Touched by loneliness-how loneliness impacts the response to observed human touch: a tDCS study.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci
; 17(1): 142-150, 2022 02 03.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34907421
ABSTRACT
Lonely people often crave connectedness. However, they may also experience their environment as threatening, entering a self-preserving state that perpetuates loneliness. Research shows conflicting evidence about their response to positive social cues, and little is known about their experience of observed human touch. The right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) is part of an observation-execution network implicated in observed touch perception. Correlative studies also point to rIFG's involvement in loneliness. We examined the causal effect of rIFG anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on high- and low-loneliness individuals observing human touch. In a cross-over design study, 40 participants watched pictures of humans or objects touching or not touching during anodal and sham stimulations. Participants indicated whether pictures contained humans or objects, and their reaction time was measured. Results show that the reaction time of low-loneliness individuals to observed human touch was significantly slower during anodal stimulation compared to high-loneliness individuals, possibly due to them being more emotionally distracted by it. Lonely individuals also reported less liking of touch. Our findings support the notion that lonely individuals are not drawn to positive social cues. This may help explain the perpetuation of loneliness, despite social opportunities that could be available to lonely people.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Percepção do Tato
/
Estimulação Transcraniana por Corrente Contínua
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article