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Affective Touch: Psychophysics, Physiology and Vicarious Touch Perception

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Somatosensory Research Methods

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 196))

Abstract

It is hypothesized that the affective quality of touch is conveyed through the stimulation of a group of unmyelinated low threshold mechanoreceptors (LTM) called C-Tactile afferents (CTs). Research has shown that CTs selectively respond to slow gentle stroking touch, delivered at skin temperature (~32 °C). Over the past three decades many studies have benefited from the development of bespoke psychophysical tools and methods to optimally stimulate these afferents, while controlling for activity in discriminative A-β afferents. More recently, the affective quality of CT-optimal touch has been measured using facial electromyography (EMG), allowing us to capture the more subtle affective responses to CT stimulation. One of the key arguments for this afferent being important for sociability is that the touch is vicariously experienced when we observe others receiving an optimal tactile stimulus. A series of studies have shown that cortical activity matches the activity elicited during first-hand touch, so we also discuss these video-based studies here.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Behavioral Pharmacology Lab, Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Connor J. Haggarty

  2. School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Adarsh Makdani & Francis McGlone

  3. Institute of Psychology, Health & Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Francis McGlone

Authors
  1. Connor J. Haggarty
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  2. Adarsh Makdani
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  3. Francis McGlone
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Connor J. Haggarty .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Nicholas Paul Holmes

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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Haggarty, C.J., Makdani, A., McGlone, F. (2023). Affective Touch: Psychophysics, Physiology and Vicarious Touch Perception. In: Holmes, N.P. (eds) Somatosensory Research Methods. Neuromethods, vol 196. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3068-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3068-6_6

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3067-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3068-6

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