Haptics in Communication

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Jacque Brotherton 12/10/2012 Haptics in Communication The need for affectionate human touch can be intense and important for our survival. Lack of adequate touch in our lives could lead to negative behaviors and an inability to be in a proper relationship. Touch is our earliest sense to develop while we are still in the womb. Lack of touch in infancy could lead to failure to thrive and perhaps death. Touch provides information involving surfaces and textures. Touch is vital in physical intimacy whether it is sexual or platonic. “What we touch unconsciously influences how we think,” says Ackerman. “In situations where evaluations and decisions really matter, we need to pay attention to our physical surroundings and, in particular, how we engage these surroundings through our sense of touch.” Sensory experiences in early life influence the development of our conceptual knowledge. This conceptual knowledge, in turn, can subsequently be applied to new experiences. Thus, touching objects may simultaneously cue the processing of physical sensation and touch-related conceptual processing. This is further strengthened by the use of common metaphors such as “having a rough day,” “coarse language, “thinking about weighty matters,” and the “gravity of the situation,” implying that heaviness produces impressions of importance and seriousness, while roughness leads to impressions of decreased coordination. The skin is the oldest and the largest of our sense organs, and the first to develop. The fetus experiences touch by being suspended in amniotic fluid and receiving tactile stimulation through the mother’s abdominal wall, typically showing this by increased activity. The newborn continues to receive significant stimulation through being cuddled and breastfed. This caregiving touch is not only essential for growth and development but has also been
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