Affective touch supports affiliative bonds and social cognition. However, it remains unknown whether pre-existing models of social relating influence the perception of affective touch. Here, we present the first study (N=44) to examine how individual differences in attachment styles relate to the perception of affective touch, as well as to a different non-social modality of interoception, namely cardiac perceived accuracy. Using the gold standard assessment of adult attachment (Adult Attachment Interview), we found that insecure attachment was associated with reduced pleasantness discrimination between affective vs. non-affective, neutral touch. Acknowledging the different traditions in measuring attachment, we also used a well-validated self-report questionnaire that pertains to explicit representations of current close relationships. Using this measure, we found that higher scores on an attachment anxiety dimension (but not an attachment avoidance) were associated with reduced pleasantness discrimination between affective vs. non-affective, neutral touch. Attachment patterns (in both measures) were not related to cardiac perception accuracy. These results corroborate and extend previous literature on the affectivity of touch and its relation with affiliative bonds and social cognition. Given that attachment was not related to perceived cardiac accuracy, these findings point to the specificity of the relationship between affective touch and attachment.Attachment style and affective touch 3
Sensitivity to Affective Touch Depends on Adult Attachment StyleAttachment theory is one of the most influential theories of the development of close social relationships 1,2 . Its key tenet is that infants have an innate drive to form a close bond with their primary caregivers to ensure their survival and well-being in times of threat. In the past decades, the emphasis in attachment research has been influenced by the additional, cognitive hypothesis that differences in the responsiveness and availability of caregivers to the infant's attachment needs lead to the development of internal working models (IWM) of social relating and associated affect regulation strategies 3 . These working models are described as affectivecognitive schemas, termed 'attachment representations' or most generally referred to as attachment styles, that are transferred from parental figures to romantic relationships 4 and remain relatively stable across the life span 5 . For example, secure attachment is characterized by positive views of self and other, and the belief that one can turn to others for support and those others will be responsive 6 .The emphasis on these IWM in attachment theory has somewhat shifted attention away from Bowlby's original attention to physical 'proximity seeking' as the primary behavioural strategy for coping with threat (in a wider sense) 1,2 . Crucially, a central aspect of proximal caregiving during threat is touch. Touch is the first of our senses to develop, emerging at around eight weeks gestation 7 . By the third ...