Affective Regulation Through Touch: Homeostatic and Allostatic Mechanisms



Fotopoulou, Aikaterini ORCID: 0000-0003-0904-7967, Von Mohr, Mariana and Krahé, Charlotte
(2021) Affective Regulation Through Touch: Homeostatic and Allostatic Mechanisms. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.

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Abstract

<p>We focus on social touch as a paradigmatic case of a unifying perspective on the embodied, cognitive and metacognitive processes involved in social, affective regulation. Social touch appears to have three interrelated but distinct functions in affective regulation. First, it regulates affects by fulfilling embodied expectations about social proximity and attachment, mostly likely by convergent hedonic, dopaminergic and analgesic, opioidergic pathways. Second, caregiving touch such as feeding or warming an infant regulates affect by socially enacting homeostatic control and co-regulation of physiological states, most likely by corresponding ‘calming’ autonomic and endocrine pathways. Third, affective touch such as gentle stroking, kissing or tickling regulates affect by allostatic regulation of the salience and epistemic gain of particular experiences in given contexts and timescales, possibly regulated by oxytocin release and related ‘salience’ neuromodulators and circuits.</p>

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Behavioral and Social Science, Basic Behavioral and Social Science, Neurosciences, Mental Health, 1 Underpinning research, 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 02 Jul 2021 07:33
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2024 15:21
DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/ksj3x
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3128438