title: Good vibrations: Global processing can increase the pleasantness of touch.
abstract: Visual-tactile carry-over effects of global/local processing (attention to the whole, versus the details) have been reported under active touch conditions. We investigated whether carry-over effects of global/local processing also occur for passive touch and whether global/local processing has differential effects on affective and discriminative aspects of touch. Participants completed two tactile tasks involving pleasantness rating and discrimination of a set of tactile vibrations before and after completing a version of the Navon task that encouraged a focus on the global (n = 30), local (n = 30), or both (n = 30) features of a series of visual stimuli. In line with previous research suggesting a link between global processing and positive emotion, global processing increased pleasantness ratings of high-frequency (but not low-frequency) tactile vibrations. Local processing did not improve the ability to discriminate between vibrations of different frequencies, however. There was some evidence of a tactile-visual carry-over effect; prior local processing of tactile vibrations reduced global precedence during the Navon task in the control group. We have shown carry-over effects of global versus local processing on passive touch perception. These findings provide further evidence suggesting that a common perceptual mechanism determines processing level across modalities and show for the first time that prior global processing affects the pleasantness of touch.
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychological Sciences , University of Manchester , Manchester , UK.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mirams
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychological Sciences , University of Manchester , Manchester , UK.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Poliakoff
authors.affiliation: b Unilever R&D Vlaardingen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Elizabeth H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Zandstra
authors.affiliation: b Unilever R&D Vlaardingen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoeksma
authors.affiliation: c Unilever R&D , Port Sunlight , UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: b Unilever R&D Vlaardingen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wael
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: El-Deredy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D057181:Pleasure / Q000502:physiology*; D011601:Psychophysics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014732:Vibration; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Affective touch; Attention; Discriminative touch; Global processing; Local processing