Today many people spend a large portion of their day interacting with vibrating mobile devices, yet how we perceive the vibrotactile sensations emitted by these devices, and their effect on consumer choice is largely unknown. Building on both classical conditioning theory and recent work on haptic sensory processing, the current research examines the functional relationship between vibration duration and perception, the role of vibrational stimuli as rewards and modifiers of choice, as well as the underlying mechanism of this relationship. We examine mobile vibrations in a variety of experimental settings, drawing on a diverse participant pool, leveraging both within- and between-subject experimental designs to assess theoretically and practically important boundary conditions. We find that certain mobile vibrations are perceived as rewarding, contingent upon prior exposure, and can boost purchasing in ecological online shopping environments, whereas short or long durations are perceived as neutral or punishing, respectively. We further show that these effects are amplified for impulsive consumers, relate to a range of demographic and psychological trait variable, and provide evidence that associative learning may underpin mobile vibration reward perception. Our findings have important implications for the effective design of haptic human-machine interfaces in marketing and the role of vibrotactile stimuli as a novel form of reward.
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