Social touch is a primary channel for intergroup communication, yet how touch responses are shaped by group membership and individual differences (intergroup disgust, perceived attractiveness, ideological attitudes, implicit bias, and interpersonal distance preferences) remains poorly understood. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) offers a powerful tool to examine such processes under quasi-ecological yet controlled conditions. We recorded subjective and physiological responses — skin conductance and heart rate, used as autonomic arousal indices of implicit reactivity to socially salient stimuli — from heterosexual Caucasian participants (48 men, Experiment 1; 48 women, Experiment 2) as they observed touches applied to intimate, neutral, and social body areas of their gender-matched embodied avatar, delivered by Caucasian or African, male or female virtual agents. Behavioral results showed that men rated female avatars as more attractive, and attractiveness strongly predicted touch evaluations. Intergroup disgust predicted lower attractiveness of outgroup female avatars and greater interpersonal distance, while right-wing authoritarianism predicted greater touch appropriateness from female than male avatars. Women rated outgroup male avatars as more attractive; attractiveness predicted touch appropriateness, pleasantness, disgust, and erogeneity. Implicit racial bias indirectly reduced outgroup touch pleasantness via its effect on avatar attractiveness. Physiologically, men showed increased skin conductance to outgroup male touches on intimate and social areas, while women exhibited heart rate deceleration to intimate versus neutral touches. Interpersonal distance correlated with touch evaluation, suggesting a preparatory role for proxemics in social touch. Together, these findings demonstrate how IVR and physiological approaches can elucidate individual and social factors shaping intergroup proxemics, with implications for prejudice-reduction interventions.

Touch is fundamental to human interaction and well-being, as physical contact often conveys warmth and connection. This study translated and validated the Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire (TEAQ) in an Italian sample with the aim of offering a culturally appropriate tool to assess diverse touch-related behaviors and attitudes. The Italian TEAQ was administered to 301 participants aged 20 to 66 years (M = 31.78, SD = 10.02). A multidimensional graded response model and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to establish construct validity, while convergent validity was assessed through correlations with the Touch Avoidance Measure (TAM) and Touch Avoidance Questionnaire (TAQ). Discriminant validity was evaluated using the Big Five Inventory (BFI), and associations with mirror-touch synaesthesia (MTS) were also examined. Gender differences in touch attitudes and experiences were assessed.Results demonstrated good fit indices and supported the original six-factor structure: Friends and Family Touch (FFT), Current Intimate Touch (CIT), Childhood Touch (ChT), Attitude to Self-Care (ASC), Attitude to Intimate Touch (AIT), and Attitude to Unfamiliar Touch (AUT). Internal consistency was high across subscales (Cronbach’s α: 0.81–0.92). Significant correlations between TEAQ subscales and TAM/TAQ scores indicated good convergent validity, while generally low correlations with BFI traits supported discriminant validity, aside from expected associations with Extraversion and Agreeableness. Significant correlations between TEAQ subscales and MTS screening tool scores underscored the role of sensory processing in touch experiences. Gender differences were consistent with cross-cultural findings, with females scoring higher on FFT, CIT, and ASC, and males scoring higher on AUT.These results confirm the reliability and validity of the TEAQ within the Italian context, underscoring its utility for assessing touch attitudes and experiences. Future research should explore broader applications across varied demographics and clinical populations, especially because of the possible post-pandemic changes of attitudes towards touch.

Empathy drives our social lives, allowing us to share and understand what our conspecifics are experiencing. Neuroscience research has explored how others’ states are mapped on one’s own body and brain. However, while most of the existing research on empathy has emphasized negative emotional experiences – particularly pain – empathy for positive emotions has been neglected, despite its crucial role in everyday social contexts. In this scoping review, we aimed to chart the neuroscience of positive empathy, an emerging and underexplored area. We sought to address this area’s gaps by synthesizing the available literature on the topic. We find that, although scientific interest in positive empathy has increased in recent years, the field remains less established and more fragmented compared to research on negative empathy. Our results highlight the involvement of multiple reward-related regions in positive empathy, with the anterior insular and anterior cingulate cortices being activated across types of positive events. Interestingly, shared neural representations between first-hand and vicarious experiences of positive emotions seems to be a core mechanism of self-other affect mapping. Moreover, our findings point to the relevance of positive empathy for social functioning and well-being across both healthy and clinical populations. Together, these results underscore the importance and complexity of studying positive empathy and point to key opportunities and challenges for future research. As the neuroscience of positive empathy continues to mature, future studies should strive for conceptual clarity, methodological rigor, and multidisciplinarity, ensuring a comprehensive framework that embraces the full spectrum of human affective sharing.

Perseverative cognition, the repetitive, sustained activation of cognitive representations about past stressors or anticipated threats, is known to impair attention and disrupt emotional and physiological regulation; yet, its interpersonal consequences remain poorly understood. This study tested whether a brief induction of perseverative cognition reduces interpersonal engagement propensity, defined as the willingness to initiate social interactions. In a within-subjects design, participants completed two counterbalanced sessions: (i) a perseverative cognition induction, involving the recall and description of a personally salient, recurrent, and emotionally distressing event; and (ii) a control condition, involving the description of the plot of a dramatic but non-self-referential film or book. Cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses were assessed using self-reported measures of thought distraction, negative affect, heart rate (HR), and vagally mediated HR variability (HRV), respectively. Interpersonal engagement propensity was evaluated through perceived self-other overlap (Inclusion of the Other in the Self, IOS), preferred interpersonal closeness, and automatic imitation. Compared with the control condition, the perseverative cognition induction elicited higher distraction, greater negative affect, elevated HR, and reduced HRV. Greater thought distraction and lower HRV were associated with reduced preferred interpersonal closeness, indicating that cognitive interference and diminished parasympathetic regulation may both contribute to reduced willingness to engage with others following perseverative cognition. These results suggest that perseverative cognition can undermine social engagement in healthy individuals, highlighting its potential role as a transdiagnostic mechanism contributing to social withdrawal.

PURPOSE:Social touch is ubiquitous in social species, and it represents an important driving force of human development. Mounting evidence suggests that social touch may be perceived and processed differently in autistic and neurotypical individuals. For instance, feelings of erogeneity, pleasantness, and appropriateness of social touch throughout the whole body and in different contexts were reported to be overall lower by autistic adults, compared with a non-autistic sample, and that participants' sex modulated these feelings differently in the two groups. Here, we expand on these findings by taking a multidimensional approach and exploring individual traits that might be linked to social touch processing differences in autism. METHODS:We implemented exploratory network analysis and moderated parallel mediation analyses considering measures of attitudes towards social touch, non-social touch sensitivity, social anxiety, and alexithymia. We investigated how these individual dispositions might impact group differences in social touch erogeneity, pleasantness, and appropriateness, and evaluated how sex assigned at birth might moderate these relationships. RESULTS:Both exploratory and confirmatory analysis approaches converged in showing that one's attitude toward social touch represents a central disposition contributing to lower levels of social touch erogeneity, pleasantness, and appropriateness in autistic individuals. Moreover, these mediation relationships were stronger in autistic male participants. CONCLUSION:These results pave the way for a deeper, more targeted investigation of the structure and dy namics underlying the relationships between social touch processing differences in autism and specific individual dispositions. Moreover, they bring about new evidence on how the sex of the receiver might influence such social touch experiences.

Virtual reality (VR) has become a transformative tool, revolutionizing education, healthcare, workplace, and social interactions. By creating immersive environments that simulate real-world scenarios, VR enables innovative forms of communication, learning, and collaboration that transcend physical boundaries. Key advancements, including haptic feedback, body and facial tracking, multisensory integration, and interoceptive signal adaptation, have enhanced social presence, interpersonal synchrony, and avatar customization, making interactions more natural and meaningful. In education, VR facilitates experiential learning, improving engagement and understanding by allowing students to interact with complex concepts and collaborate globally. In healthcare, VR provides effective therapeutic solutions for conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders (and eating disorders, offering scalable and personalized interventions. In workplaces, VR enhances remote collaboration and creativity. However, VR also presents challenges, including accessibility, usability, privacy concerns, and ethical considerations. Addressing these issues is essential to maximize VR’s transformative potential and ensure its responsible implementation across diverse domains.

In the typically developing population, social touch experiences are influenced by several factors, including the biological sex of toucher and receiver, the body area wherein the touch is delivered and the social context in which the tactile exchange occurs. However, it is currently unexplored how social touch experiences of autistic adults are modulated by these factors. We sought to address this by utilizing a self-report body-painting task. Our main results show that autistic, compared with non-autistic, adults reported lower levels of pleasantness, erogeneity and appropriateness, specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, sex played a major role in group differences. For instance, although autistic females reported, across social contexts, less pleasantness than both non-autistic females and autistic males, they experienced similar levels of appropriateness in the professional social context, usually deemed as touch-appropriate. Our findings provide new support to the hypothesis that social touch is experienced and possibly conceptualized differently by autistic compared with non-autistic adults. Moreover, by identifying the factors that influence social touch processing in autistic adults, our results might aid the development of support for autistic individuals seeking help in the spheres of social and intimate touch. Lay Abstract What is already known about the topic? At least in neurotypical individuals, social touch represents an important channel for emotional communication associated with social bonding and pain/anxiety modulation. Autistic adults report to avoid social touch more and to have different tactile sensitivity than their non-autistic comparisons. What this paper adds? Few studies specifically investigated social touch in autistic individuals, and none of them examined the role of participants’ sex, social context in which social touch occurs, and specific body areas being touched. In our study, adult participants reported how pleasant, erogenous and appropriate they would consider touches delivered by another person over their entire body in intimate (date), friendly (dance class) and professional (physiotherapy-massage session) social contexts. Autistic adults reported social touch to be less pleasant, erogenous and appropriate specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, autistic females seem more at risk to experience unpleasant social touch as, although they considered it more unpleasant than non-autistic females and autistic males, they did consider it similarly appropriate in professional social contexts where touch is normed to be socially appropriate. Implications for practice, research or policy Our results might improve awareness and understanding about autistic adults’ different, and often more discomforting, experience of social touch and thus help consider and respect it during everyday social interactions. Our results might also benefit future research investigating, for instance, the neural underpinnings of social touch differences in autism or aiming at developing support for autistic individuals seeking help in the diverse spheres of social touch.

Objective The neuroscience of human empathy for pleasure and positive affect is an emergent, scarcely addressed topic. The main aim of this scoping review is to map the impact of this new research domain on the field of social and affective neuroscience. Introduction Most of the literature on empathy and affect sharing has hitherto focused on negative emotions, with a special focus on pain. However, understanding, sharing, and reacting to others’ pleasures is an evolutionarily and socially important function. Our scoping review addresses this gap in the literature and tries to unify the available information under the empathy for pleasure umbrella. Inclusion criteria This scoping review is intended to cover studies on empathy for positive emotions, pleasant sensory outcomes, and other rewards in healthy individuals and neurological/neuropsychiatric/neurodevelopmental disorders populations. Methods We will perform a systematic search in the Medline (PubMed), Scopus, and Web of Science (WoS) databases. Two authors will independently screen all titles, abstracts, and then full-text articles that meet the inclusion criteria. The year range of interest will be 2000–2022, and only journal articles published in English will be assessed. Data will be extracted and presented in tables and/or graphical representations to synthesize and describe the results. The extracted data will be reported in a comprehensive summary. Results The final manuscript is intended for submission to an indexed journal in late 2023/beginning 2024. Conclusions To our knowledge, the present scoping review will be the first to address the variety and heterogeneity of available evidence on human empathy for pleasure. We ultimately aim at perusing the growing literature on this far-reaching field of study and informing future research. Systematic review registration The neuroscience of human empathy for pleasure: Protocol for a scoping review. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/W7H6J . (December 27, 2022).

We conducted a systematic review investigating the influence of visual perspective and body ownership (BO) on vicarious brain resonance and vicarious sensations during the observation of pain and touch. Indeed, the way in which brain reactivity and the phenomenological experience can be modulated by blurring the bodily boundaries of self-other distinction is still unclear. We screened Scopus and WebOfScience, and identified 31 articles, published from 2000 to 2022. Results show that assuming an egocentric perspective enhances vicarious resonance and vicarious sensations. Studies on synaesthetes suggest that vicarious conscious experiences are associated with an increased tendency to embody fake body parts, even in the absence of congruent multisensory stimulation. Moreover, immersive virtual reality studies show that the type of embodied virtual body can affect high-order sensations such as appropriateness, unpleasantness, and erogeneity, associated with the touched body part and the toucher's social identity. We conclude that perspective plays a key role in the resonance with others' pain and touch, and full-BO over virtual avatars allows investigation of complex aspects of pain and touch perception which would not be possible in reality.

We conducted a systematic review investigating the influence of visual perspective and body ownership (BO) on vicarious somatosensation-the somatosensory resonance during the observation of pain and touch. Indeed, the way in which these sensations can be modulated by blurring the bodily boundaries of self-other distinction is still unclear.We screened Scopus and WebOfScience, and we identified 31 articles, published from 2000 to 2022. Results show that assuming an egocentric perspective enhances vicarious experiences. Studies on synaesthetes suggest that vicarious conscious experiences are associated with an increased tendency to embody fake body parts, even in the absence of congruent multisensory stimulation. Moreover, immersive virtual reality studies show that the type of embodied virtual body can affect high-order sensations such as appropriateness, unpleasantness, and erogeneity, associated with the touched body part and the toucher’s social identity. We conclude that perspective plays a key role in the resonance with others' somatosensation, and full-BO over virtual avatars allows investigation of complex aspects of pain and touch perception which would not be possible in reality.

In this paper, we propose that interpersonal bodily interactions represent a fertile ground in which the bodily and psychological self is developed, gradually allowing for forms of more abstract and disembodied interactions. We start by focusing on how early infant–caregiver bodily interactions play a crucial role in shaping the boundaries of the self but also in learning to predict others’ behavior. We then explore the social function of the sense of touch in the entire life span, highlighting its role in promoting physical and psychological well-being by supporting positive interpersonal exchanges. We go on by introducing the concept of implicit theory of mind, as the early ability to interpret others’ intentions, possibly grounded in infant-caregiver bodily exchanges (embodied practices). In the following part, we consider so-called higher level forms of social interaction: intellectual exchanges among individuals. In this regard, we defend the view that, beside the apparent private dimension of “thinking abstractly”, using abstract concepts is intrinsically a social process, as it entails the re-enactment of the internalized dialogue through which we acquired the concepts in the first place. Finally, we describe how the hypothesis of “dialectical attunement” may explain the development of abstract thinking: to effectively transform the world according to their survival needs, individuals co-construct structured concepts of it; by doing so, humans fundamentally transform not merely the world they are being in, but their being in the world.

Social interactions are often shaped by the space we prefer to maintain between us and others, that is, interpersonal distance. Being too distant or too close to a stranger can often be perceived as odd, and lead to atypical social interactions. This calibration of appropriate interpersonal distance thus constitutes an important social skill. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, hereafter autism) often experience difficulties with this skill, and anecdotal accounts suggest atypical interpersonal distances in their social interactions. In the current study, we systematically measured interpersonal distance in individuals with autism using immersive virtual reality (IVR) to recreate a naturalistic interaction with a full body avatar of a similar age. Participants observed their own virtual body in first-person perspective, and the other avatar in two tasks: in the first task, they approached the other avatar (active), in the second one they were approached by the other avatar (passive). Two groups of neurotypical and autistic adults, performed both tasks. Autistic adults showed greater interpersonal distance when compared to non-autistic adults. Additionally, the difference between the passive and active conditions was smaller for non-autistic compared to autistic adults. Across the full sample, greater interpersonal distance was associated with higher autism-related traits. This study provides systematic evidence for greater interpersonal distance in autistic adults using a paradigm with high ecological validity and can be useful in informing the design of appropriate environmental adjustments for shared spaces.

This mini-review covers recent works on the study of pleasant touch in patients with chronic pain (CP) and its potential use as a treatment. While experiments have demonstrated that pleasant touch, through the activation of CT-afferents and the brain regions involved in its affective value, might reduce the unpleasantness and intensity of induced pain, the interaction between pleasant touch and CP remains under-examined. Some experiments show that CP might disrupt the positive aspects of receiving pleasant touch, while in other studies the perception of pleasantness is preserved. Moreover, only a few attempts have been made to test whether touch can have a modulatory effect on CP, but these results also remain inconclusive. Indeed, while one recent study demonstrated that CT-touch can diminish CP after a short stimulation, another study suggested that pleasant touch might not be sufficient. Future studies should further investigate the psychological and neural interplay between pleasant touch and CP. In the conclusion of this mini-review, we propose a new tool we have recently developed using immersive virtual reality (IVR).

In this review, we propose that interpersonal bodily interactions represent a fertile ground in which the bodily and psychological self is developed, gradually allowing for forms of more abstract and disembodied interactions. We start by focusing on how early infant-caregiver bodily interactions, mediated by the sense of touch, play a crucial role in shaping the boundaries of the self but also in learning to predict others’ behavior. We then explore the social function of the sense of touch in the entire life span, highlighting its role in promoting physical and psychological wellbeing by supporting positive interpersonal exchanges. We go on by introducing the concept of implicit theory of mind, as the very early ability to interpret others’ intentions, possibly grounded in infant-caregiver bodily exchanges (embodied practices). In the second section, we embrace a more collective perspective about the role of sociality in human development, by describing the hypothesis of “dialectical attunement”, reconsidering the self beyond the individual, where it really emerges, unfolds, and manifests itself — in social relationships. We finally consider the most evolved forms of social relationship: intellectual exchanges among individuals. In this regard, we defend the view that, beside the apparent private dimension of “thinking abstractly”, using abstract concepts is an intrinsically social process, as it entails the re-enactment of the internalized dialogue through which we acquired the concepts in the first place.

Neurophysiological studies show that during tasks tapping cognitive control (like the flanker task), midfrontal theta (MFθ) oscillations are associated with conflict and error processing and neural top-down modulation of perceptual processing. What remains unknown is whether perceptual encoding of category-specific stimuli (e.g. body vs letters) used in flanker-like tasks is modulated by theta oscillations. To explore this issue, we delivered transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) in the theta frequency band (6 Hz) over the medial frontal cortex (MFC) and the extra-striate body area (EBA), whereas healthy participants performed two variants of the classical flanker task, one with stimuli representing human hands (i.e. hand-flanker) and the other with stimuli representing coloured letters (i.e. letter-flanker). More specifically, we aimed at investigating whether θ-tACS involving a body-related area may modulate the long-range communication between neuronal populations underlying conflict monitoring and visuo-perceptual encoding of hand stimuli without affecting the conflict driven by letter stimuli. Results showed faster correct response times during θ-tACS in the hand-flanker compared with γ-tACS (40 Hz) and sham. Importantly, such an effect did not emerge in the letter-flanker. Our findings show that theta oscillations over midfrontal-occipital areas modulate bodily specific, stimulus content-driven aspects of cognitive control.

Immersive virtual reality enables people to undergo the experience of owning an artificial body and vicariously feeling tactile stimuli delivered to it. However, it is currently unknown how such experiences are modified by the sexual congruency between the human and the artificial agent. In two studies, heterosexual men (Experiment 1) and women (Experiment 2) embodied same-sex and opposite-sex avatars and were asked to evaluate the experience (e.g., pleasantness, erogeneity) of being touched on social or intimate areas of their virtual body by a male or female avatar. Electrocardiogram and galvanic skin response were also recorded. Moreover, participants' implicit and explicit gender biases were examined via a gender-potency implicit association test and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. When embodying a same-sex avatar, men and women rated caresses on intimate areas from an avatar of the opposite sex as more pleasant and erogenous. Conversely, body swap-that is, wearing an opposite-sex avatar-enhanced participants' perceptions of pleasantness and erogeneity for caresses on intimate areas from a same-sex toucher. This effect was stronger in men than in women. Furthermore, physiological correlates of enhanced processing of arousing stimuli predicted behavioural outcomes during the body swap illusion. Wearing an opposite-sex avatar affects one's own body representations and may have important implications on people's attitudes and implicit reactivity to touch-mediated interactions. Men seem more susceptible to this type of body swap illusion. Our paradigm may induce profound changes of cross-sex perspective-taking and provide novel tools for promoting empathy and comprehension of sex-related diversity.

Humans typically create and maintain social bonds through interactions that occur at close social distances. The interpersonal distance of at least 1 m recommended as a relevant measure for COVID-19 contagion containment requires a significant change in everyday behavior. In a web-based experimental study conducted during the first pandemic wave (mid-April 2020), we asked 242 participants to regulate their preferred distance towards confederates who did or did not wear protective masks and gloves and whose COVID-19 test results were positive, negative, or unknown. Information concerning dispositional factors (perceived vulnerability to disease, moral attitudes, and prosocial tendencies) and situational factors (perceived severity of the situation in the country, frequency of physical and virtual social contacts, and attitudes toward quarantine) that may modulate compliance with safety prescriptions was also acquired. A Bayesian analysis approach was adopted. Individual differences did not modulate interpersonal distance. We found strong evidence in favor of a reduction of interpersonal distance towards individuals wearing protective equipment and who tested negative to COVID-19. Importantly, shorter interpersonal distances were maintained towards confederates wearing protective gear, even when their COVID-19 test result was unknown or positive. This protective equipment-related regulation of interpersonal distance may reflect an underestimation of perceived vulnerability to infection; this perception must be discouraged when pursuing individual and collective health-safety measures.

The interpersonal distance kept by each individual plays a prominent role in daily social interactions and typically communicates implicitly human attitudes toward conspecifics. While it is held that men dyads keep a larger distance than women, information about whether such sex-related distance is moderated by sexual orientation and implicit/explicit sexual prejudice is scarce. To explore this issue, Heterosexual and NonHeterosexual Men and Women (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual) were immersed in virtual reality and asked to provide comfort-distance judgements in relation to approaching male or female avatars. Results showed that same-sex comfort-distance was smaller for Non-Heterosexual compared to Heterosexual participants. Moreover, the larger distance toward the male avatar kept by Heterosexual Men was associated with the implicit prejudice toward gay men. Our results indicate that comfort-distance demarcation is modulated by sexual orientation and that implicit sexual prejudice leads to increased interpersonal comfort-distance, a possible proxy to avoidant behaviors. Our approach suggests that immersive virtual reality may allow to overcome limitations typical of studies with real participants and provide a unique opportunity to explore the physiological and neural underpinnings of sexuality-related variables that regulate interpersonal distance.

Embodying an artificial agent through immersive virtual reality (IVR) may lead to feeling vicariously somatosensory stimuli on one's body which are in fact never delivered. To explore whether vicarious touch in IVR reflects the basic individual and social features of real-life interpersonal interactions we tested heterosexual men/women and gay men/lesbian women reacting subjectively and physiologically to the observation of a gender-matched virtual body being touched on intimate taboo zones (like genitalia) by male and female avatars. All participants rated as most erogenous caresses on their embodied avatar taboo zones. Crucially, heterosexual men/women and gay men/lesbian women rated as most erogenous taboo touches delivered by their opposite and same gender avatar, respectively. Skin conductance was maximal when taboo touches were delivered by female avatars. Our study shows that IVR may trigger realistic experiences and ultimately allow the direct exploration of sensitive societal and individual issues that can otherwise be explored only through imagination.