The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain

Abstract The human ability to synchronize with other individuals is critical for the development of social behavior. Recent research has shown that physiological inter-personal synchronization may underlie behavioral synchrony. Nevertheless, the factors that modulate physiological coupling are still...

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Autores principales:	Pavel Goldstein, Irit Weissman-Fogel, Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9e85723ccc2a4c5aa4676dbe2ac55599
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9e85723ccc2a4c5aa4676dbe2ac555992021-12-02T12:30:13ZThe role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain10.1038/s41598-017-03627-72045-2322https://doaj.org/article/9e85723ccc2a4c5aa4676dbe2ac555992017-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03627-7https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The human ability to synchronize with other individuals is critical for the development of social behavior. Recent research has shown that physiological inter-personal synchronization may underlie behavioral synchrony. Nevertheless, the factors that modulate physiological coupling are still largely unknown. Here we suggest that social touch and empathy for pain may enhance interpersonal physiological coupling. Twenty-two romantic couples were assigned the roles of target (pain receiver) and observer (pain observer) under pain/no-pain and touch/no-touch conditions, and their ECG and respiration rates were recorded. The results indicate that the partner touch increased interpersonal respiration coupling under both pain and no-pain conditions and increased heart rate coupling under pain conditions. In addition, physiological coupling was diminished by pain in the absence of the partner’s touch. Critically, we found that high partner’s empathy and high levels of analgesia enhanced coupling during the partner’s touch. Collectively, the evidence indicates that social touch increases interpersonal physiological coupling during pain. Furthermore, the effects of touch on cardio-respiratory inter-partner coupling may contribute to the analgesic effects of touch via the autonomic nervous system.Pavel GoldsteinIrit Weissman-FogelSimone G. Shamay-TsooryNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Pavel Goldstein Irit Weissman-Fogel Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain
description	Abstract The human ability to synchronize with other individuals is critical for the development of social behavior. Recent research has shown that physiological inter-personal synchronization may underlie behavioral synchrony. Nevertheless, the factors that modulate physiological coupling are still largely unknown. Here we suggest that social touch and empathy for pain may enhance interpersonal physiological coupling. Twenty-two romantic couples were assigned the roles of target (pain receiver) and observer (pain observer) under pain/no-pain and touch/no-touch conditions, and their ECG and respiration rates were recorded. The results indicate that the partner touch increased interpersonal respiration coupling under both pain and no-pain conditions and increased heart rate coupling under pain conditions. In addition, physiological coupling was diminished by pain in the absence of the partner’s touch. Critically, we found that high partner’s empathy and high levels of analgesia enhanced coupling during the partner’s touch. Collectively, the evidence indicates that social touch increases interpersonal physiological coupling during pain. Furthermore, the effects of touch on cardio-respiratory inter-partner coupling may contribute to the analgesic effects of touch via the autonomic nervous system.
format	article
author	Pavel Goldstein Irit Weissman-Fogel Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory
author_facet	Pavel Goldstein Irit Weissman-Fogel Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory
author_sort	Pavel Goldstein
title	The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain
title_short	The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain
title_full	The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain
title_fullStr	The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain
title_full_unstemmed	The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain
title_sort	role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/9e85723ccc2a4c5aa4676dbe2ac55599
work_keys_str_mv	AT pavelgoldstein theroleoftouchinregulatinginterpartnerphysiologicalcouplingduringempathyforpain AT iritweissmanfogel theroleoftouchinregulatinginterpartnerphysiologicalcouplingduringempathyforpain AT simonegshamaytsoory theroleoftouchinregulatinginterpartnerphysiologicalcouplingduringempathyforpain AT pavelgoldstein roleoftouchinregulatinginterpartnerphysiologicalcouplingduringempathyforpain AT iritweissmanfogel roleoftouchinregulatinginterpartnerphysiologicalcouplingduringempathyforpain AT simonegshamaytsoory roleoftouchinregulatinginterpartnerphysiologicalcouplingduringempathyforpain
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The role of touch in regulating inter-partner physiological coupling during empathy for pain

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