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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2017-06, Vol.7 (1), p.3252-12, Article 3252
Main Authors: Goldstein, Pavel, Weissman-Fogel, Irit, Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/443
631/477/2811
692/700/565/411
Adult
Analgesia
Analgesics
Autonomic nervous system
EKG
Electrocardiography
Emotions
Empathy
Empathy - physiology
Female
Heart rate
Heart Rate - physiology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
multidisciplinary
Pain
Pain - physiopathology
Pain - psychology
Pain perception
Physiology
Respiration
Respiratory Rate - physiology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Social Behavior
Synchronization
Touch - physiology
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Summary: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.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-03627-7