Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners
Interpersonal touch is of paramount importance in human social bonding and close relationships, allowing a unique channel for affect communication. So far the effect of touch on human physiology has been studied at an individual level. The present study aims at extending the study of affective touch...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00095/full |
| _version_ | 1819054121333817344 |
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| author | Jonas eChatel-Goldman Marco eCongedo Christian eJutten Jean-Luc eSchwartz |
| author_facet | Jonas eChatel-Goldman Marco eCongedo Christian eJutten Jean-Luc eSchwartz |
| author_sort | Jonas eChatel-Goldman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Interpersonal touch is of paramount importance in human social bonding and close relationships, allowing a unique channel for affect communication. So far the effect of touch on human physiology has been studied at an individual level. The present study aims at extending the study of affective touch from isolated individuals to truly interacting dyads. We have designed an ecological paradigm where romantic partners interact only via touch and we manipulate their empathic states. Simultaneously, we collected their autonomic activity (skin conductance, pulse, respiration). 14 couples participated to the experiment. We found that interpersonal touch increased coupling of electrodermal activity between the interacting partners, regardless the intensity and valence of the emotion felt. In addition, physical touch induced strong and reliable changes in physiological states within individuals. These results support an instrumental role of interpersonal touch for affective support in close relationships. Furthermore, they suggest that touch alone allows the emergence of a somatovisceral resonance between interacting individuals, which in turn is likely to form the prerequisites for emotional contagion and empathy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:46:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-069b698d6d9548189f0a992eaf7b34bf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:46:35Z |
| publishDate | 2014-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-069b698d6d9548189f0a992eaf7b34bf2022-12-21T19:03:38ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532014-03-01810.3389/fnbeh.2014.0009567226Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partnersJonas eChatel-Goldman0Marco eCongedo1Christian eJutten2Jean-Luc eSchwartz3GIPSA-LabGIPSA-LabGIPSA-LabGIPSA-LabInterpersonal touch is of paramount importance in human social bonding and close relationships, allowing a unique channel for affect communication. So far the effect of touch on human physiology has been studied at an individual level. The present study aims at extending the study of affective touch from isolated individuals to truly interacting dyads. We have designed an ecological paradigm where romantic partners interact only via touch and we manipulate their empathic states. Simultaneously, we collected their autonomic activity (skin conductance, pulse, respiration). 14 couples participated to the experiment. We found that interpersonal touch increased coupling of electrodermal activity between the interacting partners, regardless the intensity and valence of the emotion felt. In addition, physical touch induced strong and reliable changes in physiological states within individuals. These results support an instrumental role of interpersonal touch for affective support in close relationships. Furthermore, they suggest that touch alone allows the emergence of a somatovisceral resonance between interacting individuals, which in turn is likely to form the prerequisites for emotional contagion and empathy.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00095/fullEmpathysocial interactionElectrodermal activityphysiological couplingaffective touchinterpersonal coupling |
| spellingShingle | Jonas eChatel-Goldman Marco eCongedo Christian eJutten Jean-Luc eSchwartz Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience Empathy social interaction Electrodermal activity physiological coupling affective touch interpersonal coupling |
| title | Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners |
| title_full | Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners |
| title_fullStr | Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners |
| title_full_unstemmed | Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners |
| title_short | Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners |
| title_sort | touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners |
| topic | Empathy social interaction Electrodermal activity physiological coupling affective touch interpersonal coupling |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00095/full |
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