Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 18;7(1):13516. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-13355-7.
The mammalian need for social proximity, attachment and belonging may have an adaptive and evolutionary value in terms of survival and reproductive success. Consequently, ostracism may induce strong negative feelings of social exclusion. Recent studies suggest that slow, affective touch, which is mediated by a separate, specific C tactile neurophysiological system than faster, neutral touch, modulates the perception of physical pain. However, it remains unknown whether slow, affective touch, can also reduce feelings of social exclusion, a form of social pain. Here, we employed a social exclusion paradigm, namely the Cyberball task (N = 84), to examine whether the administration of slow, affective touch may reduce the negative feelings of ostracism induced by the social exclusion manipulations of the Cyberball task. As predicted, the provision of slow-affective, as compared to fast-neutral, touch led to a specific decrease in feelings of social exclusion, beyond general mood effects. These findings point to the soothing function of slow, affective touch, particularly in the context of social separation or rejection, and suggest a specific relation between affective touch and social bonding.
哺乳动物对社交亲近、依恋和归属感的需求，可能在生存和繁殖成功方面具有适应性和进化价值。因此，被排斥可能会引起强烈的社交排斥感。最近的研究表明，缓慢的、情感性的触摸，是由一个独立的、特定的 C 触觉神经生理系统介导的，而不是更快的、中性的触摸，调节了对身体疼痛的感知。然而，目前尚不清楚缓慢的、情感性的触摸是否也能减轻社交排斥的感觉，这是一种社交痛苦的形式。在这里，我们采用了社会排斥范式，即 Cyberball 任务（N=84），来检验缓慢的、情感性的触摸的给予是否可以减轻 Cyberball 任务的社会排斥操作所引起的被排斥的负面感受。正如预测的那样，与快速中性触摸相比，缓慢情感触摸的提供导致了社交排斥感的特定降低，而不仅仅是一般情绪的影响。这些发现指向了缓慢情感触摸的舒缓功能，特别是在社交分离或拒绝的情况下，并表明情感触摸与社交联系之间存在特定关系。
