Topography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances
Abstract Interpersonal touch is intimately related to the emotional bond between the touch giver and the touch receiver. Which bodily regions we touch in those individuals in our social network is relationship specific. Perception of interpersonal touch is altered in psychiatric disorders characteri...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39484-w |
| _version_ | 1797559868973907968 |
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| author | Ashleigh Bellard Jyothisa Mathew Wenhan Sun Linda Denkow Ali Najm Despina Michael-Grigoriou Paula Trotter Francis McGlone Merle Fairhurst Valentina Cazzato |
| author_facet | Ashleigh Bellard Jyothisa Mathew Wenhan Sun Linda Denkow Ali Najm Despina Michael-Grigoriou Paula Trotter Francis McGlone Merle Fairhurst Valentina Cazzato |
| author_sort | Ashleigh Bellard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Interpersonal touch is intimately related to the emotional bond between the touch giver and the touch receiver. Which bodily regions we touch in those individuals in our social network is relationship specific. Perception of interpersonal touch is altered in psychiatric disorders characterised by body image disturbances (BIDs). Here, we examined whether the ‘imagined’ experience of social touch in individuals with BIDs is body topography- and relationship-specific. By using an interactive media mobile App, the Virtual Touch Toolkit, high versus low levels of BIDs participants completed heatmaps of full-body virtual avatars, to indicate the body regions they find soothing/unpleasant to be touched by a loved one versus an acquaintance. Self-reports of interoceptive awareness and dysmorphic concerns were also measured. Overall, imagined touch was rated as the most soothing when received from a loved one, and also when this was delivered to ‘social’ body regions. The importance of the social relationship for the imagined tactile interactions was particularly evident for the high levels of BIDs group, with greater problems with interoceptive awareness predicting higher soothing touch ratings when this was received by a loved one. Despite the evidence that imagined bodily contacts between meaningful people is the most pleasant for socially acceptable bodily regions, our findings may suggest a greater sensitivity to relation-specific bodily patterns of social touch particularly in the high level of BIDs group. Heightened interoceptive awareness may also play a key role in this experience of bodily affective contacts. Future research for body-oriented therapy for BIDs is encouraged to systematically probe the efficacy of imagined social touch interaction protocols which use more plausible, ecological, scenarios where touch is delivered by loved ones and to socially acceptable bodily regions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:51:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5ff73692061428399c5b9316049d98c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:51:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5ff73692061428399c5b9316049d98c2023-11-20T09:22:08ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-08-0113111510.1038/s41598-023-39484-wTopography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbancesAshleigh Bellard0Jyothisa Mathew1Wenhan Sun2Linda Denkow3Ali Najm4Despina Michael-Grigoriou5Paula Trotter6Francis McGlone7Merle Fairhurst8Valentina Cazzato9Faculty of Health, Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour, School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Bundeswehr UniversitätFaculty of Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, Munich Center for Neuroscience, Ludwig Maximilian UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Bundeswehr UniversitätGET Lab, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of TechnologyGET Lab, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of TechnologyFaculty of Health, Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour, School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores UniversityInstitute of Psychology, Health & Society, University of LiverpoolFaculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Centre for Tactile Internet With Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI), Technische Universität DresdenFaculty of Health, Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour, School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores UniversityAbstract Interpersonal touch is intimately related to the emotional bond between the touch giver and the touch receiver. Which bodily regions we touch in those individuals in our social network is relationship specific. Perception of interpersonal touch is altered in psychiatric disorders characterised by body image disturbances (BIDs). Here, we examined whether the ‘imagined’ experience of social touch in individuals with BIDs is body topography- and relationship-specific. By using an interactive media mobile App, the Virtual Touch Toolkit, high versus low levels of BIDs participants completed heatmaps of full-body virtual avatars, to indicate the body regions they find soothing/unpleasant to be touched by a loved one versus an acquaintance. Self-reports of interoceptive awareness and dysmorphic concerns were also measured. Overall, imagined touch was rated as the most soothing when received from a loved one, and also when this was delivered to ‘social’ body regions. The importance of the social relationship for the imagined tactile interactions was particularly evident for the high levels of BIDs group, with greater problems with interoceptive awareness predicting higher soothing touch ratings when this was received by a loved one. Despite the evidence that imagined bodily contacts between meaningful people is the most pleasant for socially acceptable bodily regions, our findings may suggest a greater sensitivity to relation-specific bodily patterns of social touch particularly in the high level of BIDs group. Heightened interoceptive awareness may also play a key role in this experience of bodily affective contacts. Future research for body-oriented therapy for BIDs is encouraged to systematically probe the efficacy of imagined social touch interaction protocols which use more plausible, ecological, scenarios where touch is delivered by loved ones and to socially acceptable bodily regions.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39484-w |
| spellingShingle | Ashleigh Bellard Jyothisa Mathew Wenhan Sun Linda Denkow Ali Najm Despina Michael-Grigoriou Paula Trotter Francis McGlone Merle Fairhurst Valentina Cazzato Topography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances Scientific Reports |
| title | Topography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances |
| title_full | Topography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances |
| title_fullStr | Topography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances |
| title_full_unstemmed | Topography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances |
| title_short | Topography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances |
| title_sort | topography and relationship specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39484-w |
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