triMorph: Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction

Zhuzhi Fan; Susan Li; Jialin Deng; Amy  Ingold; Oussama Metatla

doi:10.1145/3772318.3791243

triMorph: Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction

Zhuzhi Fan, Susan Li, Jialin Deng, Amy Ingold, Oussama Metatla

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

Abstract

Cross-sensory correspondences provide opportunities for designing rich sensory HCI, with prior work showing that features such as roundness and sharpness are systematically linked to language, color, sound, and emotion. Yet two challenges remain: few technologies can dynamically transition between these features, and little is known about the thresholds at which a form is judged as sufficiently rounded or spiky to realize these cross-sensory effects. We present triMorph, a pneumatic shape-changing interface capable of smoothly morphing between spiky, flat, and rounded configurations. In a psychophysical study with 30 participants, we quantified perceptual accuracy and precision in mapping triMorph shapes to visual-linguistic categories and examined shape–color and shape–emotion correspondences. Results reveal threshold values for reliable categorization, with rounded shapes linked to pleasant emotions and lighter colors, and spiky shapes to arousal and darker tones. Our findings provide empirical foundations and design guidelines for grounding shape-changing artifacts more firmly in cross-sensory cognition.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Alessandro Bozzon, Thomas Kosch, Vera Liao, Xiaojuan Ma, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo Lopez, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	1-30
Number of pages	30
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400722783
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791243
Publication status	Published - 13 Apr 2026
Event	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026 - Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Duration: 13 Apr 2026 → 17 Apr 2026 https://chi2026.acm.org/

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
Publisher	ACM
ISSN (Electronic)	1062-9432

Conference

Conference	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026
Abbreviated title	CHI ’26
Country/Territory	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	13/04/26 → 17/04/26
Internet address	https://chi2026.acm.org/

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

Research Groups and Themes

Bristol Interaction Group

Keywords

Shape-changing UIs
Cross-sensory interaction
Cross-sensory Correspondences
Psychophysics
Just Noticeable Difference
Crossmodal Cognition
Shape
Color
Emotion
Tactile interaction
Haptic

Access to Document

10.1145/3772318.3791243Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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Fan, Z., Li, S., Deng, J., Ingold, A., & Metatla, O. (2026). triMorph: Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction. In N. Oliver, D. A. Shamma, H. Candello, P. Cesar, P. Lopes, A. Bozzon, T. Kosch, V. Liao, X. Ma, V. Artizzu, F. Draxler, G. Lopez, A. V. Reinschluessel, X. Tong, & P. O. Toups Dugas (Eds.), CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-30). Article 761 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791243

Fan, Zhuzhi ; Li, Susan ; Deng, Jialin et al. / triMorph : Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction. CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. editor / Nuria Oliver ; David A. Shamma ; Heloisa Candello ; Pablo Cesar ; Pedro Lopes ; Alessandro Bozzon ; Thomas Kosch ; Vera Liao ; Xiaojuan Ma ; Valentino Artizzu ; Fiona Draxler ; Gustavo Lopez ; Anke V. Reinschluessel ; Xin Tong ; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. Association for Computing Machinery, 2026. pp. 1-30 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

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title = "triMorph: Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction",

abstract = "Cross-sensory correspondences provide opportunities for designing rich sensory HCI, with prior work showing that features such as roundness and sharpness are systematically linked to language, color, sound, and emotion. Yet two challenges remain: few technologies can dynamically transition between these features, and little is known about the thresholds at which a form is judged as sufficiently rounded or spiky to realize these cross-sensory effects. We present triMorph, a pneumatic shape-changing interface capable of smoothly morphing between spiky, flat, and rounded configurations. In a psychophysical study with 30 participants, we quantified perceptual accuracy and precision in mapping triMorph shapes to visual-linguistic categories and examined shape–color and shape–emotion correspondences. Results reveal threshold values for reliable categorization, with rounded shapes linked to pleasant emotions and lighter colors, and spiky shapes to arousal and darker tones. Our findings provide empirical foundations and design guidelines for grounding shape-changing artifacts more firmly in cross-sensory cognition.",

keywords = "Shape-changing UIs, Cross-sensory interaction, Cross-sensory Correspondences, Psychophysics, Just Noticeable Difference, Crossmodal Cognition, Shape, Color, Emotion, Tactile interaction, Haptic",

author = "Zhuzhi Fan and Susan Li and Jialin Deng and Amy Ingold and Oussama Metatla",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026, CHI {\textquoteright}26 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",

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booktitle = "CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

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Fan, Z , Li, S , Deng, J , Ingold, A & Metatla, O 2026, triMorph: Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction. in N Oliver, DA Shamma, H Candello, P Cesar, P Lopes, A Bozzon, T Kosch, V Liao, X Ma, V Artizzu, F Draxler, G Lopez, AV Reinschluessel, X Tong & PO Toups Dugas (eds), CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 761, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 1-30, ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026, Barcelona, Spain, 13/04/26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791243

triMorph: Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction. / Fan, Zhuzhi ; Li, Susan ; Deng, Jialin et al.
CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Nuria Oliver; David A. Shamma; Heloisa Candello; Pablo Cesar; Pedro Lopes; Alessandro Bozzon; Thomas Kosch; Vera Liao; Xiaojuan Ma; Valentino Artizzu; Fiona Draxler; Gustavo Lopez; Anke V. Reinschluessel; Xin Tong; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. Association for Computing Machinery, 2026. p. 1-30 761 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - triMorph

T2 - ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026

AU - Fan, Zhuzhi

AU - Li, Susan

AU - Deng, Jialin

AU - Ingold, Amy

AU - Metatla, Oussama

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N2 - Cross-sensory correspondences provide opportunities for designing rich sensory HCI, with prior work showing that features such as roundness and sharpness are systematically linked to language, color, sound, and emotion. Yet two challenges remain: few technologies can dynamically transition between these features, and little is known about the thresholds at which a form is judged as sufficiently rounded or spiky to realize these cross-sensory effects. We present triMorph, a pneumatic shape-changing interface capable of smoothly morphing between spiky, flat, and rounded configurations. In a psychophysical study with 30 participants, we quantified perceptual accuracy and precision in mapping triMorph shapes to visual-linguistic categories and examined shape–color and shape–emotion correspondences. Results reveal threshold values for reliable categorization, with rounded shapes linked to pleasant emotions and lighter colors, and spiky shapes to arousal and darker tones. Our findings provide empirical foundations and design guidelines for grounding shape-changing artifacts more firmly in cross-sensory cognition.

AB - Cross-sensory correspondences provide opportunities for designing rich sensory HCI, with prior work showing that features such as roundness and sharpness are systematically linked to language, color, sound, and emotion. Yet two challenges remain: few technologies can dynamically transition between these features, and little is known about the thresholds at which a form is judged as sufficiently rounded or spiky to realize these cross-sensory effects. We present triMorph, a pneumatic shape-changing interface capable of smoothly morphing between spiky, flat, and rounded configurations. In a psychophysical study with 30 participants, we quantified perceptual accuracy and precision in mapping triMorph shapes to visual-linguistic categories and examined shape–color and shape–emotion correspondences. Results reveal threshold values for reliable categorization, with rounded shapes linked to pleasant emotions and lighter colors, and spiky shapes to arousal and darker tones. Our findings provide empirical foundations and design guidelines for grounding shape-changing artifacts more firmly in cross-sensory cognition.

KW - Shape-changing UIs

KW - Cross-sensory interaction

KW - Cross-sensory Correspondences

KW - Psychophysics

KW - Just Noticeable Difference

KW - Crossmodal Cognition

KW - Shape

KW - Color

KW - Emotion

KW - Tactile interaction

KW - Haptic

U2 - 10.1145/3772318.3791243

DO - 10.1145/3772318.3791243

M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

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BT - CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

A2 - Oliver, Nuria

A2 - Shamma, David A.

A2 - Candello, Heloisa

A2 - Cesar, Pablo

A2 - Lopes, Pedro

A2 - Bozzon, Alessandro

A2 - Kosch, Thomas

A2 - Liao, Vera

A2 - Ma, Xiaojuan

A2 - Artizzu, Valentino

A2 - Draxler, Fiona

A2 - Lopez, Gustavo

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PB - Association for Computing Machinery

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ER -

Fan Z , Li S , Deng J , Ingold A , Metatla O. triMorph: Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction. In Oliver N, Shamma DA, Candello H, Cesar P, Lopes P, Bozzon A, Kosch T, Liao V, Ma X, Artizzu V, Draxler F, Lopez G, Reinschluessel AV, Tong X, Toups Dugas PO, editors, CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery. 2026. p. 1-30. 761. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). doi: 10.1145/3772318.3791243

triMorph: Bridging Shape-Change and Cross-Sensory Correspondences for Haptic Interaction

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Research Groups and Themes

Keywords

Access to Document

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