Lucid Touch is a bioreactive sculpture that induces emotion using an affective feedback loop to control the flow of a dream.

Through the sense of touch, bio-electrical arousal levels from the human body are altering the stream of a dream experience. The participant controls the mood of a simulated dream and the digital dreamer controls the participant’s emotional state.

When a participant touches the interface with the hand, her/his biological data is detected through skin conductance response, heart rate and body temperature.

The information is presented to the participant in the form of a dream, simulated using images, animation, digital video and sound. The dream is influenced and controlled by the participant whose psychophysiological state modifies the mood of the dream. His/her emotional / electrical energy controls video effects and sound. Which will in turn potentially have a direct influence on the participant’s mood. Hence, the feedback loop.

A secondary feedback is that the interface physically alternates between warmth/cold and vibration. This will provide the participant with an eerie experience of something alive in the machine. An entity with the ability to sense emotion. The more excited you become, the more the entity “warms” to you.

The participant can learn how to “play” Lucid Touch with their bio-state. Once the participant is aware of this, she/he can learn to control their own emotional state by lowering stress levels or relieving boredom by raising arousal levels.

By Adelaide-based digital artist Lynne Sanderson.