Brain-to-brain coupling during handholding is associated with pain reduction

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Pain Research

Background:

• The precise mechanisms of analgesia from social touch remain unclear.
• While observer empathy's role in pain relief is recognized, social interaction's contribution is unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate brain-to-brain coupling during pain with interpersonal touch.
• To test the role of interbrain synchrony in pain alleviation.

Main Methods:

• Romantic partners acted as pain targets and observers under pain/no-pain and touch/no-touch conditions.
• Electroencephalography (EEG) recorded brain activity.
• Brain-to-brain coupling in the alpha-mu band was analyzed using multilevel modeling and circular correlation.

Main Results:

• Hand-holding during pain increased brain-to-brain coupling in a network involving the pain target's central regions and the observer's right hemisphere.
• This coupling correlated with the magnitude of analgesia and the observer's empathic accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Brain-to-brain coupling, particularly during social touch, may be a key mechanism in touch-related analgesia.
• Interbrain synchrony during interpersonal touch contributes to pain alleviation.