Partner-Sourced Haptic Feedback, Not Environmental Inputs, Drives Coordination Improvement in Human Dyadic Collaboration

Partner-Sourced Haptic Feedback, Not Environmental Inputs, Drives Coordination Improvement in Human Dyadic Collaboration | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Partner-Sourced Haptic Feedback, Not Environmental Inputs, Drives Coordination Improvement in Human Dyadic Collaboration Yiming Liu, Raz Leib, William Dudley, Ali Shafti, Aldo Faisal, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6745798/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 18 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Haptic communication is a critical communication channel in physical collaboration. However, most studies focus on simplistic tasks with predetermined solutions, restricting the exploration of collaborative behaviors. In this study, we designed a complex task derived from the classic ball-beam control problem, requiring pairs of participants to collaboratively control an unstable object with internal degrees of freedom. The task's redundant nature allowed diverse strategies and collaboration patterns to emerge. We systematically examined the impact of different haptic feedback, distinguishing between that originating from the partner and the environment. Participants collaborated across five haptic feedback conditions: full haptics, partner only, environment only, no haptics, or unrelated haptics. Haptic feedback significantly enhanced interpersonal coordination, primarily via partner-sourced rather than environment-sourced haptic feedback. Despite equal access to information and mechanical leverage, participants naturally assumed leader-follower roles, which were robustly quantified across multiple metrics. We showed how leadership dynamics evolved throughout the experiment and varied across different haptic conditions. This study advances the understanding of haptic communication, highlighting the value of partner haptics in developing more effective and adaptive strategies for both human-human and human-robot collaboration. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Motor control Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Sensorimotor processing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 18 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 28 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 24 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 14 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 08 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 May, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 30 May, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 30 May, 2025 Editor invited by journal 30 May, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 28 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 28 May, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6745798","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":465378440,"identity":"f839546b-17f1-4068-a506-7ebad5f30089","order_by":0,"name":"Yiming Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Munich","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yiming","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":465378441,"identity":"4f4aeeb8-b059-4e20-8b99-65ad5a2b9133","order_by":1,"name":"Raz Leib","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Munich","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Raz","middleName":"","lastName":"Leib","suffix":""},{"id":465378442,"identity":"6cbcfe1a-5d81-423f-896b-bf1f33335cb5","order_by":2,"name":"William Dudley","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Imperial College London","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"William","middleName":"","lastName":"Dudley","suffix":""},{"id":465378443,"identity":"0b255d81-4991-4a79-9628-7f91ffa69afc","order_by":3,"name":"Ali Shafti","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Imperial College London","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ali","middleName":"","lastName":"Shafti","suffix":""},{"id":465378444,"identity":"82d2796c-3677-490a-beec-fecd61ea4dc9","order_by":4,"name":"Aldo Faisal","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Imperial College London","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Aldo","middleName":"","lastName":"Faisal","suffix":""},{"id":465378445,"identity":"28f958d0-0205-493e-928f-6097b9b51ef5","order_by":5,"name":"David Franklin","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5klEQVRIie3PsQrCMBCA4SuCU6lri6CvcMWpID5LSiEugquTFIROPkBFH8TxiqBLsZsE6iKCU4eOCg6mLQgu0dEhPxmSwEcuADrdP0ZymdCTu7ZBDIb1pf0DGVQEJOH2TwTeBGD3nViH1KUCcNpZR4wu22yOJzJEqSBOOsFkA+jF5z2Rn+Y25qzlxQqCxNnOhCeCGIfkRzVpd00VyW4VQew35NiQp4qIgGqCgsvBImqI6vuOuFKykcIVnEkSOKvcX3hLBbEyf1EWM8Se4O7lEY06Vh4k4q56phnv42SEX4FOp9Pp1L0AIKBYBNCD6G8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Munich","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Franklin","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-25 22:23:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6745798/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6745798/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-27258-5","type":"published","date":"2025-11-18T15:58:05+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":96650298,"identity":"c27957e0-5db5-4b6b-a78f-27050cb24122","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-24 16:10:58","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1392389,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ScientificReportsPartnervsEnvironment.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6745798/v1_covered_a3575f81-1b79-40e8-8c2d-90824686fc84.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Partner-Sourced Haptic Feedback, Not Environmental Inputs, Drives Coordination Improvement in Human Dyadic Collaboration","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6745798/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6745798/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Haptic communication is a critical communication channel in physical collaboration. 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