title: Touch increases autonomic coupling between romantic partners.
abstract: Interpersonal touch is of paramount importance in human social bonding and close relationships, allowing a unique channel for affect communication. So far the effect of touch on human physiology has been studied at an individual level. The present study aims at extending the study of affective touch from isolated individuals to truly interacting dyads. We have designed an ecological paradigm where romantic partners interact only via touch and we manipulate their empathic states. Simultaneously, we collected their autonomic activity (skin conductance, pulse, respiration). Fourteen couples participated to the experiment. We found that interpersonal touch increased coupling of electrodermal activity between the interacting partners, regardless the intensity and valence of the emotion felt. In addition, physical touch induced strong and reliable changes in physiological states within individuals. These results support an instrumental role of interpersonal touch for affective support in close relationships. Furthermore, they suggest that touch alone allows the emergence of a somatovisceral resonance between interacting individuals, which in turn is likely to form the prerequisites for emotional contagion and empathy.
authors.affiliation: Grenoble Images Parole Signal Automatique (Gipsa-lab), Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, CNRS, UMR5216, Université Joseph Fourier, Université Pierre-Mendès-France, Université Stendhal - Grenoble France.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chatel-Goldman
authors.affiliation: Grenoble Images Parole Signal Automatique (Gipsa-lab), Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, CNRS, UMR5216, Université Joseph Fourier, Université Pierre-Mendès-France, Université Stendhal - Grenoble France.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Congedo
authors.affiliation: Grenoble Images Parole Signal Automatique (Gipsa-lab), Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, CNRS, UMR5216, Université Joseph Fourier, Université Pierre-Mendès-France, Université Stendhal - Grenoble France.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jutten
authors.affiliation: Grenoble Images Parole Signal Automatique (Gipsa-lab), Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, CNRS, UMR5216, Université Joseph Fourier, Université Pierre-Mendès-France, Université Stendhal - Grenoble France.
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Schwartz
keywords: affective touch; electrodermal activity; empathy; interpersonal coupling; physiological coupling; social interaction
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