PhD project 'Sensory incongruity and surprise'
The project focuses on what happens when people preceive incongruent sensory information in products. Below you can find some general information about the main topics that are dealt with. Click publications to read more.
Surprise
When someone perceives an object through one modality, he or she will create expectations about what will be perceived through other modalities. When the information from both senses is incongruent and these expectations are disconfirmed, he or she can be surprised.
In emotion theory, several authors use different definitions of surprise. Surprise is seen as an emotion by some but not by others. We propose a model of surprise (as depicted below) that sees surprise as a first stage in a sequence of appraisals (evaluations of relevant events) that can lead to different emotions. Such a definition of surprise may allow designers to better understand to which emotions a surprise reaction can eventually lead.
Types of sensory incongruity
In several experiments, we have explored three types of incongruities:
Visual - tactual incongruities
Several measures of surprise were used and evaluated. Two types of surprising products were defined. Reactions to these two types of surprising products seem to differ.
Visual - auditory incongruities
We manipulated the sound of dust busters and lemon juicers to investigate the effect of sounds (in)congruent with the products' appearance on how the product was experienced.
Visual - olfactory incongruities
In an exploratory study We manipulated the odor of a variety of products to gain insight into the effect of (in)congruent odors on product evaluation.
Design strategies
We have studied how and why contemporary designers use visual - tactual incongruities in their products. Based on this study, we have defined six strategies that designers can use as an inspirational tool to design surprise through visual - tactual incongruity.
contact
Landbergstraat 15
2628CE Delft
room: 10-2A-19
phone: +31(0)152783778
fax: +31(0)152787179
email: g.d.s.ludden@io.tudelft.nl
Links to related projects:
designID-Studiolab
our research
Links to related topics:
designID-Studiolab
our research