Getting closer: Synchronous interpersonal multisensory stimulation increases closeness and attraction toward an opposite-sex other in female participants

•Self-other bodily merging affects higher social cognitive and affective processes.•The enfacement illusion is extended to an opposite-sex other.•Synchronous interpersonal multisensory stimulation promotes closeness and attraction. Experiencing tactile facial stimulation while seeing synchronous sti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Consciousness and cognition 2020-01, Vol.77, p.102849-102849, Article 102849
Main Authors: Quintard, Virginie, Jouffre, Stéphane, Paladino, Maria-Paola, Bouquet, Cédric A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Body Image
Cognition
Cognitive science
Enfacement illusion
Face
Face - physiology
Female
Humans
Illusions - physiology
Interpersonal closeness
Multisensory
Physical Stimulation
Psychology
Self-other merging
Sex
Sexual Behavior - physiology
Social Interaction
Social interactions
Social Perception
Time Factors
Touch Perception - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•Self-other bodily merging affects higher social cognitive and affective processes.•The enfacement illusion is extended to an opposite-sex other.•Synchronous interpersonal multisensory stimulation promotes closeness and attraction. Experiencing tactile facial stimulation while seeing synchronous stimulations delivered to another’s face induces enfacement, i.e. the subjective experience of ownership over the other's face. The synchronous Interpersonal Multisensory Stimulation (IMS) procedure leading to enfacement induces changes beyond the bodily sense of self, such as increased feeling of closeness between self and other. However, evidence for such an influence of IMS on higher-level self-other representations remains limited. Moreover, research has been restricted to settings involving a same-sex other. The current study tested, in female participants, whether IMS could promote social closeness and attraction toward an opposite-sex other. Across two experiments, enfacement with an opposite-sex face was successfully obtained. Synchronous (vs. asynchronous) IMS yielded greater closeness with the other and induced greater Liking and Attraction scores. These novel findings add further evidence to the existence of a link between body representation and social cognition. Implications for interpersonal attraction are discussed.
ISSN:1053-8100
1090-2376
DOI:10.1016/j.concog.2019.102849