Hedonic Responses to Touch are Modulated by the Perceived Attractiveness of the Caresser

Novembre, Giovanni; Etzi, Roberta; Morrison, India

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.10.007

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…At a basic level, strokes at velocities rated as more human are consistently perceived as more pleasant 29 . Touch from people perceived to be more attractive is also experienced as more pleasant 79 . Consistent with this finding, heterosexual men showed greater activation in S1 in response to sensual touch when they thought the toucher was an attractive woman versus a man.…”

Section: Individual and Contextual Differences In Affiliative Touch R...supporting

confidence: 58%

“…29 Touch from people perceived to be more attractive is also experienced as more pleasant. 79 Consistent with this finding, heterosexual men showed greater activation in S1 in response to sensual touch when they thought the toucher was an attractive woman versus a man. This again suggests that affective context in the form of the toucher influences activation in a region thought to be primarily dedicated to discriminatory processing.…”

Section: Individual and Contextual Differences In Affiliative Touch R...supporting

confidence: 55%

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Characterizing affiliative touch in humans and its role in advancing haptic design

Kryklywy,

Vyas,

Maclean

et al. 2023

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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An emerging view in cognitive neuroscience holds that the extraction of emotional relevance from sensory experience extends beyond the centralized appraisal of sensation in associative brain regions, including frontal and medial‐temporal cortices. This view holds that sensory information can be emotionally valenced from the point of contact with the world. This view is supported by recent research characterizing the human affiliative touch system, which carries signals of soft, stroking touch to the central nervous system and is mediated by dedicated C‐tactile afferent receptors. This basic scientific research on the human affiliative touch system is informed by, and informs, technology design for communicating and regulating emotion through touch. Here, we review recent research on the basic biology and cognitive neuroscience of affiliative touch, its regulatory effects across the lifespan, and the factors that modulate it. We further review recent work on the design of haptic technologies, devices that stimulate the affiliative touch system, such as wearable technologies that apply the sensation of soft stroking or other skin‐to‐skin contact, to promote physiological regulation. We then point to future directions in interdisciplinary research aimed at both furthering scientific understanding and application of haptic technology for health and wellbeing.

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Section: Individual and Contextual Differences In Affiliative Touch R...supporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Individual and Contextual Differences In Affiliative Touch R...supporting

confidence: 55%

Characterizing affiliative touch in humans and its role in advancing haptic design

Kryklywy,

Vyas,

Maclean

et al. 2023

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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“…Overall, studies on odor hedonic perception reveal a large intra- and inter- subject variability and thus an extreme flexibility of odor hedonic perception. In sensory hedonic perception, gender is usually considered as a major source of variability and sex differences have been reported in the somatosensory modality (e.g., Jönsson et al, 2017 ; Novembre et al, 2021 ), in the gustatory modality (e.g., Cristovam et al, 2000 ) or in the visual modality (e.g., Sorokowski et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences in Odor Hedonic Perception: An Overview

2021

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Odor hedonic evaluation (pleasant/unpleasant) is considered as the first and one of the most prominent dimension in odor perception. While sex differences in human olfaction have been extensively explored, gender effect in hedonic perception appears to be less considered. However, a number of studies have included comparisons between men and women, using different types of measurements (psychophysical, psychophysiological,…). This overview presents experimental works with non-specific and body odors separately presented as well as experimental studies comparing healthy participants vs patients with psychiatric disorders. Contrary to sensitivity, identification or discrimination, the overall literature tends to prove that no so clear differences occur in odor hedonic judgment between men and women. On the whole, gender effect appears more marked for body than non-specific odors and is almost never reported in psychiatric diseases. These findings are discussed in relation to the processes classically implied in pleasantness rating and emotional processes.

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“…In adults, affectionate touch is a powerful way to communicate intimacy and closeness. Not only is there evidence of C-tactile fiber activation in adults receiving touch during reciprocal stroking, but humans also tend to adjust the stroking velocity according to degrees of sympathy and interindividual attraction (Novembre, Etzi, & Morrison, 2021). It has been estimated that a romantic couple may spend 85% of the time in physical contact during a 4-hr period (Debrot et al, 2013).…”

Section: Romantic Attachment and Social Touchmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Update on Social Touch

Capelli¹,

Grumi²,

Fullone

et al. 2022

Rorschachiana

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Abstract. Recent research suggests that early physical touch provided by caregivers may play a critical role in cognitive and affective development. The discovery of the C-tactile fibers – which selectively respond to low-speed physical stimulations, such as maternal affectionate touch and caresses – opened a promising field of research into the physiological bases of human togetherness. Notably, C-tactile fiber stimulation is primarily elaborated in a specific brain area (i.e., the insula), which is involved in affective and socio-cognitive skills as well as in the development of an individual’s body image. In the present study, we provide a narrative overview of the research conducted so far on the role of maternal affectionate touch in infants’ cognitive and emotional development, and we highlight potential implications for clinical practice with children and adults.

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Hedonic Responses to Touch are Modulated by the Perceived Attractiveness of the Caresser

Cited by 20 publications

References 59 publications

Characterizing affiliative touch in humans and its role in advancing haptic design

Characterizing affiliative touch in humans and its role in advancing haptic design

Sex Differences in Odor Hedonic Perception: An Overview

An Update on Social Touch

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