Sense of Touch Can Trigger Our Emotions: Nerves May Impact Patients with Autism

A sense of touch, like a gentle caress, can trigger our emotions and now, scientists have found out why. They've described a system of slowly conducting nerves in the skin that respond to gentle touch, revealing how sensing something can also cause us to respond with our feelings.

The nerves that respond to gentle touch are called c-tactile afferents (CTs). These nerves are similar to the same nerves that detect pain, but serve an opposite function. They relay events that are neither threatening nor tissue-damaging but are instead rewarding and pleasant.

"The evolutionary significance of such a system for a social species is yet to be fully determined," said Francis McGlone, one of the researchers, in a news release. "But recent research is finding that people on the autistic spectrum do not process emotional touch normally, leading us to hypothesize that a failure of the CT system during neurodevelopment may impact adversely on the functioning of the social brain and the sense of self."

In fact, the light touch of certain fabrics can distress some individuals with autism. This means that this tactile component could be a huge part of understanding why autistic individuals react the way they do to certain situations. Learning more about CTs could allow researchers to develop therapies for autistic patients and individuals who lacked adequate nurturing touch as children. In addition, scientists could better learn how nerves that relay rewarding sensations interact with those that signal pain.

"In a world where human touch is becoming more and more of a rarity with the ubiquitous increase in social media leading to non-touch-based communications, and the decreasing opportunity for infants to experience enough nurturing touch from a carer or parent due to the economic pressures of modern living, it is becoming more important to recognize just how vital emotional touch is to all humankind," said McGlone in a news release.

The findings are published in the journal Neuron.