaction, learning, and cognition + autism + more
in our research of touch and "why do we touch?" we learned that we as humans need to touch to stay sane. there have been a few questionably ethical, but interesting studies about our senses, and touch is definitely one that we really need.
• it's the only sense we can't turn off, or have much control
• it's there for our protection. hot things hurt us for a reason.
• we learn from our sense of touch
• when one is "touched", it can imply emotion. touch is emotional.
• touch is fun! "Touch and go", a tag-like game...was first recorded in 1655.
* human to human touch makes us happier. literally "more generous" in a study*, inside our brain chemistry set...read on...
& learn more! these are great articles about different research studies going on with sensory studies and learning and cognition:
*touch + psychology Psychology Today. this blog article is the first search result using Google search, "WHY DO WE TOUCH?" of about 124,000,000 results (0.30 seconds)
sound + touch NPR. the best part about this article is that you can listen to it! YES #a11y
i look forward to the future applications of these touch technologies. the potential for a textured, haptic experience is already possible and is there to leverage...if we only knew what to do with it! ...and that's what we're researching. it's obvious that this kind of technology could be applied for many audiences and purposes. who knows what this will lead into? just thinking...the interface could be host to a series of digitally-connected, separate devices that might provide more data to users. if something lights up, it attracts attention. if something vibrates, it attracts attention. the possibilities of this kind of research is endless and that's pretty exciting.
