Keep Calm and Cuddle on: Social Touch as a Stress Buffer

Abstract

Recent evidence from neurophysiology and human functional neuroimaging has given rise to the hypothesis that social, affective touch belongs to a distinct category of tactile experience. Such hedonic and rewarding touch is proposed to operate mainly in the domain of social interactions and relationships. Social touch may play a functional role in the physiological regulation of the body's responses to acute stressors and other short-term challenges. In this perspective, touch can Bbuffer^disadvantageous physiological effects of potentially inefficient or maladaptive responses. This review outlines the evidence for such a role, as well as the neural pathways that may support it. Direct evidence for touch as a physiological regulator is strongest for systems that underlie the maintenance of physical proximity to conspecifics in a variety of circumstances. For example, mammalian social physical contact involves social thermoregulatory processes like huddling and snuggling, which also rely on tactile thermosensory and somatosensory pathways. There is also good evidence that touch systems contribute to preventing social separation and facilitating the re-instatement of contact following social separation. Finally, prosocial touch, such as allogrooming and consolation, may utilize some of the same neural pathways as other, non-social means of stress regulation. Social touch may thus serve as part of a system for regulation of responses to acute stressors, Bextended^to include the physiological effects of social interactions.

Keeping in Touch with Mental Health: The Orienting Reflex and Behavioral Outcomes from Calatonia

“…Another ST technique, Fractional Decompression, works by gradually releasing pressure from a touch applied to hairy skin on the back, arms or legs [27]. Fractional decompression is thought to primarily target the affective-affiliative touch system associated with hairy non-glabrous skin [31]. Calatonia continues to be the most widely used ST technique.…”

“…Given the barriers to many forms of social and affiliative touch in social interactions, particularly in the context of psychotherapy, it can be useful to compare the touch sequence employed in Calatonia with other common forms of "pleasant" touch found in everyday encounters. In particular, a recently discovered category of slow-response unmyelinated nerve fiber, C-tactile afferents, have been implicated in many forms of innocuous touch [35], as well as touch in social contexts [31]. C-tactile afferent projections terminate in the ventral medial nucleus of the thalamus and posterior insular cortex [36,37], associated with the contextual and affective components of touch [38].…”

Noli Me Tangere: Social Touch, Tactile Defensiveness, and Communication in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

“…It is activated by any type of touch on the skin and primarily mediated by A-beta and A-delta fibers, a class of fast-conducting, myelinated, large-diameter peripheral nerves distributed in the hairless, glabrous skin of the palm and projecting to the discriminative-cognitive system of the primary and secondary somatosensory cortexes [48]. Affective touch elicits hedonic or emotional responses, supporting the subjective experience of affiliative and emotional somatic pleasure of touch [50]. It is activated selectively by caress-like gentle touch and mediated by C-tactile (CT) afferents, a class of slow-conducting, unmyelinated, small-diameter, low-threshold, mechanoreceptive peripheral fibers, distributed primarily in the hairy skin and in the face [49] and projecting mainly towards the emotional, affect-related cortical regions [1,[51][52][53][54][55][56] such as the anterior cingulate, insular, and orbitofrontal areas [49,50,[57][58][59], the temporoparietal junction, and the superior temporal sulcus [60,61].…”

Körperlich-seelische Berührungen im Fokus der Psychoneuroimmunologie

“…Stresspuffer Positive Berührungserfahrungen wie die soziale Unterstützung dienen der Schwangeren und ihrem Ungeborenen als ‚Stresspuffer' [57]. Sie sorgen für das optimale Wachstum des Feten sowie ein höheres Geburtsgewicht [27].…”