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Cited by 56Tactile and Sensory InteractionsEmbodied and Extended CognitionPsychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

Developmental perspectives on interpersonal affective touch

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Crucianelli, Laura, Filippetti, Maria Laura·2020·Topoi
DOI 10.1007/s11245-018-9565-1
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Abstract

In the last decade, philosophy, neuroscience and psychology alike have paid increasing attention to the study of interpersonal affective touch, which refers to the emotional and motivational facets of tactile sensation. Some aspects of affective touch have been linked to a neurophysiologically specialised system, namely the C tactile (CT) system. While the role of this system for affiliation, social bonding and communication of emotions have been widely investigated, only recently researchers have started to focus on the potential role of interpersonal affective touch in acquiring awareness of the body as our own, i.e. as belonging to our psychological ‘self’. We review and discuss recent developmental and adult findings, pointing to the central role of interpersonal affective touch in body awareness and social cognition in health and disorders. We propose that interpersonal affective touch, as an interoceptive modality invested of a social nature, can uniquely contribute to the ongoing debate in philosophy about the primacy of the relational nature of the minimal self.

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  • Frequency of maternal affectionate touch is associated with increased social orientation in infants, which contributes to the development of the social brain and body awareness.

    “Frequency of maternal affectionate touch is also associated with increased social orientation in infants, which contributes to the development of the social brain (Reece et al., 2016) and body awareness (Crucianelli and Filippetti, 2020).”

    From The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development (2023) · cites this paper as Crucianelli and Filippetti (2020)

    Section 4, “A Touch of Love” (page unavailable), says that affective touch in caregiver–infant interactions is important for the development of body representation, supporting the body-awareness portion of the citation. It does not establish that increased social orientation, associated with the frequency of maternal affectionate touch, contributes to body awareness; the social-brain portion is cited to Reece et al., not to this paper. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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Authors
Crucianelli, L., & Filippetti, M. L.
Affiliations
  • University College London (GB)
  • University of Essex (GB)
Corresponding author
Crucianelli, Laura
ORCID
Venue
Topoi
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-05-12
Volume
39
Issue
3
Pages
575-586
ISSN
  • 0167-7411 (ISSN-L)
  • 1572-8749
DOI
10.1007/s11245-018-9565-1
OpenAlex
W2801857507
Cited by
56
References
137
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2
FWCI
2.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Topoi (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Open Access at Essex (University of Essex) (acceptedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Queen Mary Research Online (Queen Mary University of London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • American Psychoanalytic Association
  • Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
Keywords
body awareness, self-awareness, social cognition, affiliation, social bonding, emotional communication, interoception, minimal self, philosophy of mind, developmental psychology

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