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Technosense and Sensibilia: Haptic Interfaces, Selfhood, and Obstruction in Virtual RealityMain MenuIntroductionThe Cognitive Neuroscientific ApproachThe Threshold for Haptic EngagementMultisensory Experience and the Mistaken Body ProblemBodily ProsthesisThe Danger of IllusionThe Theoretical ApproachSelfhood and the SensesHaptic EngagementThe Experience of Virtual RealityConclusionsWorks CitedJustin Gil94c47de2aaac7843570bcc43b3442787b5fca97e
Obstruction
12016-05-03T12:14:26-07:00Justin Gil94c47de2aaac7843570bcc43b3442787b5fca97e95542plain2016-05-04T23:00:21-07:00Justin Gil94c47de2aaac7843570bcc43b3442787b5fca97eHow does virtual reality obstruct the experience of affect? Elsewhere, we have detailed the effects of virtual reality on the user’s sense of the real in multiple dimensions. The research has not yet considered the ways in which the apparatus—the physical technology—of virtual reality inhibits an affective response, only in how the experience itself furthers that same response.
Gallace and Spence speculate that a possible hindrance with many haptic simulators for virtual reality, such as a full body exoskeleton, is that the mechanical device, “(such as the actuators within a force feedback system) is always going to be associated with the presence of friction” (209). I’m not presently interested in drawing out that discussion any further, but the implication is important to the experience of wearing machines like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. These devices create resistance in the contraction of facial musculature, not to mention their unavoidable weight and presence.
The broader question that necessitates scientific inquiry is the capacity for an emotional response of a higher order with apparatuses that are anything but seamless. Beyond feelings of vertigo that apply directly to the somatosensory regime, how does fear (of a lower order) respond to the experience of virtual reality and the associated wearable technology? How do emotions that require conscious engagement respond to the same technology? See Section 3 for a fuller investigation of self, emotion, and sense.