Ellingsen Dan-Mikael, Leknes Siri, Løseth Guro, Wessberg Johan, Olausson Håkan
MGH/HST Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical SchoolBoston, MA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of OsloOslo, Norway.
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo Oslo, Norway.
Front Psychol. 2016 Jan 6;6:1986. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01986. eCollection 2015.
Inter-individual touch can be a desirable reward that can both relieve negative affect and evoke strong feelings of pleasure. However, if other sensory cues indicate it is undesirable to interact with the toucher, the affective experience of the same touch may be flipped to disgust. While a broad literature has addressed, on one hand the neurophysiological basis of ascending touch pathways, and on the other hand the central neurochemistry involved in touch behaviors, investigations of how external context and internal state shapes the hedonic value of touch have only recently emerged. Here, we review the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms responsible for the integration of tactile "bottom-up" stimuli and "top-down" information into affective touch experiences. We highlight the reciprocal influences between gentle touch and contextual information, and consider how, and at which levels of neural processing, top-down influences may modulate ascending touch signals. Finally, we discuss the central neurochemistry, specifically the μ-opioids and oxytocin systems, involved in affective touch processing, and how the functions of these neurotransmitters largely depend on the context and motivational state of the individual.
个体间的触摸可以是一种令人向往的奖赏，既能缓解负面情绪，又能唤起强烈的愉悦感。然而，如果其他感官线索表明与触摸者互动是不可取的，那么同样的触摸所带来的情感体验可能会转变为厌恶。一方面，大量文献探讨了触觉上行通路的神经生理基础，另一方面也涉及了触摸行为中涉及的中枢神经化学，但关于外部环境和内部状态如何塑造触摸的享乐价值的研究直到最近才出现。在这里，我们回顾了负责将触觉“自下而上”刺激和“自上而下”信息整合到情感触摸体验中的心理和神经生物学机制。我们强调了轻柔触摸与情境信息之间的相互影响，并考虑自上而下的影响如何以及在神经处理的哪些层面上调节触觉上行信号。最后，我们讨论了参与情感触摸处理的中枢神经化学，特别是μ-阿片类物质和催产素系统，以及这些神经递质的功能如何在很大程度上取决于个体的情境和动机状态。
