Affective regulation through touch: homeostatic and allostatic mechanisms



Fotopoulou, Aikaterini, von Mohr, Mariana and Krahe, Charlotte ORCID: 0000-0002-0620-1263
(2022) Affective regulation through touch: homeostatic and allostatic mechanisms. CURRENT OPINION IN BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, 43. pp. 80-87.

[img] Text
Fotopoulou2022.pdf - Published version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

We focus on social touch as a paradigmatic case of the embodied, cognitive, and metacognitive processes involved in social, affective regulation. Social touch appears to contribute three interrelated but distinct functions to affective regulation. First, it regulates affects by fulfilling embodied predictions about social proximity and attachment. Second, caregiving touch, such as warming an infant, regulates affect by socially enacting homeostatic control and co-regulation of physiological states. Third, affective touch such as gentle stroking or tickling regulates affect by allostatic regulation of the salience and epistemic gain of particular experiences in given contexts and timescales. These three functions of affective touch are most likely mediated, at least partly, by different neurobiological processes, including convergent hedonic, dopaminergic and analgesic, opioidergic pathways for the attachment function, 'calming' autonomic and endocrine pathways for the homeostatic function, while the allostatic function may be mediated by oxytocin release and related 'salience' neuromodulators and circuits.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Neurosciences, Mental Health, Behavioral and Social Science, Basic Behavioral and Social Science, 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning, 1 Underpinning research
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 04 Oct 2021 09:56
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2024 15:21
DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.08.008
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3139241