ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2016
Affective touch and attachment style modulate pain: a laser-evoked potentials study.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Applications, indications, and effects of passive hydrotherapy WATSU (WaterShiatsu)-A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Chronic pain patients low in social connectedness report higher pain and need deeper pressure for pain relief.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2023Trial
- Toward an Embodied Medicine: A Portable Device with Programmable Interoceptive Stimulation for Heart Rate Variability Enhancement.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Trial
- Low threshold unmyelinated mechanoafferents can modulate pain.BMC neurology · 2017Trial
- Do partner handholding effects linger? Order effects of handholding support on mechanical hypersensitivity in women.Pain reports · 2026Article
- Shaping the bodily self: exploring the influence of early attachment experiences on body ownership.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Development of interoception: the critical role of maternal affective touch in early attachment.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- The effect of psychological manipulations on the development of secondary hyperalgesia: a critical review.Pain reports · 2025Review
- Is cultural context the crucial touch? Neurophysiological and self-reported responses to affective touch in women in South Africa and the United Kingdom.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Affective touch reduces histamine evoked itch experience.PloS one · 2025Article
- The Hedonic Experience Associated with a Gentle Touch Is Preserved in Women with Fibromyalgia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- The meaning of touch: Relational and individual variables shape emotions and intentions associated with imagined social touch.European journal of social psychology · 2024Article
- Updating beliefs about pain following advice: Trustworthiness of social advice predicts pain expectations and experience.Cognition · 2024Article
- Spatial factors influencing the pain-ameliorating effect of CT-optimal touch: a comparative study for modulating temporal summation of second pain.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Simulating the psychological and neural effects of affective touch with soft robotics: an experimental study.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2024Article
- CT-optimal touch and chronic pain experience in Parkinson's Disease; An intervention study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Article
- Perspectives on interpersonal touch are related to subjective sleep quality.Journal of sleep research · 2023Article
- Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The role of early attachment experiences in modulating defensive peripersonal space.Scientific reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Affective touch and cutaneous pain are two sub-modalities of interoception with contrasting affective qualities (pleasantness/unpleasantness) and social meanings (care/harm), yet their direct relationship has not been investigated. In 50 women, taking into account individual attachment styles, we assessed the role of affective touch and particularly the contribution of the C tactile (CT) system in subjective and electrophysiological responses to noxious skin stimulation, namely N1 and N2-P2 laser-evoked potentials. When pleasant, slow (versus fast) velocity touch was administered to the (non-CT-containing) palm of the hand, higher attachment anxiety predicted increased subjective pain ratings, in the same direction as changes in N2 amplitude. By contrast, when pleasant touch was administered to CT-containing skin of the arm, higher attachment anxiety predicted attenuated N1 and N2 amplitudes. Higher attachment avoidance predicted opposite results. Thus, CT-based affective touch can modulate pain in early and late processing stages (N1 and N2 components), with the direction of effects depending on attachment style. Affective touch not involving the CT system seems to affect predominately the conscious perception of pain, possibly reflecting socio-cognitive factors further up the neurocognitive hierarchy. Affective touch may thus convey information about available social resources and gate pain responses depending on individual expectations of social support.This article is part of the themed issue 'Interoception beyond homeostasis: affect, cognition and mental health'.
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