Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39414894›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2024

Pupil dilation responds to the intrinsic social characteristics of affective touch.

Greta Bonino, Alessandro Mazza, Francesca Capiotto, Annamaria Berti, Lorenzo Pia, Olga Dal Monte

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Greta BoninoDepartment of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Torino, Italy.
Alessandro MazzaDepartment of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Torino, Italy.
Francesca CapiottoDepartment of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Torino, Italy.
Annamaria BertiDepartment of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Torino, Italy.
Lorenzo PiaDepartment of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Torino, Italy.
Olga Dal MonteDepartment of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Torino, Italy. olga.dalmonte@unito.it.

Funding

Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca DALO_RILO_19_01Università degli Studi di Torino DALO_GFI_22_01_F
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Affective Touch is characterized by both emotional and arousing dimensions that rely on specific features of a gentle human caress. In this study, we investigated whether and how both the nature of the touching effector (Human hand vs. Artificial hand) and touch type (Dynamic vs. Static) influenced the participants' pupil dilation and their subjective experience during tactile stimulation. We observed that when participants received a dynamic touch, their pupil dilation increased more when the touch was produced by a human compared to an artificial hand. This discrimination was not present for static touch. Also, dynamic touch given by a human hand invoked a supralinear enhancement of pupil dilation indicating that the combination of these two features induced a stronger autonomic activation than the summed effects of each separately. Moreover, this specific type of touch was perceived as the most pleasant compared to all other tactile stimulations. Overall, our results suggest that pupil dilation could reflect the pleasant experience of human-to-human tactile interactions, supporting the notion that the autonomic nervous system is responsive to the emotional and hedonic aspects associated with Affective Touch as a part of a complex and holistic social experience, rather than solely reacting to its low-level sensory properties.

Indexed as

PupilTouchAdultAffectAutonomic Nervous SystemEmotionsFemaleHumansMaleTouch PerceptionYoung AdultAffective touchArtificial handHuman handPupil dilationSkin-to-skin touchStroke velocity

Identifiers

PMID39414894
PMCPMC11484950

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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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.