Next-generation technologies can use air to stimulate different areas of the human hand to convey feelings of happiness, sadness, excitement or fear, scientists say.
Researchers have found that short, sharp bursts of air to the area around the thumb, index finger and middle part of the palm generate excitement, whereas sad feelings are created by slow and moderate stimulation of the outer palm and the area around the 'pinky' finger.
The findings provide "huge potential" for new innovations in human communication, said University of Sussex scientist Dr Marianna Obrist.
"Imagine a couple that has just had a fight before going to work. While she is in a meeting she receives a gentle sensation transmitted through her bracelet on the right part of her hand moving into the middle of the palm," said Obrist.
"That sensation comforts her and indicates that her partner is not angry anymore.
"These sensations were generated in our experiment using the Ultrahaptics system. A similar technology could be used between parent and baby, or to enrich audio-visual communication in long-distance relationships," she said.
Using the Ultrahaptics system - which enables creating sensations of touch through air to stimulate different parts of the hand - one group of participants in the study was asked to create patterns to describe the emotions evoked by five separate images: calm scenery with trees, white-water rafting, a graveyard, a car on fire, and a wall clock.
The participants were able to manipulate the position, direction, frequency, intensity and duration of the stimulations.
A second group then selected the stimulations created by the first group that they felt best described the emotions evoked by the images. They chose the best two for each image, making a total of 10.
Finally, a third group experienced all 10 selected stimulations while viewing each image in turn and rated how well each stimulation described the emotion evoked by each image.
The third group gave significantly higher ratings to stimulations when they were presented together with the image they were intended for, proving that the emotional meaning had been successfully communicated between the first and third groups.
Obrist has been awarded 1 million pounds by the European Research Council for a five-year project to expand the research into taste and smell, as well as touch.
"Relatively soon, we may be able to realise truly compelling and multi-faceted media experiences, such as 9-dimensional TV, or computer games that evoke emotions through taste," Obrist said.
"Longer term, we will be exploring how multi-sensory experiences can benefit people with sensory impairments," Obrist said.
