UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The social buffering of pain by affective touch: A laser-evoked potentials study in romantic couples

Mohr, M; Krahé, C; Beck, B; Fotopoulou, A; (2018) The social buffering of pain by affective touch: A laser-evoked potentials study in romantic couples. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience , 13 (11) pp. 1121-1130. 10.1093/scan/nsy085. Green open access

[thumbnail of nsy085.pdf]
Preview
Text
nsy085.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Pain is modulated by social context. Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that romantic partners can provide a potent form of social support during pain. However, such studies have only focused on passive support, finding a relatively late-onset modulation of pain-related neural processing. In this study, we examine for the first time dynamic touch by one's romantic partner as an active form of social support. Specifically, 32 partners provided social, active, affective (versus active but neutral) touch according to the properties of a specific C tactile afferent pathway to their romantic partners, who then received laser-induced pain. We measured subjective pain ratings and early N1 and later N2-P2 laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) to noxious stimulation, as well as individual differences in adult attachment style. We found that affective touch from one's partner reduces subjective pain ratings and similarly attenuates LEPs both at earlier (N1) and later (N2-P2) stages of cortical processing. Adult attachment style did not affect laser-evoked potentials, but attachment anxiety had a moderating role on pain ratings. This is the first study to show early neural modulation of pain by active, partner touch and we discuss these findings in relation to the affective and social modulation of sensory salience.

Type: Article
Title: The social buffering of pain by affective touch: A laser-evoked potentials study in romantic couples
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy085
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsy085
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: affective touch, attachment style, laser-evoked potentials, pain, romantic couples
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10059659
Downloads since deposit
38Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item