Linköping University, Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Science (BKV), Linköping University, Sweden.
Linköping University, Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Science (BKV), Linköping University, Sweden; University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Psychology, Milan, Italy.
Neuroscience. 2021 Jun 1;464:79-89. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.10.007. Epub 2020 Oct 17.
Previous research has shown that a specific type of C fiber, the C tactile afferents, are involved in detecting gentle, dynamic tactile stimuli on the skin, giving rise to affective responses in the central nervous system. Despite building on such bottom-up information flow, the hedonic perception and the physiological consequences of affective touch are influenced by various sources of top-down information. In the present study we investigated how perception of affective touch is influenced by the attractiveness of hypothetical caressers. Participants were stroked on the arm and the palm while looking at photos of high attractive and low attractive opposite-gender faces, and were instructed to imagine those people as the caressers. In a control condition no photo was paired with the touch. The stroking stimulation was delivered with a soft brush either on the forearm or on the palm, and either with a slower or faster speed. Participants rated the pleasantness of each stimulation, while electrocardiographic recordings were made to extract heart rate variability data. Results showed that participants preferred touch stimuli paired with high attractive faces; they also preferred palm stroking and slower stroking speed. Like subjective pleasantness ratings, heart rate variability responses to affective touch (slow) were higher for high attractive than for low attractive caressers, but were not selective for arm or palm stroking. Overall, the present study confirms that contextual social information plays a major role in affective touch experiences, influencing not only the hedonic quality of the experience but also the physiological state of the body.
先前的研究表明，一种特定类型的 C 纤维，即 C 触觉传入纤维，参与检测皮肤表面轻柔、动态的触觉刺激，从而在中枢神经系统中产生情感反应。尽管这种自下而上的信息流是建立在这样的基础上，但愉悦感知和情感触摸的生理后果受到各种自上而下的信息源的影响。在本研究中，我们研究了情感触摸的感知如何受到假设抚摸者吸引力的影响。参与者在观看异性高吸引力和低吸引力面孔的照片时，手臂和手掌被抚摸，并被指示想象这些人为抚摸者。在对照条件下，触摸没有与照片配对。用软刷以较慢或较快的速度在手臂或手掌上进行抚摸刺激。参与者对每次刺激的愉悦感进行评分，同时进行心电图记录以提取心率变异性数据。结果表明，参与者更喜欢与高吸引力面孔配对的触摸刺激；他们也更喜欢手掌抚摸和较慢的抚摸速度。与主观愉悦感评分一样，对情感触摸（慢）的心率变异性反应对于高吸引力的抚摸者高于低吸引力的抚摸者，但对手臂或手掌抚摸没有选择性。总的来说，本研究证实了情境社会信息在情感触摸体验中起着重要作用，不仅影响体验的愉悦感，还影响身体的生理状态。
