How perception gets emotional value through the use of an object
Ejl Eva Deckers, Jan Westerhoff, M Milou Pikaart, Gaf Gilles van Wanrooij, CJ Kees Overbeeke · TU/e Research Portal · 2009
In this paper we explain and interpret theories on perception and indicate how they can inform design. The driving question is how to augment perceived emotional value in design. Based on these theories we state that subjects need similar perceptive bodies, i.e. perceive by the same senses, to be able to perceive the emotional content of reciprocal perception. A basic experiment shows this effect and gives insights on how to design an object that could restore this sharing and understanding between subjects perceiving a scene with different perceptual senses. These insights are used to analyze different designs. In all these case studies the users are unable to naturally perceive reciprocal perception. The first case study is a direct implementation of the theory. User explorations with this prototype show the importance of embodiment in perception. We further investigated this issue in a second case study. This second design investigates the influence of embodiment on the perception of emotional value through direct haptic communication using a mediator. The third example also explores a mediator for perception between users but focuses on auditory stimuli. Finally we show a novel application based on the theory.