Touching to connect, explore, and explain
How the Human Brain Makes Social Touch Meaningful
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4364810 |
|---|---|
| Authors | India Morrison (0000-0002-7992-0306, Linköping University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 92-109 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Senses and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1745-8927 • E-ISSN: 1745-8935 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17458927.2023.2200065 |
| OpenAlex | W4368404916 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 106 |
Human touch has an enormous power to engender and mediate meaning in the human mind, from the emotional to the pragmatic, and from the linguistic to the symbolic. Can a functional-neuroanatomical perspective on social touch contribute to a general understanding of the biological workings of such meaning-making? I argue here that it can, and that the ways the brain accomplishes this are manifold. I identify and explore three main neural subsystems which operate in concert to generate the emotional and semantic complexion of social touch. These subsystems underlie how humans: 1) touch to connect with others; 2) explore the physical and social worlds; and 3) explain the significance of a touch within our own knowledge and experience, especially with regard to the way we interpret the world through language and culture. I therefore propose that what makes social touch meaningful has much to do with the functional and evolutionary roots of these brain subsystems. Although they can be distinguished and analyzed, in the "wild" human brain these subsystems are functionally intertwined, and their processes are integrated to generate a unified subjective experience of social touch. This view also acknowledges the intertwined nature of the embodied individual within society, thus carrying potential implications for theoretical analysis in such terms
Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Meaning (existential · Perspective (graphical · Sociology · Action Observation and Synchronization · Computer Science · Face Recognition and Perception · Multisensory perception and integration · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
Affective Neuroscience
The Deepest Sense
Embodied Family Choreography
How do you feel? Interoception
The social role of touch in humans and primates
Social perception from visual cues
The fusiform face area
Observations on active touch.
A Neurobehavioral Model of Affiliative Bonding
Interoception
The organization of the human cerebral cortex estimated by intrinsic functional connectivity
Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science
Affective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships
The Meanings of Touch
Evaluations of affective stimuli modulated by another person’s presence and affiliative touch
The communication of emotion via touch
A naturalistic study of the meanings of touch
Experience of Touch in Health Care
Acquisition of the algorithms of social life
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |