The Objectivity of Users' Emotional Experience with Textiles - Biological and Mechanical Tests for the Prediction of the Sensorial Profile of Fabrics.

Sensorial and emotional loads, which are strongly correlated to the acceptability of fabrics to users and the pleasure users derive from them, represent a decisive factor in the application of textiles. For the past few years this research group has been investigating modalities to define and predict sensoriality on the basis of objective parameters and tests. In the current phase of research a broader panel of test subjects has been constituted to verify and further investigate previous results. The panel includes professional figures, foreigners, blind people and laypeople. As well as this, the adoption of experimental mechanical tests aimed at replicating users’ skin properties and procedures in valuing the hand of fabrics has led to new findings and further improvements. Reliable results have been obtained for the prediction of sensorial properties such as softness, smoothness and lightness on the basis of specific objective tests. The most novel contributions derive from investigations in the field of neurosciences. Panelists were monitored in their physiological parameters (skin-resistance and heart-rate) and sight directions (eye-tracking) while assessing fabrics to identify task difficulty rankings and exploratory paths.