Implicit measure of emotional responses to fabric textures: an original approach based on the Affect Misattribution Procedure

Fabric texture significantly influences consumers' emotional responses, shaping product preferences. While explicit methods capture conscious evaluations, many emotional reactions occur automatically, outside awareness. Implicit measures can reveal these spontaneous responses, offering deeper insight into the emotional impact of texture, particularly in the absence of visual cues. This study applied an adapted Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) to investigate implicit emotional responses to fabric textures using only touch. One hundred fifty-four Italian participants blindly touched one of six fabrics, cotton, synthetic leather, wool, bamboo sponge, velvet, and jute, selected for their potential to elicit varied emotions. Each fabric served as a prime stimulus. Immediately afterward, participants viewed an ambiguous stimulus (Chinese pictograph) and selected the emotion it evoked, irrespective of their tactile experience. Choices included four emotions reflecting distinct combinations of valence and arousal: happiness, relaxation, boredom, and sadness. Each fabric was presented three times in random order, and response times were recorded. Results showed clear patterns: velvet most frequently evoked happiness, bamboo sponge was linked to relaxation, and jute to sadness. Relaxation, a low-arousal positive emotion, was selected more quickly than sadness, suggesting that emotional valence influences the speed of automatic responses. These findings demonstrate that texture can elicit implicit emotional reactions and underscore the utility of implicit methods in sensory research. The proposed approach enables the measurement of both affective and emotion-specific responses to tactile stimuli. By highlighting texture as a key emotional dimension, this method supports emotionally driven product design and the development of more engaging, multisensory consumer experiences.