Unmyelinated tactile afferents have opposite effects on insular and somatosensory cortical processing

Olausson, Håkan; Cole, Jonathan; Vallbo, Å. B.; McGlone, Francis; Elam, Mikael; Krämer, Heidrun H.; Rylander, Karin; Wessberg, Johan; Bushnell, M. Catherine

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2008.03.015

Cited by 136 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Indeed, studies in two patients lacking large-fibre sensory axons yet preserved small-fibre function reveal that their capacity to feel this light touch remains. Moreover, the stroking stimuli feel ''pleasant'' and, as described by Olausson and colleagues in the May 2008 issue of Neuroscience Letters, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that light stroking of the hairy skin in these patients activates the posterior insular cortex but not the primary somatosensory cortex [12]. The contribution of C-tactile fibres to affective touch has been further explored by Löken and colleagues, in the May issue of Nature Neuroscience [9].…”

Section: That Touchy Feelingmentioning

confidence: 96%

Developments in autonomic research: a review of the latest literature

Macefield

2009

Clin Auton Res

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Small-diameter afferents do not just subserve pain and temperature sensibilities, important for protection of the body though they are: there is a system of lowthreshold unmyelinated afferents that respond to light stroking (C-tactile afferents) and they are believed to subserve the affective components of touch. Patients with large-fibre sensory neuropathies exhibit skin sympathetic responses to stroking, and report the stimuli as feeling pleasant. Moreover, the posterior insula is activated. Patients with small-diameter sensory neuropathies, specifically those with congenital insensitivity to pain, suffer from cumulative injuries that can lead to joint degeneration. There is evidence that the nociceptive (and sympathetic) axons die because nerve growth factor is not being produced by the target tissues; patients with congenital insensitivity to pain have mutations in the NTRK1 gene, the gene responsible for producing the TrkA receptor, but there is also evidence for mutations in the SCN9A gene, which codes for a specific subunit of the voltage-gated sodium channel. Specific mutations, leading to clusters of cases of congenital insensitivity to pain, have been found in several geographical locations, with several genetic mutations having been documented. Interestingly, even patients with congenital insensitivity to pain, despite having never experienced pain, can still empathise with the pain in others-we do not need to feel pain in order to empathise, but we do need to feel pain in order to ensure that our body looks after itself.

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Section: That Touchy Feelingmentioning

confidence: 96%

Developments in autonomic research: a review of the latest literature

Macefield

2009

Clin Auton Res

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“…This neurophysiological channel in the skin reacts to soft, stroking touches, and its activity strongly depends on stroking speed (with an optimum in the speed range 3-10 cm/s) and has a high correlation with subjective ratings of the pleasantness of the touch. Research over the past decades has shown that this system is not involved in discriminative touch (Olausson et al 2008) but underlies the emotional aspects of touch and the development and function of the social brain . Social touches may activate both this pleasurable touch system and the discriminative touch system (reacting to, for instance, pressure, vibration, and skin stretch).…”

Section: Touch In Social Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Touch in Humanâ€“Computer Interaction

Erp

Toet²

2015

Front. Digit. Humanit.

136

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Touch is our primary non-verbal communication channel for conveying intimate emotions and as such essential for our physical and emotional wellbeing. In our digital age, human social interaction is often mediated. However, even though there is increasing evidence that mediated touch affords affective communication, current communication systems (such as videoconferencing) still do not support communication through the sense of touch. As a result, mediated communication does not provide the intense affective experience of co-located communication. The need for ICT mediated or generated touch as an intuitive way of social communication is even further emphasized by the growing interest in the use of touch-enabled agents and robots for healthcare, teaching, and telepresence applications. Here, we review the important role of social touch in our daily life and the available evidence that affective touch can be mediated reliably between humans and between humans and digital agents. We base our observations on evidence from psychology, computer science, sociology, and neuroscience with focus on the first two. Our review shows that mediated affective touch can modulate physiological responses, increase trust and affection, help to establish bonds between humans and avatars or robots, and initiate pro-social behavior. We argue that ICT mediated or generated social touch can (a) intensify the perceived social presence of remote communication partners and (b) enable computer systems to more effectively convey affective information. However, this research field on the crossroads of ICT and psychology is still embryonic and we identify several topics that can help to mature the field in the following areas: establishing an overarching theoretical framework, employing better research methodologies, developing basic social touch building blocks, and solving specific ICT challenges.

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“…This velocity-sensitive CT response is tightly correlated with subjective ratings of how pleasant the touch feels . Human CT pathways ultimately target the insular cortex (Olausson et al, 2002(Olausson et al, , 2008aBjörnsdotter et al, 2009Björnsdotter et al, , 2010, a region associated with emotion and homeostatic balance (Craig, 2002(Craig, , 2008(Craig, , 2009Paulus, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vicarious Responses to Social Touch in Posterior Insular Cortex Are Tuned to Pleasant Caressing Speeds

Morrison

Björnsdotter²,

Olausson³

2011

Journal of Neuroscience

251

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Background. Affective touch carries strong significance for social mammals, including humans. Gentle, dynamic touch of a kind that occurs during social interactions is preferentially encoded by a distinct neural pathway involving tactile C (CT) afferents, a type of unmyelinated afferent nerve found exclusively in hairy skin. CT afferents increase firing when the skin is stroked at a pleasant, caress-like speed of ϳ3 cm/s, and their discharge frequency correlates with the subjective hedonic experience of the caress. In humans, the posterior insula is a cortical target for CT afferents. Since the potential social relevance of affective touch extends to the touch interactions of others, we postulated that information from CT afferents in posterior insular cortex provides a basis for encoding observed caresses. Results. In two experiments, we exploited CT afferents' functionally unique tuning curve for stroking speed, demonstrating that a speed optimal for eliciting CT discharge (3 cm/s) also gives rise to higher BOLD responses in posterior insula than a nonoptimal speed (30 cm/s). When participants viewed videos of others' arms being stroked at CT-optimal versus -nonoptimal speeds, the posterior insula showed a similar response as to directly felt touch. Further, this region's response was specific for social interactions, showing no CT-related modulation for nonsocial dynamic-touch videos. Conclusions. These findings provide direct evidence for a functional relationship between CT signaling and processing in posterior insular cortex. Such selective tuning for CT-optimal signals in insula may allow recognition of the hedonic relevance of a merely observed caress.

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Unmyelinated tactile afferents have opposite effects on insular and somatosensory cortical processing

Cited by 136 publications

References 29 publications

Developments in autonomic research: a review of the latest literature

Developments in autonomic research: a review of the latest literature

Social Touch in Humanâ€“Computer Interaction

Vicarious Responses to Social Touch in Posterior Insular Cortex Are Tuned to Pleasant Caressing Speeds

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