ArticleScientific reports2022
Sensory processing sensitivity and somatosensory brain activation when feeling touch.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of sensory processing sensitivity on subtle dynamic facial expression recognition and metacognitive awareness.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Affective tactile stimulation ameliorates chronic pain and comorbid anxiety by modulating hippocampal CA1 oscillations and functional connectivity.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Network analysis of empathy, anxiety and depression symptoms, relationship satisfaction, sensory processing sensitivity, and alexithymia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Identification of Brain Activation Areas in Response to Active Tactile Stimulation by Gripping a Stress Ball.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Sensory processing sensitivity, anxiety, and short-term heart rate variability in older adults living at high southern latitudes: a brief report.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Correction.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Article
- Neural substrates underlying multisensory stiffness perception via active touch and dynamic visual feedback.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Research Progress on Neural Processing of Hand and Forearm Tactile Sensation: A Review Based on fMRI Research.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Review
- The interplay among environmental sensitivity, job stressors, and leadership styles on employee well-being.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Brain circuits in autonomous sensory meridian response and related phenomena.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Review
- The role of environmental sensitivity in the experience and processing of emotions: implications for well-being.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Review
- Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Is Associated with Increased Neural Entropy.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Must one take the bitter with the sweet? Sensory processing sensitivity and factors associated with resilience among artistically inclined individuals.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Alexithymia and sensory processing sensitivity account for unique variance in the prediction of emotional contagion and empathy.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Neurophysiological signatures of sensory-processing sensitivity.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sensory processing sensitivity is described as a personality trait associated with a high sensitivity to environmental and social stimuli. It has been assumed that about 15-20% of the total population can be described as highly sensitive. The concept states that those individuals represent a higher sensitivity to subtle stimuli, thereby exhibiting a different somatic sensation. Here we aim to test the assumption that the brain's sensory perception is different in individuals with high sensory processing sensitivity. We used a German version of the Highly Sensitive Person scale to measure sensory processing sensitivity. Furthermore, we assessed the Big Five personality dimensions and trait empathy (using IRI). To test the hypothesis that the brain's handling of sensory information is different in individuals with high sensory-processing sensitivity, we scanned participant's brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they were touched by an experimenter's hand. Results showed positive correlations of sensory processing sensitivity with neuroticism, openness, and empathy. Introversion was not a significant predictor. Neuroimaging data demonstrated that sensory processing sensitivity (controlled for associated personality dimensions) was not related to primary or secondary somatosensory BOLD responses, but positively associated with BOLD activity in left posterior insular cortex. Based on these results we conclude that sensory processing sensitivity seems to represent insula-mediated affective touch. We discuss these results with previous studies reporting an engagement of the insula in individuals with high sensory processing sensitivity.
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