The social buffering of pain by affective touch: a laser-evoked potential study in romantic couples.

ABSTRACT: Pain is modulated by social context. Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that romantic partners can provide a potent form of social support during pain. However, such studies have only focused on passive support, finding a relatively late-onset modulation of pain-related neural processing. In this study, we examined for the first time dynamic touch by one's romantic partner as an active form of social support. Specifically, 32 couples provided social, active, affective (vs active but neutral) touch according to the properties of a specific C-tactile afferent pathway to their romantic partners, who then received laser-induced pain. We measured subjective pain ratings and early N1 and later N2-P2 laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) to noxious stimulation, as well as individual differences in a

SUBMITTER: von Mohr M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6234321 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature