MindTouch: Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Mid-Air Tactile Perception
Madhan Kumar Vasudevan, Shu Zhong, Jan Kučera, Desiree Cho, Marianna Obrist
International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems April 19, 2023 DOI: 10.1145/3544548.3581238 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study (within-subjects) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 22 |
| Population | Human participants performing a mid-air haptic digit recognition task |
| Intervention | Mindfulness meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | A brief prior mindfulness meditation session significantly improved participants' ability to recognize digits drawn on their palms with mid-air haptics at both 40 Hz (Meissner) and 200 Hz (Pacinian) frequencies, and also increased their confidence. The authors propose that incorporating a short meditation step into haptic user interfaces could enhance system performance and user satisfaction. |
Abstract
As we constantly seek to improve and expand upon the capabilities of technology, we frequently wonder whether we use technology to its fullest extent. Studies indicate that increasing our awareness and mindfulness of our senses may lead to a journey of unexplored experiences. In this paper, we focus on the perception of mid-air haptics stimuli and whether it can be improved through mindfulness meditation. We have conducted an experiment with 22 participants given the task to recognize digits 0 to 9 drawn on their palms using a mid-air haptic device under two conditions - with and without prior mindfulness meditation. Results show that for frequencies targeting both Meissner (40 Hz) and Pacinian (200 Hz) receptors, meditation significantly improves performance of the participants, as well as increases their confidence. This suggests that including a short meditation step in haptic user interfaces could lead to improved system performance and user satisfaction.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Sensory Perception and Emotional Evaluation of Mid-Air Touch on the Forearm IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing July 1, 2025
- Understanding How Pranic Healing Facilitators' Observed Experiences and Outcomes Arise: A Critical Realist Explanatory Model. Cureus July 2026
- Exploring the Design of a LLM-Based AI Assistant for Mindfulness Practice With Older Adults International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems April 13, 2026
- RunMe: An Adaptive Sound System for Running Meditation ACM Trans. Comput. Hum. Interact. February 17, 2025
Cites 18
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- The toronto mindfulness scale: Development and validation Journal of Clinical Psychology 2006
- Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention. Psychological Science June 1, 2010
- The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists PLoS One May 24, 2017
- Effects of Brief and Sham Mindfulness Meditation on Mood and Cardiovascular Variables The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine July 28, 2010
and 13 more in the library