ArticleSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience2019
Soothing the emotional brain: modulation of neural activity to personal emotional stimulation by social touch.
Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The comfort in touch: Immediate and lasting effects of handholding on emotional pain.PloS one · 2021Trial
- When perception meets grief: how the brain reconstructs person networks in response to absence.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Research Progress on Neural Processing of Hand and Forearm Tactile Sensation: A Review Based on fMRI Research.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Review
- Touch as emotion regulation.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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Abstract
Social touch may modulate emotions, but the neurobehavioral correlates are poorly understood. Here, we investigated neural responses to a picture of a deceased close person and if neural activity and connectivity are modulated by social touch from one's romantic partner. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found altered reactivity in several brain areas including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the anterior insula in response to the personal picture compared to a picture of an unfamiliar person. Hand holding with the romantic partner, compared to being alone, reduced reactivity in the ACC and cerebellum and provided subjective comfort. To separate physical touch from the emotional effect of partner presence, we evaluated hand holding with the partner relative to a stranger and found reduced reactivity in the anterior insula. Connectivity between the anterior insula and the ACC was reduced during partner touch, and the connectivity strength was negatively related to attachment security, with higher reported partner security associated with weaker connectivity. Overall, holding hands with one's partner attenuates reactivity in emotional brain areas and reduces between-region connectivity.
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