ArticleSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience2020
Touch and social support influence interpersonal synchrony and pain.
Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 92 citations in OpenAlex.
- Navigating the biopsychosocial landscape: A systematic review on the association between social support and chronic pain.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review and multivariate meta-analysis of the physical and mental health benefits of touch interventions.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Vaginal Cryotherapy for the Treatment of Pelvic Floor Myofascial Pain.International urogynecology journal · 2024Trial
- Chronic pain patients low in social connectedness report higher pain and need deeper pressure for pain relief.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2023Trial
- Oxytocin increases physiological linkage during group therapy for methamphetamine use disorder: a randomized clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- The comfort in touch: Immediate and lasting effects of handholding on emotional pain.PloS one · 2021Trial
- Do partner handholding effects linger? Order effects of handholding support on mechanical hypersensitivity in women.Pain reports · 2026Article
- Responses to Aversive Acoustic Stimuli in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Moderation by the Presence of a Service Dog in Training.Psychophysiology · 2026Article
- Empathy for pain persists across live two-way video interactions and viewing of prerecorded videos.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Affective tactile stimulation ameliorates chronic pain and comorbid anxiety by modulating hippocampal CA1 oscillations and functional connectivity.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Modulation of Brain Activity in Patients with Acute Non-Specific Low Back Pain by Wentong Guan Therapy: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- The High-Risk Model of Threat Perception Modulates Learning of Placebo and Nocebo Effects and Functional Somatic Disorders.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- CT-Optimal Stimulation Modulates Somatosensory Processing.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Influence of Social Support on Peri-Operative Pain: A Secondary Sub-Sample Analysis of a Prospective Observational Trial.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Observational
- Exploring the Experiences of Patients Undergoing Acupuncture at a Community-based Clinic Using Narrative Analysis.Acta medica Philippina · 2025Article
- Different ways to reach the same goal: Are the analgesic effects of different types of tactile stimuli similar?European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Article
- Research Progress on Neural Processing of Hand and Forearm Tactile Sensation: A Review Based on fMRI Research.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Review
- Healing synchrony? potential benefits of interpersonal synchrony for chronic pain management.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Brain bases of real-time social interaction: A meta-analytic investigation of human neuroimaging studies.Aperture neuro · 2025Article
- Social touch deprivation during the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced well-being.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Interpersonal touch and social support can influence physical health, mental well-being and pain. However, the mechanisms by which supportive touch promotes analgesia are not well understood. In Study 1, we tested how three kinds of social support from a romantic partner (passive presence, gentle stroking and handholding) affect pain ratings and skin conductance responses (SCRs). Overall, support reduced pain ratings in women, but not men, relative to baseline. Support decreased pain-related SCRs in both women and men. Though there were no significant differences across the three support conditions, effects were largest during handholding. Handholding also reduced SCRs in the supportive partner. Additionally, synchronicity in couples' SCR was correlated with reductions in self-reported pain, and individual differences in synchrony were correlated with the partner's trait empathy. In Study 2, we re-analyzed an existing dataset to explore fMRI activity related to individual differences in handholding analgesia effects in women. Increased activity in a distributed set of brain regions, including valuation-encoding frontostriatal areas, was correlated with lower pain ratings. These results may suggest that social support can reduce pain by changing the value of nociceptive signals. This reduction may be moderated by interpersonal synchrony and relationship dynamics.
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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.