Burnar: Involuntary heat sensations in augmented reality

P. Weir , C. Sandor , M. Swoboda , T. Nguyen , U. Eck , G. Reitmayr , A. Dey

VR

BurnAR overlays virtual flames and smoke onto a user's own hands so they appear to burn — and surprisingly, some users reported an involuntary sensation of warmth. The authors hypothesise this is a cross-modal transfer, a kind of temporary 'virtual synesthesia', in which seeing virtual flames triggers a heat sensation in people who are not synesthetes. They tested the effect in an exploratory study under controlled conditions, showing how AR visuals can reach into physical sensation.

@inproceedings{weir2013,
  author    = {P. Weir and C. Sandor and M. Swoboda and T. Nguyen and U. Eck and G. Reitmayr and A. Dey},
  title     = {Burnar: Involuntary heat sensations in augmented reality},
  booktitle = {VR},
  pages     = {43-46},
  doi       = {10.1109/VR.2013.6549357},
  year      = {2013}
}