Article
Neurosciences
Laura K. Case, Jaquette Liljencrantz, Micaela V. McCall, Megan Bradson, Aaron Necaise, Justin Tubbs, Hakan Olausson, Binquan Wang, M. Catherine Bushnell
Summary: This paper examines the research on pleasant touch, focusing on the C-tactile pathway for gentle stroking and introducing deep pressure as another important form of social touch. Utilizing the oscillating compression sleeve (OCS) to administer deep pressure, the study demonstrates that this touch is perceived as pleasant and calming, and activates brain regions similar to C-tactile stroking. The findings suggest that deep pressure constitutes another social touch pathway of evolutionary importance signaling close proximity of conspecifics.
Article
Neurosciences
Michael Schaefer, Anja Kuehnel, Franziska Rumpel, Matti Gaertner
Summary: Giving and receiving touch are important social stimuli in daily life. Previous studies have shown that touch can influence altruistic behavior. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural mechanisms behind the Midas touch effect. The researchers found that touching the hand increased prosocial behavior, and this effect was associated with activity in the primary somatosensory cortex.
SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
D. M. Pfabigan, E. R. Frogner, E. Schele, P. M. Thorsby, B. S. Skalhegg, S. L. Dickson, U. Sailer
Summary: Variations in ghrelin concentrations may affect the processing of touch as a social reward in humans, with higher ghrelin concentrations associated with a lower reward value for touch.
Article
Psychology, Social
Annett Schirmer, Clare Cham, Zihao Zhao, Ilona Croy
Summary: This study examined how touch role and culture influence affective touch experiences. Germans and Chinese participants were surveyed and provided descriptions of what prompts touch, indicated with whom touch feels comfortable, and highlighted areas of touch comfort on a body outline. The findings showed that touch is mainly prompted by affectionate feelings, is more comfortable with close individuals, and is most comfortable when directed at the upper arms, shoulders, and upper back. Touch role also had an impact, with touchees feeling less positive than touchers. Cultural differences were found in touch comfort, with Germans feeling more comfortable with intimate touch to the torso and upper back, and less comfortable with public touch to the hands. However, overall there was more overlap than divergence, ensuring mutual comfort during physical connections.
PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Annett Schirmer, Ilona Croy, Rochelle Ackerley
Summary: This article summarizes the research history of low-threshold C-fiber mechanoreceptors and the study of C-tactile (CT) afferents in human affective touch. It discusses the differentiation between affective touch and discriminative touch, challenges traditional views on the relation between CTs and affective touch, and speculates on the relevance of underappreciated aspects of CT signaling in human physical and emotional connections.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Annett Schirmer, Man Hey Chiu, Ilona Croy
Summary: The study reveals that different touch actions have unique somatosensory topographies, as well as distinct differences in emotional context, comfort, and frequency. Therefore, affectionate touch actions are not redundant, but highly differentiated in terms of somatosensory and socioaffective processes.
Article
Neurosciences
Paula D. Trotter, Sharon A. Smith, David J. Moore, Noreen O'Sullivan, Martyn M. McFarquhar, Francis P. McGlone, Susannah C. Walker
Summary: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of acutely lowering central serotonin levels on perceptions of affective touch. The results showed that after lowering serotonin levels, participants rated affective touch as more pleasant and had increased discrimination of specific velocities that target CT fibers. However, lowered serotonin levels had no effect on tactile or cold pain thresholds, but there was a trend for reduced tolerance to cold pain.
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Benlong Liu, Lina Qiao, Kun Liu, Juan Liu, Tyler J. Piccinni-Ash, Zhou-Feng Chen
Summary: Pleasant touch provides emotional and psychological support, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study found that the lack of certain genes in mice leads to impairments in stress response and prosocial behaviors. Additionally, specific neurons were found to respond most strongly to gentle stroking and encode reward value.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Seong-Hwan Hwang, Doyoung Park, Somang Paeng, Sang Wan Lee, Sue-Hyun Lee, Hyoung F. Kim
Summary: In this study, a pneumatic tactile stimulus delivery system was developed to enable MRI studies of brain mechanisms for tactile processes through natural finger touch.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHODS
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Clemens Mielacher, Dirk Scheele, Maximilian Kiebs, Laura Schmitt, Torge Dellert, Alexandra Philipsen, Claus Lamm, Rene Hurlemann
Summary: This study found that there are altered neural responses to social touch in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Despite clinical improvements after antidepressant treatment, MDD patients still showed aversion to interpersonal touch and reduced brain responses in areas such as the nucleus accumbens compared to healthy controls. These findings reveal the abnormal processing of social touch in MDD, which may contribute to social withdrawal and isolation.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Tara Kidd, Shaunna L. Devine, Susannah C. Walker
Summary: This article reviews the association between stress and health and proposes social touch, specifically affective touch, as a crucial factor in understanding how close relationships contribute to stress and health. It provides empirical evidence on the importance of affective touch in the development of stress systems and social relationships.
HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Gianluca Cruciani, Pietro Zingaretti, Vittorio Lingiardi, Sergio De Filippis, Patrick Haggard, Grazia Fernanda Spitoni
Summary: This study found deficits in pain perception and tactile sensitivity in individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), but no differences in tactile acuity, cold pain thresholds, cold tolerance, or affective touch perception.
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Isabella Pueschel, Joerg Reichert, Yvonne Friedrich, Joerg Bergander, Kerstin Weidner, Ilona Croy
Summary: Maternal stroking touch stimulates C-tactile afferents in preterm infants and leads to a decrease in heart rate. However, the CT system in preterm infants is not yet mature, and less mature preterm infants benefit less from stroking.
PHYSIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Annett Schirmer, Clare Cham, Zihao Zhao, Oscar Lai, Clive Lo, Ilona Croy
Summary: These two studies found that men and women have similar sensory pleasantness in touch, but differ in their preceding affective experiences and how they value touch at a higher-order social level. Women are more likely to express touch comfort with less familiar or unknown individuals, have a greater preference for touch with other women, and feel more comfortable giving and receiving touch to the forearm.
PHYSIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Larisa Mayorova, Galina Portnova, Ivan Skorokhodov
Summary: Despite the importance of touch in social development and social interactions, little research has been done on the brain mechanisms underlying social touch processing. This study used fMRI to investigate the neural response to social and non-social leg touch. The results showed a widespread cortical response to touch on the foot sole, regardless of the type of stimulus. Stimulation of the hairy skin of the shin elicited a stronger response in certain brain regions.
Review
Psychology, Biological
Oded Mayo, Michal Lavidor, Ilanit Gordon
Summary: Interpersonal physiological synchrony, the coordination of physiological processes between individuals, is crucial for human relationships and performance outcomes. The small effect sizes of the correlations between physiological synchrony and relationship or performance outcomes, especially in sympathetic versus parasympathetic activity, highlight the need for a rigorous scientific approach to distinguish different types of physiological synchrony.
PHYSIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Ilanit Gordon, Sebastian Wallot, Yair Berson
Summary: Joint performance can lead to synchronized physiological processes among group members during a shared task, which significantly impacts positive affective behavior at the group level. Specifically, heart rate and electrodermal synchronization showed opposite effects on group members' display of affective behavior. Trait anxiety may moderate the relationship between physiological synchrony and affective behavior, while social phobia did not have a moderating effect.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Ilanit Gordon, Danny Horesh, Nir Milstein, Alon Tomashin, Oded Mayo, Adi Korisky
Summary: This study highlights the importance of pre-pandemic physiological mechanisms in influencing individuals' mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, with mood regulation expectancies playing a mediating role in this process.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
David M. Greenberg, Jean Decety, Ilanit Gordon
Summary: During the COVID-19 pandemic, people turned to music to meet their social needs, with musical adaptations being understood through advances in social neuroscience of music, which have been overlooked in the past. Researchers emphasized the overlap between social brain networks involved in music production and those related to human cognitive processes, indicating a potential for a better understanding of the relationship between music and the social brain. The pandemic may serve as a starting point for further research in the social neuroscience of music.
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lilach Graff Nomkin, Ilanit Gordon
Summary: The study found that mothers tend to pay less attention to their infants and have higher physiological activity when using smartphones during breastfeeding. Additionally, mothers' smartphone addiction levels were negatively correlated with physiological arousal during breastfeeding.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Danny Horesh, Nir Milstein, Alon Tomashin, Oded Mayo, Ilanit Gordon
Summary: Despite the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, this study found that pre-pandemic physiological markers predicted current fears and worries related to COVID. The relationship between physiological markers and fears was moderated by household size, occurring mainly in individuals from average and larger households.
STRESS-THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON THE BIOLOGY OF STRESS
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Ester Zadok, Ilanit Gordon, Roni Navon, Shai Joseph Rabin, Ofer Golan
Summary: The study found that adolescents with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit altered behavioral synchrony compared to typical controls, showing a lack of synchronization in response to distress. However, there were no significant differences in empathic behavior between the two groups.
JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Ofir Negri, Danny Horesh, Ilanit Gordon, Ilanit Hasson-Ohayon
Summary: The study found that COVID-19-related worries and intolerance of uncertainty were positively associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs), and formal media consumption amplified these effects.
JOURNAL OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASE
(2022)
Editorial Material
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Jenny Gutman, Ilanit Gordon, Noa Vilchinsky
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Education, Special
Adi Korisky, Abraham Goldstein, Adam Zaidel, Ilanit Gordon
Summary: Research on visual perception in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has yielded conflicting findings. This study aimed to integrate these results by examining low-level stimulus perception in ASD adolescents. The results showed that compared to typically developed adolescents, those with ASD were less sensitive to changes in the curvature of the stimulus. These findings highlight the importance of using multi-level paradigms to fully understand visual perception in ASD.
RESEARCH IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS
(2022)
Review
Psychology, Applied
Nir Milstein, Yarin Striet, Michal Lavidor, David Anaki, Ilanit Gordon
Summary: Rivalry, as a relational competition, has been found to increase motivation and performance, with a stronger effect observed for individual rivalry compared to group rivalry. Positive correlations between rivalry and performance were found specifically in the domains of sports and donation-raising.
ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Alon Tomashin, Ilanit Gordon, Sebastian Wallot
Summary: This study reveals that physiological synchrony between group members predicts group cohesion, regardless of the interaction context. The effects at the individual and group levels are highly correlated.
FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Oded Mayo, Danny Horesh, Adi Korisky, Nir Milstein, Ester Zadok, Alon Tomashin, Ilanit Gordon
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on mental well-being and interpersonal relationships. This study aimed to understand the complex interactions between perceived interpersonal closeness, physiological synchrony, emotional contagion, and well-being during the pandemic. The results showed that overall perceived interpersonal closeness was positively related to well-being, and this effect was moderated by emotional contagion and physiological synchrony. Individuals with higher emotional contagion scores or higher physiological synchrony had higher well-being if they perceived greater interpersonal closeness, while their well-being was lower if they perceived weaker interpersonal closeness.
Article
Biology
Barbora Kucerova, Nava Levit-Binnun, Ilanit Gordon, Yulia Golland
Summary: Compassion is a warm response driven by care and concern for those who are suffering, which leads individuals to allocate their resources for the well-being of others. This review paper aims to explore the neurobiological mechanisms of compassion, with a focus on the neuropeptide oxytocin and its role in regulating the saliency of pain and distress cues. By integrating the current knowledge on oxytocin with compassion-related processes, this framework sheds light on the initial stages of compassion and the variability of responses in social contexts involving suffering.
Meeting Abstract
Psychology, Clinical
Danny Horesh, Ilanit Hasson-Ohayon, Ilanit Gordon, Ofer Golan, Adam D. Brown
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTRAUMATOLOGY
(2021)