Multisensory contributions to affective touch

Just as for any other sensory system, researchers have long wanted to discriminate between the sensory discriminative and hedonic aspects of tactile perception. Supporting such a distinction, researchers have, in recent decades, uncovered the existence of a dedicated system of receptors in the hairy...

Descrizione completa

Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Spence, C
Natura: Journal article
Lingua:English
Pubblicazione: Elsevier 2021
_version_ 1826308405890908160
author Spence, C
author_facet Spence, C
author_sort Spence, C
collection OXFORD
description Just as for any other sensory system, researchers have long wanted to discriminate between the sensory discriminative and hedonic aspects of tactile perception. Supporting such a distinction, researchers have, in recent decades, uncovered the existence of a dedicated system of receptors in the hairy skin (C-Tactile, CT, afferents) that appear to be preferentially tuned to pleasant stroking (i.e. caressing) touch. No matter what kind of touch one is talking about, though, it is important to recognize that human perception is fundamentally multisensory, meaning that what we feel, not to mention what we think about the experience, is modulated by the inputs that are available to the other senses. This review summarizes the latest evidence concerning these multisensory contributions to tactile perception focusing, in particular, on the case of affective touch. Given that CT afferents for pleasant touch are far more common in the hairy (as compared to the glabrous) skin, the question is further raised as to whether the relative contribution of the various senses to tactile perception may differ as a function of the skin site stimulated (i.e. glabrous versus hairy skin) or the kind of judgment (sensory-discriminative versus hedonic) that is being made.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T07:19:00Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:dec5f45b-b78c-4505-975f-da5f9fa7d4d3
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T07:19:00Z
publishDate 2021
publisher Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:dec5f45b-b78c-4505-975f-da5f9fa7d4d32022-08-30T08:58:58ZMultisensory contributions to affective touchJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:dec5f45b-b78c-4505-975f-da5f9fa7d4d3EnglishSymplectic ElementsElsevier2021Spence, CJust as for any other sensory system, researchers have long wanted to discriminate between the sensory discriminative and hedonic aspects of tactile perception. Supporting such a distinction, researchers have, in recent decades, uncovered the existence of a dedicated system of receptors in the hairy skin (C-Tactile, CT, afferents) that appear to be preferentially tuned to pleasant stroking (i.e. caressing) touch. No matter what kind of touch one is talking about, though, it is important to recognize that human perception is fundamentally multisensory, meaning that what we feel, not to mention what we think about the experience, is modulated by the inputs that are available to the other senses. This review summarizes the latest evidence concerning these multisensory contributions to tactile perception focusing, in particular, on the case of affective touch. Given that CT afferents for pleasant touch are far more common in the hairy (as compared to the glabrous) skin, the question is further raised as to whether the relative contribution of the various senses to tactile perception may differ as a function of the skin site stimulated (i.e. glabrous versus hairy skin) or the kind of judgment (sensory-discriminative versus hedonic) that is being made.
spellingShingle Spence, C
Multisensory contributions to affective touch
title Multisensory contributions to affective touch
title_full Multisensory contributions to affective touch
title_fullStr Multisensory contributions to affective touch
title_full_unstemmed Multisensory contributions to affective touch
title_short Multisensory contributions to affective touch
title_sort multisensory contributions to affective touch
work_keys_str_mv AT spencec multisensorycontributionstoaffectivetouch