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Médiations techniques des interactions perceptives: rencontres tactiles dans les environnements numériques partagés

Groupe Suppléance Perceptive, COSTECH UTC-Compiègne, BP60319 60206 Compiègne Cedex, France, Charles.lenay{at}utc.fr

In what conditions does a technical mediation allow subjects to meet and to recognize each other? In digital networks, virtual spaces of collaborative work and play give rise to interactions at a distance between users. But to what extent do these interactions allow each partner to recognize the living presence of other perceiving subjects? In order to study this question, we use perceptual supplementation devices (more commonly known as sensory substitution systems). These devices for prosthetic perception represent an extreme situation, which is highly revealing as to the way that technological devices transform our perceptual capacities. Here, they make it possible to identify the conditions for the existence of perceptual crossing, i.e. a situation which makes it possible for two subjects to recognize each other. To carry out this research, we propose a minimalist experimental paradigm, constructed with the aid of the `Tactos' system. This perceptual supplementation device has been developed in order to give a tactile perception of digital forms present on the screen of a computer. When two such devices are connected in a network, they also allow tactile interactions between users at a distance (one can speak of distal caresses). The minimal version of this device gives scope for an experimental study and a precise analysis of the perceptual interactions. These experiments lead us to suggest several conditions which seem necessary for the constitution of a lived experience of perceptual crossing: the presence for each partner of a body-image perceivable by the other participants; a direct link between the perceptual activity and the dynamics of this body-image; and the impossibility for each partner to themselves perceive the body-image they present to the other participants.

Key Words: Croisements perceptifs (Perceptual crossing) • Environnements virtuels collaboratifs • Interactions perceptives • Suppléance perceptive • Substitution sensorielle

Social Science Information, Vol. 47, No. 3, 331-352 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0539018408092576


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