Subjective feeling of pseudo-haptics in virtual reality: relationships to autistic traits

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate whether and how we perceive pseudo-haptics in virtual reality (VR) and how the subjective feeling of this perception relates to autistic traits. Participants were required to place their own arm-hand at the location where the arm-hand model was presented in VR space. When a gray bar approaching the arm-hand model touched the surface of that model, the initial speed (5.7 deg / sec) was rapidly slowed down. We found stronger touch perception related to i) larger speed change when the bar touched the arm-hand model and to ii) higher autistic traits.