Not only in the eye of the beholder: Tactile information can affect aesthetic evaluation.

Abstract

The study tested if evaluation of Aesthetic quality is influenced by tactile information and whether the evaluation process is affected more by one modality (vision) than another (touch). Tactile sensing and visual appreciation were compared with combined visual and tactile sensing of surface textures. Three kinds of plastic textures on the outside of a DVD container and three sample swatches of the textures used on the DVDs were used in the study. Three DVD containers were presented visually to the participants. This was followed by a blind haptic evaluation (i.e., the participants could only feel but not see the swatches) of the three different textured swatches, and then by combined visual and tactile evaluation of the three differently textured DVDs. One hundred and twelve participants took part in all 3 evaluations. A regression analysis showed that in 2 of the 3 conditions tested, overall Aesthetic evaluation was influenced both by vision and touch. To what extent the modalities influenced the evaluation depended upon which of the textures had been evaluated.

To touch or not to touch; that is the question. Should consumers always be encouraged to touch products, and does it always alter product perception?

“…This suggests that previous experiences are guiding the participants' subsequent evaluations. This supports previous research proposing that a determining factor in consumers' evaluation of products is the expectation of what the packaging should feel like (part of the mental schema for a particular product category or brand) (Jansson-Boyd & Marlow, 2007;Schifferstein & Spence, 2008).…”

“…The findings only partially support previous research findings indicating that tactile information affects product evaluation (e.g., Jansson-Boyd & Marlow, 2007;McCabe & Nowlis, 2003).…”

“…It has previously been proposed that touch can be more influential than vision when consumers evaluate products that are commonly handled for a substantial amount of time and that the underlying reason is due to the surface textures used (Jansson-Boyd & Marlow, 2007). However, this study has not found that such findings are applicable to fast-moving consumer goods.…”

“…Research on products that generate "more" tactile interaction suggests that it is the content of existing mental schema and the subsequent expectations of products that guide our tactile senses in determining the overall likeability of the stimulus that is being evaluated (Jansson-Boyd & Marlow, 2007;Schifferstein & Spence, 2008). If this is also applicable to products that consumers are likely to touch only briefly (fast-moving consumer goods), it seems likely that altering the surface texture should affect the way the products are perceived, in either a more or less favorable fashion.…”

Assessing the associations between brand packaging and brand attributes using an indirect performance measure

“…For example, Demattè et al (2006) used a crossmodal version of this task in order to highlight the existence of an association between fragrance and softness (of terry-towelling cloths). This demonstrates just how powerful this technique is in terms of assisting in the development of the tactile (and not just the visual) attributes of new packaging (see also Jansson-Boyd & Marlow, 2007). What is more, the compatibility task reported here delivered results that were highly significant on the basis of the data collected from just 12 participants who were tested for only 12 min each.…”