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Addabbo M, Licht V, Turati C. Infants' facial electromyographic responses to the sight of emotional interpersonal touch. INFANCY 2024. [PMID: 38873865 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 04/29/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/15/2024]
Abstract
Adult studies have shown that observed interpersonal touch provides crucial information about others' emotional states. Yet, despite the unique communicative function of touch during development, very little is known about infants' sensitivity to the emotional valence of observed touches. To investigate this issue, we measured facial electromyographic (EMG) activity in response to positive (caress) and negative (scratches) observed touches in a sample of 11-month-old infants. Facial EMG activity was measured over the zygomaticus major (ZM) and corrugator supercilii muscles, respectively involved in positive (i.e., smiling) and negative (i.e., frowning) facial expressions. Results have shown distinct activations of the ZM during the observation of scratches and caresses. In particular, significantly greater activation of the ZM (smiling muscle) emerged specifically in response to the observation of caresses compared to scratches. Our finding suggests that, in infancy, observed affective touches can evoke emotional facial reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret Addabbo
- Department of Psychology, CRIdee, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milano, Italy
| | - Victoria Licht
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
| | - Chiara Turati
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
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2
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Chiappini E, Massaccesi C, Korb S, Steyrl D, Willeit M, Silani G. Neural Hyperresponsivity During the Anticipation of Tangible Social and Nonsocial Rewards in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Concurrent Neuroimaging and Facial Electromyography Study. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2024:S2451-9022(24)00108-3. [PMID: 38642898 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2024] [Revised: 04/09/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Atypical anticipation of social reward has been shown to lie at the core of the social challenges faced by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous research has yielded inconsistent results and has often overlooked crucial characteristics of stimuli. Here, we investigated ASD reward processing using social and nonsocial tangible stimuli, carefully matched on several key dimensions. METHODS We examined the anticipation and consumption of social (interpersonal touch) and nonsocial (flavored milk) rewards in 25 high-functioning individuals with ASD and 25 neurotypical adult individuals. In addition to subjective ratings of wanting and liking, we measured physical energetic expenditure to obtain the rewards, brain activity with neuroimaging, and facial reactions through electromyography on a trial-by-trial basis. RESULTS Participants with ASD did not exhibit reduced motivation for social or nonsocial rewards; their subjective ratings, motivated efforts, and facial reactions were comparable to those of neurotypical participants. However, anticipation of higher-value rewards increased neural activation in lateral parietal cortices, sensorimotor regions, and the orbitofrontal cortex. Moreover, participants with ASD exhibited hyperconnectivity between frontal medial regions and occipital regions and the thalamus. CONCLUSIONS Individuals with ASD who experienced rewards with tangible characteristics, whether social or nonsocial, displayed typical subjective and objective motivational and hedonic responses. Notably, the observed hyperactivations in sensory and attentional nodes during anticipation suggest atypical sensory overprocessing of forthcoming rewards rather than decreased reward value. While these atypicalities may not have manifested in observable behavior here, they could impact real-life social interactions that require nuanced predictions, potentially leading to the misperception of reduced interest in rewarding social stimuli in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilio Chiappini
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany.
| | - Claudia Massaccesi
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sebastian Korb
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom
| | - David Steyrl
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Matthäus Willeit
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of General Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Giorgia Silani
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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Wingenbach TSH, Ribeiro B, Nakao C, Boggio PS. Modulation of facial muscle responses by another person's presence and affiliative touch during affective image viewing. Cogn Emot 2024; 38:59-70. [PMID: 37712676 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2023.2258588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Stimulating CT-afferents by forearm caresses produces the subjective experience of pleasantness in the receiver and modulates subjective evaluations of viewed affective images. Receiving touch from another person includes the social element of another person's presence, which has been found to influence affective image evaluations without involving touch. The current study investigated whether these modulations translate to facial muscle responses associated with positive and negative affect across touch-involving and mere presence conditions. Female participants (N = 40, M(age) = 22.4, SD = 5.3) watched affective images (neutral, positive, negative) while facial electromyography was recorded (sites: zygomaticus, corrugator). Results from ANOVAs showed that providing touch to another person or oneself modulated zygomaticus site responses when viewing positive images. Providing CT-afferent stimulating touch (i.e., forearm caresses) to another person or oneself dampened the positive affective facial muscle response to positive affective images. Providing touch to another person generally increased corrugator facial muscle activity related to negative affect. Receiving touch did not modulate affective facial muscle responses during the viewing of affective images but may have effects on later cognitive processes. Together, previously reported social and touch modulations of subjective evaluations of affective images do not translate to facial muscle responses during affective image viewing, which were differentially modulated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanja S H Wingenbach
- Centre for Health and Biological Sciences, Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Faculty of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, School of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, London, UK
| | - Beatriz Ribeiro
- Centre for Health and Biological Sciences, Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, Brazil
| | - Caroline Nakao
- Centre for Health and Biological Sciences, Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, Brazil
| | - Paulo S Boggio
- Centre for Health and Biological Sciences, Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Sao Paulo, Brazil
- National Institute of Science and Technology on Social and Affective Neuroscience, CNPq, Brazil
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McIntyre S, Hauser SC, Kusztor A, Boehme R, Moungou A, Isager PM, Homman L, Novembre G, Nagi SS, Israr A, Lumpkin EA, Abnousi F, Gerling GJ, Olausson H. The Language of Social Touch Is Intuitive and Quantifiable. Psychol Sci 2022; 33:1477-1494. [PMID: 35942875 DOI: 10.1177/09567976211059801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Touch is a powerful communication tool, but we have a limited understanding of the role played by particular physical features of interpersonal touch communication. In this study, adults living in Sweden performed a task in which messages (attention, love, happiness, calming, sadness, and gratitude) were conveyed by a sender touching the forearm of a receiver, who interpreted the messages. Two experiments (N = 32, N = 20) showed that within close relationships, receivers could identify the intuitive touch expressions of the senders, and we characterized the physical features of the touches associated with successful communication. Facial expressions measured with electromyography varied by message but were uncorrelated with communication performance. We developed standardized touch expressions and quantified the physical features with 3D hand tracking. In two further experiments (N = 20, N = 16), these standardized expressions were conveyed by trained senders and were readily understood by strangers unacquainted with the senders. Thus, the possibility emerges of a standardized, intuitively understood language of social touch.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah McIntyre
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Steven C Hauser
- School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia
| | - Anikó Kusztor
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Rebecca Boehme
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Athanasia Moungou
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Peder Mortvedt Isager
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Lina Homman
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Giovanni Novembre
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Saad S Nagi
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | | | - Ellen A Lumpkin
- Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University
| | | | | | - Håkan Olausson
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
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Saarinen A, Harjunen V, Jasinskaja-Lahti I, Jääskeläinen IP, Ravaja N. Social touch experience in different contexts: A review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:360-372. [PMID: 34537266 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 08/05/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Social touch is increasingly utilized in a variety of psychological interventions, ranging from parent-child interventions to psychotherapeutic treatments. Less attention has been paid, however, to findings that exposure to social touch may not necessarily evoke positive or pleasant responses. Social touch can convey different emotions from love and gratitude to harassment and envy, and persons' preferences to touch and be touched do not necessarily match with each other. This review of altogether 99 original studies focuses on how contextual factors modify target person's behavioral and brain responses to social touch. The review shows that experience of social touch is strongly modified by a variety of toucher-related and situational factors: for example, toucher's facial expressions, physical attractiveness, relationship status, group membership, and touched person's psychological distress. At the neural level, contextual factors modify processing of social touch from early perceptual processing to reflective cognitive evaluation. Based on the review, we present implications for using social touch in behavioral and neuroscientific research designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aino Saarinen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Ville Harjunen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti
- Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Iiro P Jääskeläinen
- Brain and Mind Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland; International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Niklas Ravaja
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
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Massaccesi C, Korb S, Skoluda N, Nater UM, Silani G. Effects of Appetitive and Aversive Motivational States on Wanting and Liking of Interpersonal Touch. Neuroscience 2021; 464:12-25. [PMID: 32949673 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.09.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2020] [Revised: 09/03/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Social rewards represent a strong driving force behind decisions and behaviors. Previous research suggests that the processing of a reward depends on the initial state of the individual. However, empirical research in humans on the influence of motivational states on reward processing is scant, especially for rewards of social nature. In the present study, we aimed at investigating how aversive and appetitive motivation affects the processing of social rewards, such as interpersonal touch. Participants (n = 102) were assigned to an appetitive (positive) or aversive (negative) motivational state condition (via modified versions of the Trier Social Stress Test) or to a control condition. After the state induction, their (a) self-reports of wanting and liking, (b) effort, and (c) hedonic facial reactions during anticipation and consumption of interpersonal touch, were measured. Participants in the aversive group showed higher subjective wanting of interpersonal touch, but no changes in subjective liking, compared to the control group. The aversive group also showed stronger positive hedonic facial reactions during reward anticipation, reflecting stronger anticipatory pleasure. No significant effects were found for the appetitive group. The results indicate that, after being exposed to an aversive experience, the motivation to obtain interpersonal touch, as well as the associated anticipatory pleasure, increase, without a corresponding change in liking during or after its consumption. The findings point to differential state-dependent effects on the processing of social rewards, possibly due to the action of different neurobiological systems regulating reward anticipation and consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Massaccesi
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria.
| | - Sebastian Korb
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria; Faculty of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
| | - Nadine Skoluda
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
| | - Urs M Nater
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
| | - Giorgia Silani
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria.
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Bendas J, Ree A, Pabel L, Sailer U, Croy I. Dynamics of Affective Habituation to Touch Differ on the Group and Individual Level. Neuroscience 2020; 464:44-52. [PMID: 33385487 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.12.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2020] [Revised: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Slow stroking touch activates C-tactile (CT) fibres in the human skin and is typically described as pleasant. Over a longer duration of stroking, affective habituation sets in, indicated by a reduction in rated pleasantness. However, it is not clear whether the group level effect is represented on an individual level. We analyse the stability of individual ratings of slow stroking touch and their relationship to behavioural and physiological measures. Forty-eight participants (23 women) were repeatedly stroked with a velocity maximally activating CT fibres. The perceived pleasantness was rated on a visual analogue scale. In order to examine the stability of pleasantness ratings, the experiment was repeated after a couple of days. During the experiment, electrocardiogram (ECG) and facial-electromyography (EMG) data were recorded. On the group-level, previous results of affective habituation to touch were replicated and stable across sessions. On the individual level, however, less than half of the participants showed a significant reduction of pleasantness in the course of the experiment. Moreover, the remaining participants showed either no change, random rating behaviour or even an increase in pleasantness ratings during the course of the experiment. The individual response patterns were variable across sessions but stable above the chance level. Furthermore, the response patterns could not be explicitly associated with any of the behavioural or physiological measures. Our findings indicate a lack of group-to-individual generalizability for affective habituation to touch. The variability of rating patterns over time indicates that they are not conclusively determined by stable individual characteristics. Future research investigating touch should favour a more individual approach to the more commonly applied group analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna Bendas
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany; Department of Pediatrics, Ev.-Luth. Diakonissenanstalt zu Flensburg, Germany.
| | - Anbjørn Ree
- Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Behavioural Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway
| | - Luise Pabel
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Uta Sailer
- Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Behavioural Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway
| | - Ilona Croy
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
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