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Using Facial Electromyography to Assess Facial Muscle Reactions to Experienced and Observed Affective Touch in Humans
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Interpersonal touch suppresses visual processing of aversive stimuli.
Hiroaki Kawamichi1, Ryo Kitada2, Kazufumi Yoshihara3
1Division of Cerebral Integration, Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki Japan ; Graduate School of Human Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo Japan ; School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Gunma University, Maebashi Japan.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
|April 24, 2015
Summary
Interpersonal touch, like holding a friend's hand, can reduce distress from unpleasant visuals by suppressing brain activity in the visual cortex. This social contact effect is linked to attention redirection away from aversive stimuli.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Social contact is vital for human well-being.
- Previous research indicates interpersonal touch can alleviate pain-related distress by modulating neural networks.
- Attention redirection is a proposed mechanism for this effect.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the distress-alleviating effects of interpersonal touch.
- To test the hypothesis that social contact shifts attention away from aversive stimuli.
- To examine brain activity using functional MRI (fMRI) during social touch interactions.
Main Methods:
- A functional MRI (fMRI) study involving eight pairs of close female friends.
- Participants rated aversiveness of visual stimuli while holding a rubber model or a close friend's hand.
- Post-scan ratings assessed overall comfortableness; fMRI measured neural responses.
Main Results:
- Participants reported greater comfort holding a friend's hand versus a rubber model.
- Aversiveness ratings were similar across both conditions during fMRI.
- fMRI revealed suppressed processing of aversive stimuli in the occipital cortex during interpersonal touch.
- This suppression correlated with reduced attentional focus on aversiveness.
Conclusions:
- Interpersonal touch suppresses the neural processing of aversive visual stimuli in the occipital cortex.
- The effect of social touch on aversiveness processing is associated with attentional insensitivity.
- Social contact may alleviate distress by redirecting attention from aversive stimuli, rather than reducing the subjective rating of aversiveness itself.
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