ABSTRACT
This chapter compares before-touch interactions in real-world and virtual reality environments and investigates how the measurements of a pre-touch distance around the face in a virtual scenario can be applied to the study of social interactions. In the first stage of this study, we collected data that lead to a definition of a pre-touch distance when a virtual agent tries to touch a participant’s face. On the basis of these results, we classified participants into two groups by their preferred pre-touch distance: near and far groups. Then, we experimentally investigated the relationship between the participant’s perception of an avatar’s reaction to touch interactions and their preferred pre-touch distance.
