Lack of social touch: markers, mechanisms and compensation – LackSocialTouch

Social touch has been shown to be crucial for development, well-being as well as to be one of the most efficient ways to communicate affective emotions. However, despite its importance, the consequences of lack of social touch has been little studied in human adults, while tactile interactions have decreased drastically these past decades with the increase of people suffering from social isolation. The COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened these phenomena, and has revealed a crucial need for a better understanding of the impacts of social touch deprivation but also to find ways to compensate. That is the main goal of the LackSocialTouch project.

First, we will investigate the behavioural markers of social touch deprivation, in studying psychological traits, sensory perception and vicarious perception of tactile interactions. Second, we will investigate the physiological and neural markers and mechanisms underlying a lack of social touch. And finally, we will evaluate to what extent vicarious stimulation (i.e. the observation of tactile interactions) can compensate for a lack of social touch. Altogether, this project aims to find behavioural and neural markers of social touch deprivation (modulation of the “mirror touch network”) and compensation effectiveness (e.g. reduced anxiety levels).

Our project proposes an innovative approach combining for the first time behavioural, physiological and neural approaches to investigate the impact but also compensation of social touch deprivation. This project is the cornerstone of a fundamental research framework opening to a better understanding of social touch perception and its underlying mechanisms. This research appears timely as finding new ways to measure the impact of the lack of touch, and compensate for it, is of particular societal and clinical importance. This research will have a resonant impact for people who are suffering from social isolation and lacking tactile interactions.