Study on Correlation Between Touching Condition and Texture Perception

Abstract

This study aims to investigate relationship between texture perception and touching condition such as active and passive touch. Four different sensory evaluation experiments under various tactile conditions were conducted. In the first sensory evaluation experiment, subjects actively touched the surface of six different underwear fabrics (Active touch) and evaluated the texture by 5 different sensory words. At the same time, pressing force and fingertip velocity were measured. In the next experiment, subjects passively touched the same sample that moved under their finger (Passive touch) and evaluated the texture as same as the first experiment. In this experiment, three conditions were set (Passive (i)～(iii)) based on the average pressing force and fingertip velocity of all subjects in the first experiment: Passive (i) with the same force and velocity, Passive (ii) with the same velocity but with low pressing force, and Passive (iii) with the same pressing force but with slower speed. In both experiments, subjects evaluated all samples three times. Concerning touching motion at active touch experiment, pressing force as well as fingertip velocity decreased when subjects touched the samples that marked high score on “zara-zara” feeling. This result indicates the possibility of object feature affecting the finger movement. Comparing the evaluation result of comfort in active and passive touch experiments, there were samples whose evaluation varied greatly between these two.