From the lab to the festival tent: these FSBS researchers conducted studies at Lowlands

Several Utrecht psychologists packed their gear and set off for Lowlands. They stuck on electrodes, set up brain scan kits – and, above all, spent hours chatting with their diverse crowd of participants.

Onderzoeksteam Sprekende Stiltes project
The Sprekende Stiltes-researchers

It took a bit of adjusting again: crawling stiffly out of a tent in Biddinghuizen in the morning. And yes, it was a bit of a challenge trying to fit brain scanners onto the sweaty, beer-splashed heads of festival-goers in the middle of all the chaos. “But we did it – we’ve got usable data!” says social psychologist Tom Frijns. With help from colleague Ruud Hortensius and a team of PhDs and Master’s students, he carried out research at Lowlands this August. They teamed up with Gerlof van Engelenhoven, a cultural scientist from Leiden ľϸӰ. 

Finding research participants

Two researchers from different universities, with different backgrounds. They had never met, yet the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA) approached them to collaborate at Lowlands on a study into non-verbal communication and synchronisation. Tom: “Lowlands is an ideal place for this, because in this type of research it’s always hard to recruit participants – you need twenty people at the same time.” The NWA reached out to Tom after his earlier appearance at the Betweter Festival.

Onderzoeksdeelnemers tijdens voorstelling op Lowlands
Research participants during a performance

Moving together

Tom and Gerlof, together with three artists, created a performance piece that doubled as a research project. The show was called   (“Speaking silences”). “Gerlof researches how silence is used, for example by activists or artists. I often use synchronisation in my teaching – I get students to move together. We know that mirroring each other, moving in sync, affects how much we like each other and whether we’re willing to cooperate.”

A non-verbal show

At the science area, right next to the Alpha tent, photographer Michelle Piergoelam, sound artist Finn Maätita and movement artist Loretta Lau put on wordless performances: mysterious photo screens inside a shipping container, a soundscape of nature sounds, and a dance about the story of Anansi the spider. “We gave half the audience explicit instructions: move along with the performance artist. The other half just watched. Our hypothesis was that synchronising – moving together – would make it easier to understand the message, and that people’s experiences would become more alike.” Whether that hypothesis was right will become clear once the data are analysed.

Onderzoekers van de Dutch Touch Society
The Dutch Touch Society researchers plus two HUGS

Searching for funding

Doing research at Lowlands isn’t free. If you’re invited by the NWA, like Tom was, then you’re covered. But if, like experimental psychologists Anouk Keizer, Birgit Hasenack and their  group, you take the initiative yourself, then you’re sent a bill: €6,000, excluding VAT. “Two years ago, we decided as a group to join a big outreach event. That became the study  (Hold Tight: An experience that stays with you) at Lowlands. TNO, our universities, and the UU Public Engagement Seed Fund covered the costs. On top of the festival fee, we also had to buy these ‘HUGS’ from a dementia shop.” Anouk pulls out a big cuddle toy. “This is a robot hug. It has a heartbeat and feels heavy. We wanted to see whether it helps people be less startled.”

We mounted buttkickers under the chairs – they shook hard at the jump-scare moments.

Buttkickers

For their experiment, Anouk and her colleagues had 257 people watch a scary film. “We mounted buttkickers under the chairs – they shook violently at the jump-scare moments. We also pumped in a strong scent, turning it into a full 4D experience. The idea was to scare people as much as possible.”

Touch matters

Some participants had a HUG on their lap. Others held the hand of someone they knew, or of a stranger. The last group sat with nothing at all. “Everyone had electrodes on their palms to measure sweating – a sign of being startled.”

 

Onderzoeksdeelnemers kijken naar de enge film Fotograaf Alex Heuvink
Research participants watching the scary movie Photo: Alex Heuvink

A diverse crowd of research participants

One big plus of Lowlands: in the lab at the Utrecht Science Park, most test subjects are highly educated women. At Lowlands, the mix was far broader. The measurement data still need to be analysed, but survey responses already showed: people prefer being touched by a robot over being touched by a stranger.

Spreading awareness

Besides gathering data, Anouk and her team had another goal: to raise awareness of the importance of social touch. “Since MeToo, there’s been a lot of focus on boundaries, on what’s not allowed, on inappropriate behaviour. But our research shows that wanted, non-sexual touch – a hug, a hand on your shoulder – can do real good too. We had so many great conversations about this with festival-goers.”