Who benefits from social touch—toucher, touchee or both?

Over the last two decades, there has been a growing understanding of how important the friendly physical contact is that we make with others we like or care for. However, most research to date has focused on how being touched affects us and payed little attention to the one who gives the touch. Much work has shown that receiving touch brings pleasure and has positive effects on both our physical and mental health. So, it`s crucial to investigate if giving touch has similar effects. To explore this possibility, our research team, consisting of a psychologist (Annett Schirmer, University of Innsbruck), a neurobiologist (Francis McGlone, Liverpool University), and an engineer (Greg Gerling, Virginia University), has proposed three studies. These studies challenge the common belief that the main benefit of touch comes to the person receiving it. Instead, they will tackle the possibility that those who give the touch may also directly benefit, not just socially but also personally. The first study aims to understand the pleasure derived from giving and receiving touch by collecting personal impressions from past touch experiences and by using a specially designed, multidimensional rating scale to measure the pleasure of gentle stroking. The second study will record touch-induced brain and heart responses from two interacting participants using the electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG). The goal will be to examine how physical skin-to-skin contact affects the central and peripheral nervous systems of both the giver and receiver, identifying overlap and differences in the nervous system responses. Finally, the third study will investigate the link between touch and both physical and mental health by conducting a large survey on touch experiences and well-being. This survey will inform a follow-up experiment exploring the causal effects of stress and partner touching. Additionally, a new remote touch measuring technique will be used to quantify and describe touch and to study the relationship between natural touch properties and their consequences for both giver and receiver. Together, this research aims to answer new questions about the functions and benefits of touch. It is innovative because it examines both giving and receiving touch in a natural way, using advanced techniques like EEG/ECG hyper-scanning, depth motion recording, and 3D touch motion classification. The findings are not only expected to fill scientific gaps but also to contribute to the development of touch-based applications for psychological therapy and the promotion of overall human well-being.