Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Adult Autism Center, Mental Health Department, Local Health Unit ASL Città di Torino, Turin, Italy.
Autism Res. 2024 May;17(5):923-933. doi: 10.1002/aur.3143. Epub 2024 Apr 29.
Interpersonal touch plays a crucial role in shaping relationships and encouraging social connections. Failure in processing tactile input or abnormal tactile sensitivity may hamper social behaviors and have severe consequences in individuals' relational lives. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by both sensory disruptions and social impairments, making affective touch an ideal meeting point for understanding these features in ASD individuals. By integrating behavioral and physiological measures, we investigated the effects of affective touch on adult individuals with ASD from both an implicit and explicit perspective. Specifically, at an implicit level, we investigated whether and how receiving an affective touch influenced participants' skin conductance tonic and phasic components. At the explicit level, we delved into the affective and unpleasant features of affective touch. Overall, we observed lower skin conductance level in ASD compared to TD subjects. Interestingly, the typically developing (TD) group showed an increased autonomic response for affective touch compared to a control touch, while ASD subjects' autonomic response did not differ between the two conditions. Furthermore, ASD participants provided higher ratings for both the affective and unpleasant components of the touch, compared to TD subjects. Our results reveal a noteworthy discrepancy in ASD population between the subjective experience, characterized by amplified hedonic but also unpleasant responses, and the physiological response, marked by a lack of autonomic activation related to affective touch. This insightful dissociation seems crucial for a deeper understanding of the distinctive challenges characterizing people with ASD and may have implications for diagnosis and therapeutic approaches.
人际接触在塑造人际关系和促进社交联系方面起着至关重要的作用。触觉输入处理失败或触觉敏感性异常可能会阻碍社交行为，并对个体的社交生活产生严重后果。自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的特征是感觉障碍和社交障碍，使情感触摸成为理解 ASD 个体这些特征的理想切入点。通过整合行为和生理测量，我们从内隐和外显的角度研究了情感触摸对成年 ASD 个体的影响。具体来说，在内隐层面，我们研究了接受情感触摸是否以及如何影响参与者的皮肤电传导紧张和相位成分。在外显层面，我们深入探讨了情感触摸的情感和不愉快特征。总的来说，我们观察到 ASD 组的皮肤电传导水平低于 TD 组。有趣的是，与控制触摸相比，典型发育（TD）组的情感触摸引起的自主反应增加，而 ASD 组的自主反应在两种情况下没有差异。此外，与 TD 组相比，ASD 参与者对触摸的情感和不愉快成分的评分都更高。我们的研究结果揭示了 ASD 人群中存在显著差异，即主观体验表现为增强的愉悦和不愉快反应，而生理反应则表现为缺乏与情感触摸相关的自主激活。这种有见地的分离对于更深入地理解 ASD 人群的独特挑战至关重要，并且可能对诊断和治疗方法产生影响。
