Resilience to stress and social touch

Dagnino‐Subiabre, Alexies

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.08.011

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…For hairy skin only, the sN400 tracks velocity in an inverted u-shaped manner and shows a significantly linear relation with touch pleasantness. Together, these data present original evidence for a role of the somatosensory cortex in tactile affect that may arise from a convergence of CT with faster Aß signaling in the spinal cord and thus reflect the importance of CT stimulation for an individual’s well-being ( Dagnino-Subiabre, 2022 ; Van Puyvelde and Mairesse, 2022 ; Wigley et al. , 2022 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Gentle stroking elicits somatosensory ERP that differentiates between hairy and glabrous skin

Schirmer

Lai

McGlone

et al. 2022

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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Here we asked whether, similar to visual and auditory event-related potentials (ERPs), somatosensory ERPs reflect affect. Participants were stroked on hairy or glabrous skin at five stroking velocities (0.5, 1, 3, 10 and 20 cm/s). For stroking of hairy skin, pleasantness ratings related to velocity in an inverted u-shaped manner. ERPs showed a negativity at 400 ms following touch onset over somatosensory cortex contra-lateral to the stimulation site. This negativity, referred to as sN400, was larger for intermediate than for faster and slower velocities and positively predicted pleasantness ratings. For stroking of glabrous skin, pleasantness showed again an inverted u-shaped relation with velocity and, additionally, increased linearly with faster stroking. The sN400 revealed no quadratic effect and instead was larger for faster velocities. Its amplitude failed to significantly predict pleasantness. In sum, as was reported for other senses, a touch’s affective value modulates the somatosensory ERP. Notably, however, this ERP and associated subjective pleasantness dissociate between hairy and glabrous skin underscoring functional differences between the skin with which we typically receive touch and the skin with which we typically reach out to touch.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Gentle stroking elicits somatosensory ERP that differentiates between hairy and glabrous skin

Schirmer

Lai

McGlone

et al. 2022

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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“…The recipient attains a physiological state marked by muscle relaxation, reduced anxiety and vigilance, enhanced vagal tone, and the release of oxytocin and endorphins that counter the effects of circulating glucocorticoids induced by previous stressors (Boccia et al,1988;Aureli et al, 1999;Grandi and Ishida 2015;Jablonski, 2021). Similar physiological benefits have been documented in humans who receive affective touch from bonded partners (Walker et al, 2020;Dagnino-Subiabre, 2022;Triscoli et al, 2017;Moberg and Petersson, 2022;Nummenmaa et al, 2016), and in macaques who are groomed by trusted human caregivers (Taira and Rolls, 1992;Grandi and Ishida, 2015). These observations led to the prediction that neurons in the amygdala would respond differentially to grooming and to innocuous tactile stimuli delivered to the same areas of the skin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Gentle touch from a bonded social partner contributes to positive affect and social well-being (McGlone et al, 2014). In infancy, touch-mediated parental care stimulates brain development (Bales et al, 2018; Callaghan and Tottenham, 2016; Cascio et al, 2019), shapes the future stress-resilience of the individual (Walker et al, 2020; Dagnino-Subiabre, 2022), and lays the foundations of healthy autonomic and emotional regulation (Cadji et al, 1998; Sanchez, 2006; Gee et al, 2014). As the Romanian orphanages of the 1980s sadly demonstrated, touch deprivation in children causes irreversible emotional and social-cognitive deficits (Rutter, 1998; O’Connor and Rutter, 2000; Mackes et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A context-dependent switch from sensing to feeling in the primate amygdala

Martin

Cardenas

Anderson

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The skin transmits affective signals that integrate into our social vocabulary. As the socio-affective aspects of touch are likely processed in the amygdala, we compared neural responses to social grooming and gentle airflow recorded from the amygdala and the primary somatosensory cortex of non-human primates. Neurons in the somatosensory cortex responded to both types of tactile stimuli. In the amygdala, however, neurons did not respond to individual grooming sweeps even though grooming elicited autonomic states indicative of positive affect. Instead, many showed changes in baseline firing rates that persisted throughout the grooming bout. Such baseline fluctuations were attributed to social context because the presence of the groomer alone could account for the observed changes in baseline activity. It appears, therefore, that during grooming, the amygdala stops responding to external inputs on a short time scale but remains responsive to social context (or the associated affective states) on longer time scales.

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“…Other studies have shown that confinement is strongly related to social distancing, a strong human stressor [ 43 , 44 ], possibly explaining some of the observed sex differences. In line with this idea, females reported a higher rate of anxiety than their opposite-sex peers in the CZ group but not in the PZ group, consistent with findings in Austria and Brazil [ 23 , 45 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Effect of Confinement on Anxiety Symptoms and Sleep Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alvarado-Aravena

Arriaza

Castillo-Aguilar

et al. 2022

Behavioral Sciences

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Confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted lifestyles worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of confinement on anxiety symptoms and sleep quality in people living in extreme southern latitudes. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were administered to 617 people, 74.2% of whom were women. The sample was grouped according to confinement: the zone of confinement (CZ) (46.5%) and the zone of partial confinement (PZ) (53.5%). In addition, the sample was further categorized into four age subgroups (18–25 years; 26–40 years; 41–50 years; over 50 years). Higher levels of anxiety and worse sleep quality were found in the CZ group than in the PZ group. Women had higher levels of anxiety and worse sleep quality than men. A significant bidirectional relationship between anxiety and sleep quality was observed, even after controlling for sex. This study demonstrated that women and young adults were more vulnerable to the effects of confinement on anxiety symptoms and sleep quality in populations at southern latitudes.

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Resilience to stress and social touch

Cited by 23 publications

References 41 publications

Gentle stroking elicits somatosensory ERP that differentiates between hairy and glabrous skin

Gentle stroking elicits somatosensory ERP that differentiates between hairy and glabrous skin

A context-dependent switch from sensing to feeling in the primate amygdala

Effect of Confinement on Anxiety Symptoms and Sleep Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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