Avoiding spiders: Affective context shapes tactile sensitivity during movement

Tactile sensitivity is typically reduced during voluntary movements, a phenomenon known as tactile suppression. While affective context is known to modulate tactile processing, it remains unclear how it influences tactile suppression. In a virtual reality (VR) environment, we investigated tactile sensitivity during movements to avoid threatening (spider) or approach non-threatening (rabbit) stimulus, involving arm flexion or extension and during the limb at rest (baseline). Tactile sensitivity was measured using brief vibrations delivered through the VR controller. Detection thresholds were higher during movement than at baseline, confirming tactile suppression. Both affective context and movement type modulated suppression: avoiding threatening stimulus and extending the arm, each increased suppression. A control experiment using neutral, geometric objects showed similar tactile sensitivity for arm extension and flexion. These findings demonstrate that affective context shapes tactile suppression during movement.