Keywords: SEE BRA1998:02

This study investigates the effect of force-feedback in computer-mediated communication. Participants completed a screen-based maze task with an alleged remote participant in a 2 (task characteristics: cooperative vs. competitive) by 2 (modality: haptic/force-feedback vs. visual) balanced, between-participants experiment. There were a number of cross-over interactions. In the competitive task, participants felt more powerful and more positively overall when interacting through force-feedback than when interacting visually. They also liked the other participant more and trusted them more. The opposite results were obtained for the cooperating participants. Implications for including force-feedback in computermediated communication are outlined.

NOTE: THIS PAPER HAS BEEN REPUBLISHED (WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT MODIFICATION) IN: Brave, S., Nass, C., & Sirinian, E. (2001). Force-feedback in computer-mediated communication. Proceedings of UAHCI?01: Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction.
ORIGINAL: BRA1998:02



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? Howeve, the tactile dimension is potentially of great value not only in our interactions with the inanimate world, but also in mediated interpersonal interactions/.


DISCUSSION

Communication via force-feedback had a dramatic effect on users? feelings about the interaction and user?s perceptions of their interaction partners.
In the competitive condition, interaction through touch made users feel more powerful and more positively overall. However, in the cooperative condition, the effect of touch was the opposite: Interaction through touch made users feel less powerful and less positively overall.
This effect can be explained by considering the psychology of holding. Holding the joystick gives the participant a feeling of being in command of their partner. This is true because the forces on the joystick?though always felt?were not strong enough to overcome the participant?s actions
The participant?s goal as to overcome their partner and the joystick served as a medium for establishing and reinforcing their dominance. Such dominance was not possible in the visual modality, since the arrows can only be ignored, not commanded.