Determinants for positive and negative experiences of interpersonal touch: context matters.

The goal of the study was to determine which aspects of interpersonal touch interactions lead to a positive or negative experience. Previous research has focused primarily on physical characteristics. We suggest that this may not be sufficient to fully capture the complexity of the experience.

Repressive and vigilant coping styles in stress and relaxation: evidence for physiological and subjective differences at baseline, but not for differential stress or relaxation responses.

Introduction: Previous research suggested differential stress reactivity depending on individuals' coping style, e.g., as classified by the model of coping modes.

Human trust in otherware - a systematic literature review bringing all antecedents together.

Technological systems are becoming increasingly smarter, which causes a shift in the way they are seen: from tools used to execute specific tasks to social counterparts with whom to cooperate. To ensure that these interactions are successful, trust has proven to be the most important driver. We conducted an extensive and structured review with the goal to reveal all previously researched antecedents influencing the human trust in technology-based counterparts.

Facilitating relaxation and stress reduction in healthy participants through a virtual reality intervention: study protocol for a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial.

Background: Repeated or chronic stress is considered a major source of disease, in terms of both somatic and mental illnesses. The prevention of stress-related disease by interventions for relaxation has thus increased societal relevance. In this randomized controlled non-inferiority trial, we will compare a newly developed virtual reality (VR) environment for relaxation to an active control group applying a freely chosen relaxation method.

Technology-Mediated Experiences and Social Context: Relevant Needs in Private Vs. Public Interaction and the Importance of Others for Positive Affect.

Technologies, such as smartphones or wearables, take a central role in our daily lives. Making their use meaningful and enjoyable requires a better understanding of the prerequisites and underpinnings of positive experiences with such technologies. So far, a focus had been on the users themselves, that is, their individual goals, desires, feelings, and acceptance.

Trust in artificial intelligence within production management - an exploration of antecedents.

Industry 4.0, big data, predictive analytics, and robotics are leading to a paradigm shift on the shop floor of industrial production. However, complex, cognitive tasks are also subject of change, due to the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

Wellbeing in the Making: Peoples' Experiences with Wearable Activity Trackers.

Background: Wearable activity trackers have become a viable business opportunity. Nevertheless, research has raised concerns over their potentially detrimental effects on wellbeing. For example, a recent study found that while counting steps with a pedometer increased steps taken throughout the day, at the same time it decreased the enjoyment people derived from walking.

Sitting comfort of ergonomic office chairs--developed versus intuitive evaluation.

The sitting comfort of office chairs with different ergonomic layouts (inferior, superior) was examined. Fifty participants were randomly assigned to a 2×5 factorial experimental design with 2 different conditions of ergonomic chair layout (inferior or superior) and 5 different conditions of instruction to explore the chair. Four conditions were created to differentiate between various levels of perceptual awareness and processing of chair-related information (guided exploration and developed evaluation).

Haptic texture affects the kinematics of pointing movements, but not of eye movements.

Discrepant findings on the degree of eye-hand coupling suggest its dependence on the task. One task characteristic modulating this coupling may be the relevance of certain target attributes for each motor system. We tested this assumption by comparing eye and hand movements towards targets of different haptic texture, a target attribute which is behaviourally relevant only to the hand, not the eye.