ReviewFrontiers in psychology2015
The Neurobiology Shaping Affective Touch: Expectation, Motivation, and Meaning in the Multisensory Context.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The neuroscience of social feelings: mechanisms of adaptive social functioning.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of parental touch on relieving acute procedural pain in neonates and parental anxiety (Petal): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial in the UK.The Lancet. Child & adolescent health · 2024Trial
- Effects of opioid receptor stimulation and blockade on touch pleasantness: a double-blind randomised trial.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2019Trial
- The Effects of Hand Massage on Stress and Agitation Among People with Dementia in a Hospital Setting: A Pilot Study.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2018Trial
- How the brain codes intimacy: The neurobiological substrates of romantic touch.Human brain mapping · 2017Trial
- Surrogate bias: Behavioral and physiological effects of seeing ingroup and outgroup virtual agents touching one's embodied avatar.Computers in human behavior reports · 2026Article
- Modulation of pain by affective touch: effects of childhood trauma, depression, chronic pain, and spinal segment.The Journal of physiology · 2026Article
- Beyond Adversity: Definitions, Retrospective Assessment, and Experimental Manipulation of Positive Early-Life Experiences.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Vicarious Touch: A Potential Substitute for Social Touch During Touch Deprivation.European journal of social psychology · 2026Article
- Oxytocin release patterns and effects, with a focus on touch, social interaction, and closeness.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Touch, temperature, and relief: a multilevel integrative model of hedonic regulation in massage and thermal therapies.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Anatomy as embodied resistance in an age of digital abstraction.Anatomical sciences education · 2025Article
- Emulating sensation by bridging neuromorphic computing and multisensory integration.Patterns (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Review
- Rapid and Unpredictable Shifts in Perceived Pleasantness of Continuous Affective Touch.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Paving the way for social touch at a distance: Sonifying tactile interactions and their underlying emotions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Impact of Gentle Touch Stimulation Combined with Advanced Sensory Stimulation in Patients in a Minimally Conscious State: A Quasi-Randomized Clinical Trial.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Impact of Task Context on Pleasantness and Softness Estimations: A Study Based on Three Touch Strategies.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Proximity Prediction Hypothesis: How predictive coding of CT-touch explains Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response and its therapeutic applications.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Can impersonal touch replace interpersonal touch? An investigation using the rubber hand illusion.PloS one · 2025Article
- Piezo Ion Channels and Their Association With Haptic Technology Use: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2025Review
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Inter-individual touch can be a desirable reward that can both relieve negative affect and evoke strong feelings of pleasure. However, if other sensory cues indicate it is undesirable to interact with the toucher, the affective experience of the same touch may be flipped to disgust. While a broad literature has addressed, on one hand the neurophysiological basis of ascending touch pathways, and on the other hand the central neurochemistry involved in touch behaviors, investigations of how external context and internal state shapes the hedonic value of touch have only recently emerged. Here, we review the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms responsible for the integration of tactile "bottom-up" stimuli and "top-down" information into affective touch experiences. We highlight the reciprocal influences between gentle touch and contextual information, and consider how, and at which levels of neural processing, top-down influences may modulate ascending touch signals. Finally, we discuss the central neurochemistry, specifically the μ-opioids and oxytocin systems, involved in affective touch processing, and how the functions of these neurotransmitters largely depend on the context and motivational state of the individual.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.