An array 1502 of cutaneous actuators mounted on a substrate receives 1540A actuator signals corresponding to words of a social touch lexicon including greeting, parting, giving attention, helping, consoling, calming, pleasant, and reassuring touches. A signal generator coupled to the array 1502 may generate and transmit the actuator signals to the array 1502 to cause the array 1502 to create continuous tactile motion along a body 1500 of the user from a first location to the a location.
A first cutaneous actuator of the array of cutaneous actuators generates 1540B a first haptic sensation corresponding to the actuator signals. The first cutaneous actuator of the array of cutaneous actuators transmits 1540C the first haptic sensation to a first location on the body 1500 of the user. The generating of the first haptic sensation begins at a first time t1.